Kobako

Divine. Twisted. Alluring. Mysterious. Carnal. (long writing!!!) Ever read a book Silk? From Alessandro Baricco? The extraordinary novel tells the story of a French silkworm merchant-turned-smuggler named Hervé Joncour in 19th century France who travels to Japan for his town's supply of silkworms after a disease wipes out their African supply. His first trip to Japan took place in the Bakumatsu period when Japan was still largely closed to foreigners. During his stay in Japan, he becomes obsessed with the concubine of a local baron. She is not Japanese btw. If you read the book (read it), there is a letter, that she writes to the main character. That's Kobako. That's the spirit of this perfume described. What she wrote to him. Captures what Kobako is. To the point. Including word meaning itself. Kobako word. This means incense smaller boxes or in the slang of Japan a vagina. Kobako is a very very sensual perfume. Let's be straight here. The base of this masterpiece is wet. Warm. Animalic desire. This is leather animal earth, dirty desire master. Owner of the body and soul. Dressed in leather. The base itself can be a separate perfume. Or soap. Earthly base notes, carrying the fusion of heart notes, which is not calm, not nice, not sweet. It's a carnal scream of nature. Did you ever smell the forest soil? Smell it. Did Ernest think of these components I don't know. Nobody does. Did he really invent this perfume we also don't know. We know how the stories around him are complex. Yet this is, if his, a serious masterpiece in the sense of how it's composed and busted with aldehydes. His special touch. Slap of aldehydes. With this, he steps out of his, if his, safe zone. Into danger. He, allegedly, said he wanted to capture certain freshness of certain parts of Russia (lakeside with forests). Well, with this he succeeded. Only with this. From his, if his, perfumes. This scent floats like red mist with morning freshness over your skin. It doesn't disappear into your skin. Floats, floats... Red. It's beyond beautiful. Crying beautiful. Let's talk it through. It simply deserves the attention in a serious sense. Top notes: - aldehydes (not as strong as with Chanel but still powerful). Smell it through! -citrus notes (Neroli and Bergamote. Very interesting opening. Both citruses are very specific. Neroli oil is an essential oil produced from the blossom of the bitter orange tree (Citrus aurantium subsp. Amara or Bigaradia). Bitter! Can we smell bitter? Yes! Its scent is sweet, honeyed and somewhat metallic with green and spicy facets. And bitter. Desire is bitter. Bergamote is rounded, and layered! Sweet, but complex and deep at the same time. With floral, herbal, and resinous undertones. Desire is bitter and sweet. It hurts. -cloves, and cinnamon also as the opening Let's check them also. To round up this opening with the meaning. Because it has a meaning. Cloves show you power right away, see what the perfumer did here? Anglo-French clowes de gilofre and Old French clou de girofle, from the Latin word clavus "nail". To grab you. To grab that desire. Cloves are a big part of Chinese culture use btw. Flowers of cloves are red. Have you ever had a chance to smell them? If not do it. That's the note that stays till the end. The grab of desire. This is the scent of desire. Carrying the red colour. Never sinking into your skin. Desire never sinks! That fruit note you smell? It's not fruit. It's the clove blossoms scent. The deep woody sharp flowerish smell. Passionately annoying. Desire is annoying. Embraced with cinnamon. A potent, penetrative scent of warm, peppery and pervasive facets. Cinnamon is adored for its ability to add a spicy flair to ambery and woody compositions. Lingering long after other scents have disappeared, cinnamon makes for a gorgeously sultry base note with its warm, soft and subtly sweet nuances. Only this time it's in the opening and guess what? Cinnamon grows in China. See what the parfumer did here? Désire. Middle notes: jasmine, iris, rose, magnolia, galbanum, carnation, orris and lily. I don't have information which Jasmine, Iris and which from the rest magnificent middle notes flowers. Just look at them! 7! All strong, together with Orris to fix them. But not in order. They smell in disorder. Confusion of feelings. Very very suitable for this whole composition. Very unsafe. Like carnal passion is. 7 great ones fighting for control over you. You desire and you desire carnally. Base notes: -olibanum. To extract the fragrant gum resin, cuts are made with a knife into the outer layers of tree trunks to make the trees "cry. " Did you ever cry out of passion? Have in mind. This early base contains tears from the tree!!! - amber (vanilla, benzoin & tonka bean a unique ability to evoke sensual pleasure and ancient wisdom). -oakmoss (wet) -Musk (animalic 1) -civet (animalic 2) - leather (It spanks you, it's that irresistible smell of leather over a nude body) Dry down is Earth. Nature. Red light floating over a cool lake, fog coming out of forests. Screaming nudity. Kobako strips you down. This perfume is so beautiful and so underrated. I have an old vintage bottle. I sniff it from time to time. While I use, with sorrow and hope, new ones, waiting for people to get serious and start to produce vintage versions. Because this is a masterpiece scent. Feminine. The Animalic musk at the bottom anchors it at arm's length for the day and to clothes for the night. From the clothes, it stays even after washing machine. This fragrance is literally almost a hundred years old... But smells eternal. Divine.

