Tokyo Nights

This is probably going to be my first review for a perfume, and most likely last. So before i give you my review, let me give you a short introduction to who i am, and why it matter. Im a 20 yr old guy, and i have the biggest love for gourmand scents. If it smells sweet or just slightly edible, there is quite a big chance i have it in my collection. With that being said, let me get straight into my review of Tokyo Nights by d'Annam. So the first thing to note is the notes (pun intended) listed: Umeshu, Tobacco, Smoke, Osmanthus and Amber. Sounds not too unique, but still kinda special. And that was the thought i had going in for my first smell. I was speaking to the salesman at the store, and he was telling me about the story behind it. He was explaining the scent, as a cherry/plummy scent, with a very smoky tobaccy undertone, and honestly? I didn't care much for the story, nor the description. But when i smelt it!? Holy *@*#. The first impression i get is this freshly opened bottle of Umeshu(Kinda similair to whisky - smell wise, but much cleaner). And then, it turns a bit more sweet and, almost smoky, but not really. The plum manages to shine through without being overly fruity, or too much? After a few hours it becomes like a subtle skin scent, but somehow still projects? In smells like the time you first fell in love, and were willing to do ANYTHING, just to get a moment of attention. Its a weird feeling? But honestly the best thing i have smelt in many many years. The description of the scent it: "Sharing one umbrella— the person more in love gets wet" And somehow thats just what it feels like, i can see for some how it smeels like being wet, but happy, and for others a bit more on the dry side, feeling loved. Its a very dynamical scent, and one that does what its suppossed to amazingly well. Honestly? A Masterpiece, just due to the storytelling, and scent alone. Rating: 9.99/10

it's the middle of the week, you missed your last train home, and you decide to pass the time in a tiny bar hidden in the narrow backstreets of kabukicho it is a cramped dim space, and you just know this spot has been open for decades, the wooden walls holding onto the smell of smoke from countless cigarettes and thousands of cigars. the door is always open, inviting, carrying a gentle breeze of spring air, already fragrant with flowers. clad in your old leather jacket, you sip on your umeshu, served hot, wafts of it caressing your face with their warmth. you finish your drink in 30 minutes and stay snuggled in the corner, hazily browsing a random rock magazine taken from the bar counter before you order another shop. someone outside lights up a cigarette while chatting loudly with their friends. to summarize - it's a great, photorealistic olfactory experience that reminds me of one particular date i had. if you ever had umeshu, or if you love tart plums/quince liquor, you will fall in love with it and realize that a date with this perfume is something you wish to have everyday. the thing is, it's very fleeting. the initial shot of liquor only lasts half an hour, disappearing - sip by sip, like your drink - into a gentle smoky-woody skin scent. given the price, i wish i could have more of the delicious liquor to enjoy. also, i'm not a fan of these bottles - they may look like a cool egg, but the caps aren't the easiest to open.

I found this in a niche shop in Stockholm, Fab Lab. I remembered seeing the egg-shaped bottles on Facebook ads. The ones they had in stock at the time were "Vietnamese Coffee", "White Rice" and "Tokyo Nights". I smelt them in that exact order, and loved Vietnamese Coffee. To my nose it was very photorealistic. coffee-aromatic and slight lactonic. I had a tiny "wow"-feeling when I smelt it. Thought I'd go to the next one. So I tried White Rice, got put off instantly. Nothing for me at all. Then... then... Something magical happened - Tokyo Nights. The initial spray took me aback. What is this? I've had this drink before. Shortly thereafter, as the plum settled and the tobacco & smoke started to mix in, you could instantly feel the city streets of Tokyo during a night out. The only thing missing from making it photorealistic in this sense would be the asphalt/pavement smell. So I knew there and then; this is my magical date night scent from now on - said and done - purchased.

At first spray, it's fruity, intoxicating and suitably sweet with a tad of earthiness to it. The umeshu/plum wine is absolutely lavish and divine, and the tobacco can be detected lingering in the background. After the first hour, the wine begins to fade and the tobacco comes more so to the forefront, becoming less lush and a bit more refined. Then, about three or four hours into the wear, the smoke and amber start to emerge in an incense-like combination—powdery, rich and sweet. It remains in this stage for the remainder of the wear. Overall, I really really enjoyed this and there is no better name for a perfume like this as it smells like what I imagine a night out in Tokyo must. The longevity is great as well, lasting for about 10 hours on me. I gush over every d'Annam perfume but it's because they deserve it. This scent is expertly crafted and, as with every other perfume of theirs I've smelled, each note is detectable and well-balanced.

