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

sampled from House of Matriarch. This is about my third or fourth time trying this one, I thought I'd give it another chance as it's winter right now. I'm in the midwest and it's been fluctuating between -60 F and -40 F for the past day so what better time than now to escape to the tropics? To me, this is an average fragrance - I don't hate it but I don't love it. The best part about it is that it's natural and doesn't give me headaches. For reference, I used one spray from my sample. It sits right on top of the skin and lasts a couple hours max. When I purchased this I was hoping for something really fruity/juicy. This smells like shampoo to me. It's slightly fruity with some kind of minty smell to it. It's kind of like those flavored chewing gums that are some fruit flavor + mint. I really don't like those but if you like that juxtaposition then this could be for you. p.s. I've had this on for four hours now and my opinion has already softened. I can still smell it but it's very much a skin scent. I think I'm beginning to understand HoM fragrances- they're like the lip products people call MLBB (my lips but better). After 40 minutes of a hiit routine, this scent warmed up nicely on my arm and I think it's MSBB (my smell but better). Don't buy this thinking you'll get lots of compliments (it probably won't be noticed), it's for the wearer alone. I'm still not convinced I need a whole bottle but I do like this.

Hmmm. Blind purchase based off of reviews. Worn twice. Well. It is a very different take on a "tropical" scent. Smelling this off the sprayer and cap you get a green fruity fermented mash with a whopping ETOH vibe. On skin it is a potpourri concoction dominated by oud and tolu balsam with LOADS of herbal floral camomile and marigold with underlying fruity notes. There is a sea/marine note that pulls through and stays the entirety of the fragrance. Sea note is very much like the somewhat artificial sea note in Holidays by Mancera. Not a really a sweet scent, however I can see a man saying it is sweet. I do not think this is a dominant mango scent. The mango is like smelling a greener uncut mango from the skin. It is not overtly a beachy nor tropical scent. The oud is not loud, but definitely noticed with that resinous tolu balsam. The dusty sandalwood I pick up too, and get zero coconut. Despite this sounding like a completely negative review, I do like the scent, but NOT worth the price tag. It lasted ALL day on me. 12 plus hours. ***4/10/2024 ** UPDATE -- after macerating for 3 years -- this becomes a fabulous mango tropical scent. I still think it has a lot of resinous tolu balsam and oud, but the fruits and sweetness are now much more present and really make this a nice really scent.

I can definitely smell the mango and myrrh. It is not a scent that projects well but it has a nice scent. Wish it pushed out more but maybe that is due to the natural ingredients. Overall nice but pricey for its projection and longevity.

i get mango and passionfruit at first and something that smells like banana, along with palm leaf. i think i get sesame and myrrh next. it's fruity and tropical but also dry and kind of earthy. it gets more green and humid over time, with coconut and ambergris. the fruits are more naturalistic and not overly sweet, thankfully. not really my usual kind of scent, but done well for a tropical sort of perfume.

African-American hair grease/pomade. Plain and simple. The depths perfumers are willing to go to ‘rediscover’ a familiar scent...#nomoreblindbuys

Interesting scent. Very sweet, fruity and floral. Leans pretty feminine to me. Not synthetic smelling, which is nice. I'm not sure how a middle-of-the-road YouTube reviewer convinced a house to create a scent just for him (I suspect $$$ as he is very, very young but has deep pockets, it seems, based on the bottles he reviews) but that has no effect on my opinion. Longevity was far below average on my skin (2-4 hours) with moderate projection. 5.75/10 for me. A major pass for the price but Timmy gets to know a scent is out there with his name on the marketing. That's something.

In 1998 The Rugrats Movie was released to theaters nation wide. Various promotional items were released including a very special item sold at Burger King for $1.99 when you purchased a tasty Value Meal. A Scratch-and-Sniff Chuckie's Bananarama watch. This scent is a combination of that banana scratch-and-sniff watch mixed with incense. While i realize neither of those notes are a part of this composition I find them to be the most dominant. Chased by a hint of Marigold.

I have only tried black no1 or something like that and wasn't that impressed considering the price. I have just tried to purchase a 2ml sample of this one at a total cost of $33 and that's with a 25% discount. The prices are roughly on line with roja and am sorry but it's just not worth it. They charge 15 dollars for a package which will only have a 2ml sample in it and also takes nearly 3 weeks to arrive! I order a lot of sample from luckyscent who only charge 8 dollar for heavier packinging? Why 15 dollars? It's ridiculous and I just think some perfumers out there take the piss! I have always wanted to try more frags from Christi meshell but come on! At least lower your prices on the samples so more people can at least try your fragrances!

Although I appreciate most of HOM offerings this one is one of the least appealing to me personally. For me I get a musky banana fragrance with some coconut blended in well and some supporting florals. It must be marigolds, but I am not familiar with the smell. I get a little but a popuri vibe , which can smell like floral patchouli and i don't like that smell as much. With all respect ,a elegant and senior lady might love this. 4 to 5 hours longevity, fair projection. I am not sure, because some tropical notes like Aventus's pineapple make me go nose blind quickly.

Call me wacky but this makes me reminisce of 'bubble-gum', strange as that sounds, I'm being dead serious. That doesn't mean I don't like it, all that means is, I think bubble-gum when I wear this. It's pretty good, its nice and heavy. You can apply Tao to even cover up o5her fragrances, if you so desired. I get 4 hours, give-or-take, and that's pretty good. The worse Matriarch in the longevity field that obe discovered this far, was Future's Past. Not even 2 hours on that pup. But it smells do divine.

@arodarmt OMG I HAD THAT WATCH!! LOL I wish man, all the nostalgia. I don't get any banana though. I can't believe you'd remember that though. Just goes to show how strong scent memories can be.

I don't think its worth the high price. But this does have a nice soft fruity smell. If it was less money I would buy it. I don't think it smells anything like gum.

A bright, crisp, fruit bowl. A slight sourness. I like it, but it’s a skin scent.