Kobako in Japanese means little box. Now, if we add a blade over the word's first "o" and turn it into Kōbako, then we have a box for keeping solid incense substances like sticks, spirals and cones. But in both cases the name sounds quite felicitous for a perfume. Pause. I'm by no means some righteous politically correct hypocrite, but I would suggest that any underage member should stop reading beyond this point. Kobako in contemporary Japanese slang also means vagina. This makes some interesting vernacular analogy, since "box", English slang aside, is also used with the same meaning in some parts of my country, the one I come from included. Thus I'll venture into saying a couple of things, hoping I'm not venturing into the troubled waters of hyperbole by the same token. Kobako smells like a posy of magnolias, gardenias and jasmine that were cut sub rosa with a katana sword by an 19th century Japanese woman whose samurai lover is away for months. Not being able to withstand his absence any longer, she dared to take his sword and cut the flowers, trying perchance to re-enact inside her mind's theatre the part where soft and fragile coyness gives way to hard conquering steel. Then she placed them inside an open wooden box and walked to the market to buy a bottle of sake. When she returned home she "discovered" the flowers waiting for her and pretended she was wildly surprised. She took the box with an almost religious-like piety in her hand and placed it before the sword stand. Later that night, inebriated by sake and her insufferable burning desires, she unmounted the katana one more time... I won't go any further unfolding the story. I'll just conclude by saying that "ambrosial vagina" is Kobako in a nutshell. Bedewed and blossoming flowers along with piercing metallic gasps, all enveloped in a hint of sweaty flesh, all virtually impossible to ignore, let alone resist. As for the longevity of this ravishing and ecstatic assortment, it really borders on "epic", since it lasts nearly for 48 hours on my skin. But no matter how long this duration may sound, which myriads of other way more renowned and pricey perfumes wouldn't achieve even in their wildest dreams, for me it's still not enough...

I would love to smell the vintage of this fabulous fragrance. What a treasure it must be considering that the reformulated version is very impressive. This is a box made out of intricately carved sandalwood and the inside is lined with the finest leather. This strange but intriguing box contains spices of cinnamon and cloves. A bottle of some type of lily scented perfume. Iris scented makeup powder, a chunk of ambergris from the ocean that was found on holiday. A husband's favorite sandalwood scented soap. If you put this in a Chanel bottle in the exclusive line it would cost a small fortune. But it's mine for $29. I absolutely love this. Gorgeous sandalwood with aldehydes, spices, florals, leather, animalic tones. In fact this is very animalic. Do not blind buy this if you hate animalic or vintage style fragrances. Very old school sexy. If you like perfumes like ET Passion, EA Red door, YSL Opium or Hermes Rouge, you should appreciate this very sensual gem. A very classic sandalwood, animalic, leather chypre. A femme fatal type of fragrance. Everything about it is dark, deep, mysterious, even dangerous. Total love for me. Glad I took a chance on this very inexpensive and impressive fragrance. IMO better than Musc Tonkin which I spent a lot for. Koboko is better, richer, sexier more dangerous. It conjures up images of dark haired beauties in Noir Films up to no good but bewitching every man they come in contact with. Stunning. For Adults only. If you like this another inexpensive gem you can blind buy would be Avon Rare Rubies. Discontinued but easy to find on eBay

Kobako Parfum de toilette 1.7oz The notes of current formulation: Top: Aldehyde ,jasmine, vanilla and citric-tangerine Middle notes: clover, magnolia and rose. Base: leather, frankincense and cinnamon My bottle is a after 1985 reformulation. Judging by the barcode on the box..after 1991. I dont know when production stopped. The citric aldehyde opening mingles with jasmine (gives the bottle juice a orange color) with a cinnamon spicyness that is around the edges. The clover and magnolia heart adds to the rose and gives this a different approach. The base does finally settle down into a cinnamon spicy leather much like its predecessor vintage release in the 30s. Its a odd, interesting perfume for vintage/ old 80s chypre enthusiasts. It leans balsamic oriental with the spices so it straddles both genres. The listing makes it seem its a white flower scent. They are there, but in the background. It reminds me of vintage Prelude by Balenciaga with cinnamon and leather. Reformulated by François Demachy.