Wow, this one is really something. Unlike any other scent I’ve smelled. I’m half-Korean, half-Japanese, and although I have personally never traveled to Japan, this is undoubtedly a very Japanese scent. The mental image I get when I smell this on myself is a man (or woman, pretty unisex I’d say) sitting at a cramped, dimly lit bar enjoying a Japanese whiskey, smoking a cigar, and eating dango—all while a pink cloud of cotton candy floats around him. Not that it smells particularly like cotton candy—just more of the mental image of it. This is a soft scent, but soft in a very distinguished sense. A friend of mine told me as soon as he smelled it on me that it blasted him back to a childhood memory. Honestly, it did for me too—it reminded me of being a kid in a ramen shop and smelling the ladies’ perfume from the next table over. If you have any Japanese or Asian roots I would venture to say this fragrance will conjure up some sentiment.

Bought the discovery set for my boyfriend and this is the best one on him (and his fave I think)! I can't say I've ever tried Umeshu, so maybe this is an unsophisticated review. But it's quite plum dominated, a strong whiskey-like scent but toned down with the sweet and sour plum. There is a lush background of tobacco but it's not a burnt, crumbly tobacco (if that makes sense). It's smooth and softly bold, like if you took a whiff of a high end medium-bled cigar. Not overpowering at all, and recognizable after you've smelled it once. Out of the discovery set I believe this one is also the strongest alongside Japanese Whiskey. And, unlike Japanese Whiskey which is almost purely alcoholic, this one is really well blended to balance out the fruity and smokey notes. Definitely not a blind buy if you want a full bottle, though.

This was the biggest surprise from the discovery set for me. It opens with a burst of yummy, girly fruit (possibly the umeshu? It doesn’t pull very alcoholic here) before fading into a really lovely, atmospheric tobacco smoke and leather. It smells like sitting next to the prettiest girl you’ve ever seen at a hole-in-the-wall cocktail bar in Tokyo and every time she brushes her hair out of her face you get a whiff of her shampoo through the haze of the cigarette she’s smoking. You chat the night away and go your separate ways only to realize you never caught her name, but you still spend the rest of your life thinking about that night. It’s so evocative. Now, I don’t know if I’d /wear/ it, but... Maybe when I want to feel like the protagonist of a Murakami novel...?

Just a month before I discovered this perfume I had taken a trip to Japan for the very first time. When I had heard about this fragrance I knew I had to smell it. I ordered a sample and when I first sprayed it, not only did it smell up my entire house but I fell in love. The absolute best way I can describe it might only make sense to someone who has gone out for some drinks in Shinjuku. It distinctly reminds me of walking through the Red Light district with my friends to get to the Golden Gai area within Shinjuku. It reminds me of walking past groups of people sharing a cigarette to crawl upstairs through a tiny staircase into a small, cramped bar. We order a Whisky and Coke, and there's incense burning in the corner. It's beautiful.

In my nose , this is a softer and sweeter take of IL Padrino , a very pleasant, elegant comforting boozy scent with a moderate projection , A very suitable for date night or night out in a very high end bar !! 9/10 Update ( 04/03/26 ) I have this now for month and I can’t stop using it, It is my new signature scent! The sweet plum booze 🍷 and amber base is so addicting! It lasts on my skin for 10 hours as if it matured like a fine wine 🍷 ! I’m considered myself a Low key person and this is the one of most elegant low key I ever used This is for anyone who doesn’t need the attention but the presence is still there ( If that make any sense)

I'd swear there was cherry or almond in here, but it has to come from the Umeshu (I think!) — a plum, stone fruit-type quality, plus the osmanthus (peachy, stone fruit esque). This nutty-fruity-floral-sweet quality melds sooo stunningly with the rich tobacco. That note is not smoky to my nose... it's sweet honeyed tobacco, the smoothest, richest, warmest version — not dusty or smoky. A syrupy nature, but not sticky sweet. Together it makes a gorgeous amalgam of sweet-but-not-gourmand richness. Sexy, spicy, deep but not too heavy. Dark but not drab. Like a luminous night. LOVE

