Matsuri

Vintage Yellow-Floral-Amber-Spicy... In the first couple of minutes before the spray dries I get a perfume-y vibe that reminds me of Chanel. This has a vintage yellow-floral-amber-spicy vibe, and I could imagine Scarlet Johansson wearing this on the set of The Prestige (2006), released the same year. After it's dry and the sillage starts to open up, I get a gorgeous vintage peach-y ylang-ylang with pear and accented by mandarin. As it transitions to the heart, ylang-ylang remains and cloves and plum emerge with some background florals. There's a peach-patchouli blend in the base that seems like it was always there, and I catch glimpses of a gingerale or Jamaican gingerbeer. Reviewers have got it right with the top 5 rated notes imho: clove, plum, ylang, peach, patchouli. Performance is well above average for a year-round wearing experience. Contrast to Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant: These are different, but there is a very similar vintage ylang-ylang base. Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant has a way forward cardamom not present in Matsuri. Both have excellent performance, but Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant outperforms. Contrast to Coco EDP Chanel: These are very different, although I get a gingerale vibe in the base of Coco EDP as well. Coco EDP is spicier than Matsuri but less spicy than Kenzo Jungle L'Elephant. Overall: gorgeous vintage amber-floral ylang & clove scent with excellent performance. It's a love for me. Enjoy!

Matsuri means festival in Japanese. I think usually they are close to late summer/beginning of autumn, related to the rice harvest. So, as you can imagine there are food stalls, carnival games - to keep people entertained. Matsuri Annayake is very bright fruity-spicy-floral in super cool bottle. It is way less spicy than Kenzo Elephant, they do share sweet clove similarity, but nothing else. If to compare, then, of course, Matsuri is more lively vibrant sister of thoughtful Tsukimi of Annayake. But Matsuri is an extrovert, while Tsukimi is an introvert. And both Matsuri and Tsukimi go more into Feminite du Bois direction to me. Matsuri is so juicy-fruity, apart of plum there is pear, which I normally trying to avoid in modern juices, I think it simplifies things too much, but Matsuri with Japanese delicacy avoids this trap of triviality. Also clove doesn't let fruitiness to be too bubbly. I think because Matsuri usually sponsored by shrines and temples, this smell has got to have some sacred feeling, apart of being happy and cheerful. That's what cloves, patch and ylang are doing exactly. Night time magic with fireworks, - this is Matsuri

I remember first trying this perfume - it was love at first smell. "Matsuri" is rather spicy and sharp at first, but after a minute the clove and plum come through. It's a cozy, warm and bold scent - perfect for winter as it reminds me a bit of Christmas cookies.

I have never been to Japan, so I have no idea if that would be indeed any close to a Japanese festive period. Matsuri is a lovely, vibrant scent. Juicy pear and plum with cloves, and the patchouli-woody base, it does not come out as very flowery, rather powdery and spicy. It is not what I would call 'joyful', but Matsuri invites you to a contemplation. A kind of surprising combination of fun and spirituality, if that makes any sense. The only thing I regret about this is that is it a bit too subtle. I would love it to be slightly more powerful, stronger.

I love this scent! Just got my full bottle today without ever smelling it beforehand. It reminds me of a warm, orange spice tea with a powdery freshness. LOVE it!!! The bottle is gorgeous too.