It brings so many memories of my childhood. 🌠 My girlfriend's mother had this perfume. When I was little I really liked it. Now I accidentally found it again.At first, I thought it was no longer available, but research proved me wrong. It still exists, how lovely, so: read, bought, received, tested. Great classic by Bourjois created by Mr.Beaux the master Perfumer whom later became the perfumer of the house of Chanel & the father of Chanel no.5. Kobako is a work of a genius. If Beaux had made it for Chanel instead of Bourjois back then, it would belong to the exclusive line and cost a fortune today. That’s the sad thing about people’s perception - if it’s inexpensive it’s meaningless. Sensual, sexual, feminine.. It still exists after all. 🤍🧼🫧🧴

The first impression upon application evokes a charming vintage lipstick accord—powdery, waxy, and softly floral. These facets intertwine with sharper, slightly heady notes, creating a shifting, almost theatrical experience. As the fragrance unfolds, it becomes smoother and more floral-powdery; any animalic nuances, if perceptible, merely add warmth and depth. The sillage is initially strong, easily noticeable for several hours. On fabric, it lingers as an intimate scent throughout the day. The quality-to-price ratio is excellent. The bottle carries the charm of a bygone era, reminiscent of the 1980s. A beautiful vintage composition—it’s a pity I cannot compare this experience to the original from 1936.

Heavy, noticeable, very 80's in a positive way, soapy, classy, aldehydic. Very well blended, perfect for winter time, great when mixed with ice and snow so to speak. It feels like a child of Opium and No 5 but it costs a fraction of the price of mentioned fragrances. I got a bottle for just over a fiver and I consider it a fiver well invested. Good lasting power and silage. Should appeal to oriental/chypre lovers, it is such a shame that this gem isn't well known or popular, it certainly deserves much more attention. Sensual, sexual, feminine, a perfect fragrance for a fiery wild date with your beloved partner, it has the potential to make a man go purrrrrr :-)

From wikipedia: 'In 1936, Bourjois introduced a perfume called Kobako, which was packaged in a container "inspired by an old lacquered cabinet". Kobako means 'small box' in Japanese, and a kōbako is an incense storage box used in kōdō ("Way of Incense"), the traditional Japanese art which involves using and appreciating incense within a structure of codified conduct. It can be used to store the items needed for the incense-comparing games. Often decorated with lacquer and showing a high degree of craftmanship.'

Ooooh looord this is sooo goooood. It brings so many memories of my childhood. It is floral/aldehydic with a slight touch of citruses. On cloths, it kasts for a week if not more. This was my mom's favorit perfume and even to date she prefers this over those highly expensive perfumes we buy for her. Scent: 10/10 Projection: 10/10 Longevity: 10/10

This perfume has a bright, cold and spicy sound like a fuchsia color. Like alpine violets in the window of a tea house against the backdrop of a gray city in early spring, when there are still a lot of dirty snowdrifts on the pavement. Matches the mood in cloudy, warm and damp weather.

The chime of a bell, bitter (mascara tinted) tears run down freshly powdered cheeks, stark flowers, cooling wax, dry woods and a whisper of incense. The scent draws closer and closer to the wearer... until it wraps itself around their neck, like a furry little animal.

Understated elegance. A lover of Kobako is extremely comfortable with themselves. Opinions of others hardly matter and their quiet reserve hides lots of stories that may be coaxed out by a few cocktails. Love this fragrance. Not for everyone but definitely for me

I mostly get aldehydes and white flowers, a touch of cinnamon, and just a faint whiff of musk if I try to look for it. I'm not normally a huge fan of aldehydic fragrances, but this is quite lovely (and the price is right, too).

Great classic by Bourjois created by Mr.Beaux the master Perfumer whom later became the perfumer of the house of Chanel & the father of Chanel no.5. Great price value for this classic❤️

My grandmother got this as a gift when I was a child, didn’t like it and used it as bug spray Which is a way to say that it’s not a perfume for everyone, but personally, it grew on me