To me this smells like a sweet leather scent. Even though it doesn’t say leather in the composition, I definitely get leather vibes. The longer it stays on the skin, the sweeter it gets for me. But it doesn’t feel heavy at all. I wasn’t expecting it to be this nice. It’s a lovely surprise!! P.S.: I’ve already been to Tokyo (as a tourist), and this doesn’t remind me at all my Tokyo nights. I get more European night vibes. These kind of European tabac, leather, sweet, cold weather, going out scents, which I honestly love

Really well done smoky vanilla wrapped in paper thin powdery florals. There is something a bit odd in there. Synthetic, off, rotten sweet I'm not really sure but a gorgeous wear nonetheless. I have several things like it, vanilla tobaccos and vague floral powders, this has a sugary, nearly syrupy sweetness that the others don't. I think that is whats lurking beneath the smoke bomb and potpourri. Bites in the back of the throat like medicine. But that just makes it all the more interesting and enjoyable.

I've tried every scent from D'annam and this is the one I cherish and reach for the most. It is just too good. It has a complexity it's other scents can lack and really gives that nightlife feel you are looking for with a scent like this. Not too alcoholy, or smokey, or leaving in one direction. Everything really melds into each other to produce a scene. Cones off sophisticated but subtle, not too serious. Unisex in a really wonderful way.

This is a drunk cigarette. It's a cold night, you step out of the bar shit faced, bumming a cigarette off a stranger and it's the best cigarette you've had in your life. I think anyone who enjoys tobacco scents will really love this. A strong fragrance with great longevity, easily 6+ hrs on the skin. Would probably only wear this fragrance in cold weather since I would imagine this being pretty obnoxious in the summer.

A beautifully smoky, warm and ambery, plum wine scent. The umeshu is the first thing you smell, it’s jammy, slightly sweet, boozy, slightly fresh. Then you get the tobacco and it wraps around the wine like a warm hug, with an ambery undertone. The floral peachy notes come out further in its wear with the osmanthus. The dry down is warmly smoky and sweet fruity blend with less booziness now. A gorgeous scent

Smelled this and immediately transported me to my first time landing in Mexico City. Standing on the corner street between a busy street with bumper to bumper traffic and a open-late restaurant, with some wind picking up the exhaust and cigarette smoke from others. Unfortunately, I do not currently have this in my collection, but would go back to get a travel size to sniff when I am not in Mexico City.

This one really surprised me, first try from this house and it's a winner. This is the type of tobacco I enjoy, it has some sweetness but isn't overtly sweet. It reminds me a little of ANKA by vertus but I prefer this much more. I got a cheap sample off of twisted lilly and although the full bottle on discounter is hard to find and is a little pricey I think I will have it in my radar.

This is it, the last sample of the Japan collection. The most unique, strong. It leaves a smell you cannot forget. Reminds me of tire, gasoline (a new car) with a sweet & sour plum and a boozy touch not overwhelming or too basic. Super special ambery, smoky date night fragrance or after midnights vibes. My favorite from d'Annam can't wait to get a bottle from this ! 10/10

I absolutely love this smell. I usually get a sample and test it before buying, but I bought this immediately after smelling it in the store. I love the spicy plum at the front and it settles into a creamy lactonic after a few hours. I have become addicted and wear it multiple times a week. I also love Moonlight Samarai from D'annam and often switch between these two.

I lived in Japan for 7 years and is the first scent I’ve smelled that I feel truly evoked a feeling of being in Japan again for me. The sweet, spicy, smoky combination is fantastic. I do also think they could truly go either way in terms of masculine or feminine, and I don’t find many fragrances that tow that line so perfectly.

I enjoyed this one the most out of the Japan series. This reminds me of CdG Floriental. Plum wine/umeshu and tobacco with a hint of osmanthus which can also come across like a juicy apricot. On the skin, it is sweet, tart, fruity, floral and smoky at the same time. This is what a night out in Tokyo would smell like. Amazing!

Reminds me of drinking soju and strong zero outside the family mart in kabukicho. The smoke of hi-lites mixing in with our perfumes and the streets around us, wondering which bar we're going to next. I usually visit Japan in the summer so although this scent is smoky and boozy, it reminds me of a summer night.

The opening is a gorgeous, smoky plum that fades into a strong yet soothing incense. Hints of Coca Cola, tobacco, and amber linger. This is a scent that perfectly captures a night out in Tokyo drinking and smoking, all whilst being stunningly beautiful. One of the most special and memorable scents ever!!

