Itoh

Itoh opens with a blast of white, dry woody notes. A slightly sweet-sour edge that settles down into a truly heartbreakingly beautiful wooden floral tobacco. Whilst Itoh is primarily about pale wood and tobacco, the florals here lend a thrumming background note, especially the lotus with its' pale, fragile sweetness. As with all MIKMOI frags I've sampled, this is pale and soft, never aggressive or heady. Completely unisex and totally unlike anything I've smelled before. A must try for fans of softer woods or pale tobacco scents. Longevity is moderate, sillage is at the lower end of heavy - it's a delicate scent that projects more than you'd expect it to.

Opens with piney woods and bright peony. Slowly transforms in an ethereal veil of light pink floral notes, and a black velvet of powdery tobacco. Simultaneously moody and dark, and light and airy. Leans feminine. Slight powdery musk effect. Dry, no detectable sweetness. Very unique. Beautiful, well suited to all ages. 8.5/10

I received Itoh in a smorgasbord of Mikmoi fragrance samples. The opening consists of a lot of woody notes underlied by a light tobacco. The flower notes are there in the background. As it wears on, the flowers take a more prominent role and the wood recedes in the background. The peony and lotus give an added bit of sweetness to this fragrance. I didn’t really get any agarwood in this. Itoh is nice, but it’s nothing I’d go out of my way to wear. I think it stands slightly on the feminine side but is wearable for a man. It’s put together well - it’s certainly not a poor design. And the longevity on this is also very good.

The opening has a leather quality to it. The combination of dry woody notes here is not really to my liking. I think it could use a hint of green. The heart is gorgeous when the flowers shine through.. but I would have liked for the lotus to be more prominent. I mostly just get the sweet peony. Overall this is a lovely, interesting scent. A like from me, but not bottle worthy.

Itoh is another amazing scent from Mikmoi. This perfume house is nothing short of genius. His scents are unlike anything else I have had the chance to try; the most predominant feature of Itoh is how ethereal the scent notes are. I often find that cedar or tobacco in a perfume can overtake the other notes pretty easily, but not the case here. In fact, they very often scare me away from a perfume. And to have both of them together! I was sure this would be a no-go for me. Alas, Itoh , like its sister scent AO, is the master of subtlety. It opens with he cedar, but quickly the peony and lotus join in to soften it. Never does it feel like a floral perfume, however. As it wears on, the gentle woods settle in. Oud, although listed in the scent notes, is quiet here. I am just at a loss to describe how lovely it is! It does play fairly close to the skin, although both Ao and Itoh last a long time on me, I am going to eventually need a full bottle of Itoh, and I think it would be great all year long. A perfectly unisex scent.