Toukka Ta Tao

This, Albatross and sacre noir is the best I have tried from the house. The other are too weird and to my nose many simply does not smell good. I have been travelling a lot in Thailand and its my second home. This scent really capture the romantic tourist image of the contry. The tropical vibe. I imagine walking barefoot in the green grass. I smell the frangipani flowers on the tree. I enjoy a coconut mango shake in the sunshine. This is life as it should be, I think, and putting the frangipani flower behind my ear. The scent envoke happy memories. I love it. Edit: some thai friends smelled this. Their image of thailand did not correspond with this scent. Toukka ta tao is the romantic and stereotypical perspective of Thailand. 9,5/10 Edit 2: Its summer and I revisited this scent. Omg its lovely, lovely! I actually think its a happy tropical version of black orchid. Same vibe, but very different of course. Love the note of frangipani in this one.

I was surprised at this one. The takeaway here - never judge a fragrance by it’s note breakdown. Initially I thought to myself “Ugh. I’m not sure if I am going to like this one all that much...” but man was I wrong. I get this sweet and refreshing green fruity smell balanced with a slight creamy coconut muskiness in the drydown which normally I am turned off by, seeing as how I am not all that crazy about fragrances like Virgin Island Water or Un Jardin Sur Le Nil. But paired with that green mango and a mix of different tropical fruit, it forms this lovely sweet velvety accord that my nose has a lot of fun getting whaffs of. Needless to say, this was love at first sniff. It’s executed so well and it also goes towards a great cause. This one is brilliant and bottle worthy in my book.

Let me start off by saying that the house I grew up in had several marigold flowers planted around the front step. So that is definitely the first note that my nose picked up, but I imagine a lot of people might not know what marigold smells like so this might smell strange to them. This fragrance reminds me of being a kid and chewing Juicy Fruit gum and sitting on my front steps. Did I ever actually do that? No.. but this scent definitely gives me false memories. So I dig it... buuuuuttt I asked 4 different girls if they liked it and all four were a resounding no unfortunately.

When I smelled Toukka I wanted to sit on a beach and never ever leave. I love this scent so much. Absolutely delicious and tropical. I live in Seattle and it gets grey here a lot. Toukka is a great little escape.

*10th* I wrote an awesome review yesterday, but lost it..:( So here's another version of it: wearing Toukka all day yesterday which was humid and warm. It is a very tropical fruity floral, the stuff of dreamy island vacations in the tropics. Passionfruit(my favorite), mango, lychee(yes), and coconut, perhaps pineapple(but not listed). A perfect balance of sweet and tart. This to me smelled of a mixed tropical fruit basket with the golden ripeness and sunshine that is the air of such magical places. Bought some fruit at a Kauai farmers market and gardenias and a lei. Let fruit bask in the sunshine on the porch and a lei surrounded my neck, and gardenias breathed on my nightstand. Ahhh...lovely tropics. BUT, there is a SEA note. I hate aquatic notes, melon, cucumber, seaweed, and some aquatic note in magnolias. This smells of a hot beach, hot sand, infused with salts that smell of the sea- seaweed, sealife, dusty seashells, but no suntan oil. Fortunately, the plastic note here is not overly prominent. This SEA note is quite challenging and competing with my favorite tropical fruit and flower notes. They clash to me, but all mellows and somehow is less nauseating after 30 minutes. Still, this would be an outstanding tropical fruity floral scent to me without the sand and SEA notes. I live not far from the ocean and after 25 years, still do not like the SEA odors coming from the ocean and beach. There's just something nauseating about aquatic odor molecules- not sure why. There is a range of better and worse SEA and Aquatic notes for sure...but I prefer not to experience them at all (with very very few exceptions-less is more). Overall, those of you looking to sample another tropical fruity floral, give it a shot. I warned you about the SEA note. There may be better ones out there(without the sea), but I do not generally test many tropical fruity floral scents because I've tested too many bad ones (to remember now) and with much disappointment. Mostly lots of plastic fruits and flowers. If you have suggestions, please let me know... Also for the price tag, it is a weak scent to me. Meaning, I sprayed the entire sample (2.5-ml I think) and it did not project much beyond the initial effervescent burst of tropical fruity florals and the SEA. So I have mixed feelings on this one for the reasons above. If you want to sample it, make sure to sign up your email and buy it with a discount. 8/10