I was not expecting for me to love this perfume as much as I did, just ordered the full size. Incredible sexy and masculine. Complex and photorealistic of a nightlife club. The opening with the umeshu note is brilliant and vivid, the tobacco and smoke are not overpowering this scent.

On me, the ume is present even in the dry down. In the dry down the smoke becomes more present and the ume mellows out. This totally gives me flashbacks to drinking in Golden Gai. Once again, d'Annam has delivered on a scent memory in a beautifully artistic way.

I love this fragrance it reminds me of jazz club but 10x better this definitely more crowd pleasing for the average person who aren’t into fragrance if you love jazz club definitely get this one I also think anyone can wear this and pull it off

gosh instant love sweet boozy sexy, and very true to its notes - yes sweet thick plum wine with a bit of tobacco and something sexy and leathery, and indeed it does have the vibe of Side Effect which I love (even though they are very different)

True to the name, probably smells like a bar in Tokyo, although I wouldn't know. A boozy opening with plum liquor, sweet and well rounded. I definitely see the comparison to Side Effect, but to my nose, this is a bit less cloyingly sweet.

Intrigued by this one! Smells like plums and smoke and tires. The perfect winter fragrance. EDIT / UPDATE: Hour-whatever of wear: it dries down into this gorgeous smoky jammy diet coke smell. Again, this is a perfect cold weather perfume.

Tokyo Nights was such an unexpected love! The sweet plum from the umeshu combined with the incense and amber is somehow light and fruity AND deep and mysterious. Unisex leaning masculine on me. It is very strong and long lasting.

This is so amazing guys. Very very good. You get the tobacco and the osmanthus and for some reason I also get a lil bit of saffron. Good longevity and very likeable. Going for a full bottle. Love it!

Any Asian individual should try this fragrance I think it will remind you of home. I drank Korean plum wine for the first time recently and love this fragrance

Smells like you drank at a club downtown stepped outside and there some people smoking. The boozy smell is subtle you mostly get the tobacco and smoke

@muzzbait this might be the biggest chud review of all time holy shit i never want to hear the word "japanophile" again

Was not nearly as dirty as some describe. I think this is smooth. Reminds me of Herod and oajan mix. Very underrated.

Im not joking when i say this is a photorealistic scent of a night out in ueno. i love it

My favorite out of the chapter sweet, smokey its like a jazz club jr to me.

This fragrance is beautiful, looking at the notes I thought I wouldn’t like it, but I bought a sample anyways. Turned out to become one of my top 3 in my collection. Now, the sample that i’d gotten from Ministry of Scent came out to be stronger than the actual full bottle I received 2 days ago. So I believe a little maceration would help, but in general this fragrance’s performance is not the best. I’d say the first 30 mins to an hour it definitely projects. But then after, it sits pretty close to the skin. Longevity isn’t the best either, going for MAYBE 4-5 hours on skin. I’d say if you want compliments with this one, spray the hell out of it on clothes or wear it in intimate situations. The atomizer is pressurized, but the distribution is a little too widespread. So spray closer to the skin and clothing if you want the juice to land on yourself and not the air. Although the performance and longevity is a little bit of a bummer. The overall scent makes up for it. I personally am a performance fein, and I was disappointed to find out the poor performance for this type of scent profile. The actual smell of the fragrance is heavy on that “Umeshu” plum wine, which really just smells like plum. As for the darker notes such as the smoke and tobacco, they mix together in the background. To me it smells like a sweet SLIGHTLY smokey fragrance. But to my friend he said “it smells like straight incense” so, you might just have to sample this one for yourself. Overall, I think it’s a great fragrance to have during the winter and fall season that’s sweet and doesn’t have vanilla notes. I caught a full bottle for $130 on a black-friday sale from ZGO perfumery. But I do not think the $160 retail price tag is quite worth it for this ok performance linear scent.

Smells like 2 AM, your phone is dead, and you're drunkenly following your 'cool friend' who doesn't want to get an uber and says she knows a shortcut. I'm trying to get over my personal dislike of tobacco and this is the closest I've gotten to a true win. The plummy rummy opening note is flat-out addicting. Even if I don't like the tobbaco, I can tell the idea behind the fragrance is top notch. Alas, I'll keep trying to train my nose because it's very obvious this is a me problem and not a Tokyo Nights problem. Very eager to recommend this to people. I don't put much stock into gender readings, but if I were to borrow the language for a moment, it is a little odd that it can swing from wildly masculine to wildly feminine. I think that's really cool, but I can see how it can be a big downside for people. A little surprised by the reviews that call it thrift store or grandma-- to me this smells as urban and metropolis coded as a smell can get. I probably won't make it through my sample, but I did say "oh shit, that's cool" when trying it.