This smells *like a Chanel*. Allow me to tell you my story with Kobako. It was a blind buy a year or two ago - I didn't read the reviews, I didn't investigate it, I knew nothing at all about it before getting it. I bought it because I kept seeing it on gray sites, buried with all other cheapies, and what first draw my attention was that Kobako was made by Bourjois - at the time I didn’t even know Bourjois was ever making perfume (this was before they issued those few new ones in 2022). So Kobako kept popping up on websites every now and then, and I kept looking at that bottle, so similar to Cinnabar and Opium, assuming by association I wouldn't like it. However, as it happens, I was also curious to know how such a random perfume from a random house even managed to survive on the market for so long, with that so-obviously-vintage-looking bottle not even trying to hide it was released many years ago. SobI finally got Kobako and it was nice when I tried it. On a bad-mood day one might say - nice, but nothing to write home about. But from the very begging it had something so quietly likable and through several wears I realised I really liked it and want to keep it. It had that dusty phase in the opening I didn't really appreciate much, but it lasts short enough and it's didn't annoy me as it isn't very prominent. So, where exactly does the 😍 rating and the Chanel comparison come into picture, you wonder? Well, after that somewhat dusty drydown, Kobako felt so familiar. SO familiar, yet I was completely stumped. It was annoying really, I felt the answer was at the tip of my nose and yet I couldn't figure it out. And so comes that morning, I was drinking my coffee, gazing through the window, and the very moment I became aware of Kobako's drydown (I wore it the night before) was when that blissful, satisfying realisation hit in - it smells like a Chanel. So I instantly turned to the reviews here, learning on the fly from one of the reviews below that in Japanese kobako means 'little box'. It is here where I discovered that Kobako was created by Ernest Beaux, a Chanel nose who, among many other iconic fragrances, also created the ultimate perfume icon that is the Chanel No 5. On my skin Kobako is a lovely soapy floral, it smells clean and fresh, but not fresh in a 'thin' way. From my bottle which is the current formulation I don't ger musky or animalic notes, and the perfume doesn't smell dated to me. Kobako is well-blended and has that recognisable effervescent quality of Chanel aldehydes. I get moderate to good longevity (6+ hrs), although I can smell the drydown well past the 6 hrs, and I also get a decent projection. Another review below says Kobako was reformulated by François Demachy, who created several of my absolute loves and is probably my favourite perfumer. I don't know what the original composition smelled like, and probably never will. What I do know is that with time I've grown to not only appreciate but also like the dusty opening. Whoever did the reformulation, I like to imagine they intentionally used the dusty aspect to paint an image of a forgotten little box hiding this precious joy inside, waiting for someone to dust it off and appreciate it. What a gracious nod to the people and times gone by. If you're hovering over that checkout button, you can be sure that you'll be getting a little piece of history here. Despite the unassuming look and price tag, Kobako has stories to tell you 🤗

Fascinating vintage fragrance! I'm unsure if I have the original or the reformulation so I'm posting this on both. This is a beautiful (although definitely dated) aldehyde/ spice/ leather/ earthy fragrance that is softer and more harmonious than the notes might imply. A little soapy on the drydown, but not unpleasant, and incredibly long-lasting: 12-24 hours. Overall, a remarkable example of historical perfumery. Update: I now have a full bottle - just as shown here - and I'm sure I have only ever had the modern 1980s version, not the 1930s-1970s original. But I must say, I quite like it. It is a blast of pure cinnamon bark with exotic, borderline-bitter florals underneath, and mysterious animalic undertones. The leather is only implied; not actually featured. There is a note here I have never smelled before that is almost green or aquatic; I suspect it's the ambergris: even synthesized, it is remarkable. Are there any other Frank Herbert / sci-fi fans out there? Kobako is how I imagine the spice melange must smell. This is the essence or Arrakis, Dune, the Desert Planet - it is otherworldly.

I have a current formulation of a PDT and to me it is really a white flower fragrance done properly. Quite lovely and tender in fact and a little (Houbigand kind of) retro. Jasmine and citrus notes are especially prominent in the beginning, then a combination of aldehydes, leather and a little spice join the flowers but none of these notes are by any means overpowering. I don’t get the skankiness some had mentioned, nor do I get much resemblance to Rochas Femme (edt also current formulation) which in fact does feel like a dirty cumin-oak moss bomb. And none of the Charlie Blue as well (which goes in the sharp and mossy unisex direction of Aramis and Cabochard). To me Kobako seems to be just an elaborate (and more interesting than most of the modern designer frags) take on white flowers. It’s also one of my falling-asleep-to scents as I find it rather calming. The only disappointment for me is the silage as it’s very modest. Still I think it’s worth to have this legend even in the modern formulation in the collection especially as the current price for the quality is ridiculously small.

Kobako is one of my favourite cheap fragrances because it is a relatively complex, non-linear scent that shows different facets while it settles down. Its sillage and longevity are above average, it is very budget-friendly, and a versatile scent for ordinary days. The comparison to Revlon's Charlie Blue that other reviewers mentioned is clearly detectable. The opening of Kobako is similar, though not quite so strong, but soon after it developes into something else. While Charlie Blue is rather fresh and cool, Kobako evolves into a softer and spicier scent, nevertheless these two fragrances somehow seem to share the same core, even if their individual notes differ. People who like Charlie Blue should give this a try I would suggest.

I can't believe this cost less than 10 EUR. It's a beautiful, powdery scent featuring a demure rose and lemon. They both give this fragrance a lovely freshness, together with the aldehydes, but nothing too dominant. Iris and Musk, a slight hint of cinnamon, the ambergris counterbalance them. It is reminiscent of other scents, true - and I have no idea how this used to smell in the past, but this is a really good cheapy, if you're looking for a bargain. Just give it 30 seconds to dry on your skin, cause the opening is a bit sharp, but that really settles down in no time. So glad I got a bottle before it's sold out!