Guns of Sakura

I feel like there's this subgenre of perfumes in the niche field intentionally designed to smell like "nothing." Or maybe a better way to put it is achieving more with less. Creating a perfume that operates in a more subtle way brings in your natural smell and works with it, rather than burying it under so many notes that are louder than you. That said this is one of the best "nothing" perfumes I have tried recently. It smells like pewter to me. Not a gun shop per se, but the air in a gun shop. There's this vague cassis/blackberry in the background about 20min in that makes me imagine that the gun shop owner is probably a very cool woman with jet black hair. If you are a fan of Beaufort's unapologetic trips thru the factory and boatyard, but find you want something quieter, I think you would really like this.

Stunning. So beautiful I want to weep. Smoky and complex. I am getting great performance from this — surprised to read that others aren’t.

The mineral notes are the star at first. I didn't pick up any blackcurrant. The birch and gunpowder come in very lightly after that. I got a whole 3 hours out if it, just barely. Very nice scent. However, the performance to price ratio is appalling. Should be criminal. I wish it either projected or lasted several hours. It doesn't check any of those boxes. Some scents get at least one of those right. Bonus for both. This thing is scented water.