Mizuchi

To be honest most of the blackbird scents are underwhelming however three of them really impressed me, and Mizuchi was one of the best. It's another futuristic pseudo-ink thing. I can imagine it fitting right in with some CDG's. Opens up with a turpentiney pine note with a strong blast of astringent almost-sour printer ink. It sort of has a strange artificial sweetness that makes it smell like some kind of noxious chemical that you shouldn't be smelling but you can't stop. The closest point of reference would be CDG's Hinoki, smoothed and thinned out, and then blended with the same slightly creepy ink note from Meo Fusciumi's Notturno. This one also lasts about as long as both of those, which is to say not very much. It's a quiet, fleeting moment of dystopian energy. This is somewhat of an obscure reference point, but if you've ever been to EPCOT in Orlando and ridden Test Track (back before they turned it into a cheap Tron-themed mess), there was a section in the ride where the car youre in gets "environmentally tested". You drive through a room where robot arms spray "acid" on you to see whether or not the car will be able to withstand acid rain. If my memory serves right, the scent of that room was extremely similar to Mizuchi. Its slightly acidic inky and chemically but also weirdly piney and masculine. I loved that part of the ride and I love this fragrance. If it performed better I would pick up a bottle. It's a pretty good price as well so do not hesitate to check it out if you're a fan of strange "futuristic" avant garde scents. 8/10

This is an incredibly delicate and beautiful spiritual library. I may just be sucker for the description that they give but it smells as though I’m in this distant time and place from my own. As though I’m within this literal spirit temple of monks smoking their once lit pipes of tobacco. The smell of the wet ink on paper as the we lie in the backbone of a dry and long since forgotten forest. A memory so insignificant, and yet captured. Blackbird truly has a certain knack for ethereal like scents to my nose, pipe bomb is the best comparison to make obviously. I’m a sucker for both but this is so much better in my opinion, but I encourage you to try it out and see for yourself! As for me, I will most certainly buy this scent before the limited release gets chomped up. First I have to make sure I have enough funds though. My one complaint about this fragrance, and what seems to be the complaint with a lot of my loves is that they have such little projection in my skin unless someone’s hugging you or a significant other. It lasts a fair amount of time but not truly a beast. Still love this scent though.

I initially found Blackbird on a quest for a fragrance with notes of ink and paper. I stumbled upon Mizuchi and it is the closest I have come to finding something that really fits what I am looking for. Out of bottle, the scent is subtle - like paper and ink - and it hides quickly on the skin and fades throughout the day. I wish it were more powerful because I really really love the uniqueness and complexity of this scent. Sadly, Blackbird has discontinued this fragrance, but I will continue to wear it and celebrate it to the last drop.

Ok this is simply stunning. It reminds me of my Asian grandparent's house. I don’t know what it is; perhaps a hint of cedar but oh my it’s nice. Edit: it makes me sad it was discontinued before I could buy a bottle.

Mizuchi evokes memories of the beginning of a new school year. On paper, it smells like iso e with some hints of generic fountain pen ink. On my skin, the paper note has a mild warmth and sweetness that captures the fading heat and sun of the summer and the beginnings of a colorful and refreshingly cool fall. I don't get pencil shavings so much as the moderately synthetic and slightly astringent smell of a new textbook with glossy pages, colored illustrations, and a growing number of annotations made with a cheap and scratchy ballpoint pen. This fragrance is ephemeral. The summer and early days of fall fade into memory, the excitement and promise of a new academic year wane, and Mizuchi quickly fades into the background. It becomes significantly less noticeable within the first half hour, and is largely undetectable to me an hour or three after that. I prefer to wear fragrances that stay close to the skin, or else to spray only as much as is necessary to create a small and personal scent bubble. There's not much risk of over-spraying this scent, and I think that's fine. I do wish that it lasted longer, but in a way, it's fleetingness makes sense for and contributes to the nostalgic and temporal experience Mizuchi elicits for me. So, I find myself reticent to fault this fragrance for it's performance, but I definitely understand critiques about its strength and longevity. I don't typically wear Mizuchi outside of bright days in early/mid September through mid/late October, and I expect my 2016 bottle to last for at least a couple more years. I think Blackbird has brought this scent back a limited run or two since discontinuing it, but even if it were readily available, I don't know that I'd feel justified in paying full price for another bottle once mine is used up. But, if you like ink, paper, and synthetic notes and you're able to find a sample somewhere, I think this is an interesting fragrance worth checking out, at least. Edit: I guess I should have checked before posting this review, but it looks like Blackbird has released a reformulated version of this fragrance. They claim the new version has better performance and longevity. They've rewritten the fragrance's description and the new description doesn't closely match what I get from my 2016 bottle. Hard to say whether/how this translates into changes in the fragrance overall. They sell samples directly and at least used to offer flash sales from time to time. I'll probably at least sample the new version and will try to remember to update this review if/when I do.