Sampling Tokyo Nights, the final fragrance to try in d’Annam Chapter 2 – Memories of Japan, which was released in recent weeks. It features a curious mix of plum wine, tobacco, osmanthus, smoke, and amber, a fittingly dark, somewhat sweet, smoky, resinous, floral blend, a lot of things at once. The note of osmanthus in this context is giving me a bit of a rose/peony vibe, leaning a little feminine but still being quite unisex overall, a sort of darker, smokier, provocative nighttime scent that, while not a superb scent on me, is something I would enjoy smelling in general. Like most of Chapter 2, Tokyo Nights is EDP concentration and priced at $150 for 50ml, sold exclusively through the house website in the US for now. It performs very well, among the better performers in either Chapter. 7 out of 10

The notes for this fragrance are like a map. The first minutes are an almost overwhelmingly sweet plum liqueur, but as the sweetness fades the smoky tobacco sets in. The tobacco leans more towards the cigar, almost leathery, side of tobacco (definitely not the synthetic Red Tobacco). For me I could hardly detect the osmanthus note until about the 3 hour of wear, by that point the sillage is just about six inches from the body. The fragrance is still detectable the next day, but after the sixth hour its mostly just osmanthus and amber skin scent with a lick if plum sweetness.

Tokyo Nights is a unique fragrance with ultra realistic umeshu. The scent profile is almost old school; it reminds me of a lot of fragrances from the early 90’s. When I smell this, I somehow imagine that this is what a classy Japanese businessman would smell like. The umeshu makes the fragrance very boozy but also fruity and sweet from the plums and sugar which is how the Japanese liqueur is made. It goes well with the tobacco and osmanthus, but I get no smoke/smokiness at all from this fragrance. Longevity is good, it lasts fine on my skin and the sillage is alright.

Plum? Not sure. I get cherry. Smooth cherry tobacco. A bit on the sweet side but not cloying. I dig it. Has decent longevity with mild to moderate projection. A softer Red Tobacco and much more acceptable in crowds. But I will stay with Red Tobacco Intense or Royal Tobacco. I can see how this would be a much better choice in certain situations. I will be the rude one. 🤣 Funny coincidence. I had a song "Tokyo Rain" by Loaded Honey stream while typing this. On the d'Annam website they list the below as inspiration "Sharing one umbrella— the person more in love gets wet"

I was surprised how much I liked this one. It opens with sweet plum wine and smokey incense. After a few minutes soft, leathery tobacco comes out. I love how unisex a lot of d'Annam fragrances are. Looking at the notes, Tokyo Nights looks extremely masculine, but both my husband and I have worn this. I'm still undecided if I like this enough to get a full bottle one day, but I do really enjoy it.

really disliked the opening, however after a little bit it becomes really nice! Not sure if it's something I'd wear, but this one a pretty slightly edgy woman would probably get me to fold immediately.... So far this was the only one from the #samplebag I've tried that was I was not hot on at first, but I completely changed my mind it's really sexy ngl

i’ve never been to tokyo so i know i should shut my dumb ass up but i picture this as a scent reminiscent of the nightlife in a dive bar there, and i appreciate this for what it is. boozy, sweet and slightly smoky. i probably would not upgrade but i appreciate the imagery it evokes

This one is a banger. Its boozy, with sweet tobacco and fruity smoke. I feel like i have smelled this DNA before but i just cant say where. Out of the whole collection i would buy this one. I feel like this is really unique and its very good and idk what to write, im speechless

Oh my word, this is a fantastic boozy plum. I can imagine the smokey streets and night life bustling under a starlit sky. Unfortunately the smoke on myself is too much for me to wear personally but I can imagine this smelling incredible on a man on a chilly day. Very well done.

I really like this fragrance, but there’s something familiar about it. It reminds me of Mixed Emotions by Byredo, but less smoky. Tokyo Nights is brighter. It has a cherry leather accord that is rich like Tom Ford’s Cherry Smoke. Very nice.

Forsure sweet, forsure not like red tobacco. Tokyo Nights is quite fluffy, sweet, juicy, smoky. I reckon it would get some attention if more people put their nose to it. Very well blended for the type of scent it is.