Dolls

And so, let's start with the fact that this perfume, as well as all other perfumes of this brand are dedicated to feature films of the same name. Specifically this "Dolls" is a movie by the Japanese film director Takeshi Kitano. Or the original title of the film, the non-localized title is "Bound Beggars". "Dolls" tells the tender and honest story of three failed love stories. The film begins with the historical Japanese art of Bunraku theater, followed by a couple walking aimlessly through a park, pulling a red rope that holds them together. It was inspired by two beggars who similarly wandered through three Tokyo suburbs. Kitano aims to tell the love story that followed them. For context, about Bunraku Theater, or the full name Ningyo Joruri Bunraku (which is the full name of Japanese puppet theater). Puppets for Bunraku theater, it's a separate art form. Because, masters who possess authentic techniques are not so many left, and to create the head of the puppet requires several months. This work, as it turns out, is very difficult, yes, and the material to find for their manufacture becomes quite difficult. After all, the head of the doll is cut out of cypress (hinoki). The doll itself is made without a wooden stretcher, and also intertwined with an infinite number of threads. So that's what I'm getting at. People, what kind of dolls are you thinking of, and what kind of plastic are we talking about? It's obviously cherry-floral, maple-syrupy, amber-musky musty. In a beautiful way. I think, in my humble opinion, that those notes of "plastic" you are talking about can be given by Apple Blossom, ambergris and snow. But it's clearly not plastic, it's more like maple leaves fallen on crisp snow.

I ordered a slew of new samples from Luckyscent, and was quite surprised to find Moth and Rabbit's Dolls was my favorite of the entire bunch, especially after reading Mark Buxton's description: 'heavy... animalistic... repulsive'... I actually ordered it just for fun, to see how it would be, because of his description. But obviously I can't smell all the things he must be smelling, because to me, this is quite an agreeable scent- yes, suitable for a doll, but even more so for my fantasy Geisha girl, what with it's powdery notes akin to rice flour, the pronounced cherry blossom, the woody sweetness of maple- it all works for me, and somehow, it really does evoke snow. It also reminds me of another perfume which many reviewers found hyper-synthetic, some even said harsh smelling, but that I also found quite lovely, which is Ma Dame by Jean Paul Gaultier. It could be my sniffer is a little bent, and of course ymmv, but even on subsequent wearings, more interesting facets of the scent continue to emerge. I am becoming more and more impressed with this one, and may have to check out more from this line.

Minimalist but ethereal and slightly glossy. An unparalleled Barbie doll accord and pink classic bubble gum in a molecular form. There is a sweet cold whimsical snowflake note that seems softly tainted by minuscule pink cherry blossoms from a Japanese bonsai tree. This is the most realistic Barbie plastic scent because this brand uses great quality photorealistic synthetic notes. This has been my everyday scent for many years for normal stuff like napping, sleeping, shopping, ignoring people and also spraying inside my purse, car and agenda. I get told it suits me exceptionally well; and of course it does... por la carita de Barbie🥰; SUCH IS LIFE. I’m sure my super obsessed hater on this site will say it also suits her yet she doesn’t have a Barbie face. 😆

I blind bought and this is a success. Animalic powdery with a drydown of soft sweet floral. It is fairly complex and will change over time. The opening can be a little bit scary because yes, it has an animalic aspect that is quite noticeable. But don't worry it dries down into plasticky cherry blossom powder with just a little bit of shank to keep it interesting and "savage". I'm obsessed. It also last for a while, good staying power. What an interesting brand, Moth and Rabbit. Mysterious perfume brand from Berlin, all black bottles. Very austere. It's all unusual. But it is promising. I need more :)

This perfume smells like 2014. It smells like a girl in a snowy garden, wearing an ethereal pink dress that's a little dirty on the bottom. It's my favourite. It's a little cosmetic, very nostalgic, youthful in a melancholy way. It really does smell like a scented doll. Simply beautiful; the snow note adds a dreaminess I have never experienced in anything else. Wonderful!

smells exactly like plastic dolls, which is obviously not for everyone, but I personally love so so much.

Strawberry mochi and bubble-gum, incredibly fluffy aroma

Wauw, very unique opening! The fragrance changes between sugary sweet and floral, and all the florals compete between each other and have a few seconds of spotlight of their own. I sense ylang ylang, then magnolia, then orange blossom. Ambergris powers through too and gives the fragrance a beautiful animalic undertone. Musk gives the fragrance a wonderful warmth and after a while all the florals fuse together and become an exotic floral garden. What a difference a few months make! I still stand by my review from June, but since then I have been exploring fragrances that I would not usually choose or like and smelled my fair share of unique fragrances. I think I have trained my nose to experience fragrances rather than just choose them based on wearability. You can read my full review on my blog, which is linked in my bio.

The synthetic, plastic doll head scent of this perfume isn't that strong but is detectable in the opening. I don't get snow... was curious if I would, and not sure how I missed it as I doused myself generously to get all the notes. This is a sweet, floral, woodsy perfume that has a slight cherry or bright, sweet red fruit note along with the ylang-ylang and cedar upfront. There is a very slight spiciness, maybe the geranium? And definitely some slightly clashing ambergris with the fruity sweetness, but not as much as say, Sadanne by Slumberhouse. The dry down becomes a powdery sweetness with a bit of musk but as a skin scent. "Dolls" fades pretty quickly, so sadly won't be a full bottle purchase for me as I really enjoy quirky yet feminine scents and this is a fun one.

The perfume opens with a slightly sweet, rather subtle scent. Later, the fragrance doesn't become more pronounced on the skin, but on fabric, you can sense slightly heavier notes. It's sweet, yet something weighs down the composition—perhaps animalic notes. To me, these aren't modern, playful Barbie dolls, colorful and cheerful, full of opulence, frosting, and glitter. Instead, they are more like elegantly dressed porcelain dolls in vintage dresses, belonging to an older family member. The kind you touch with respect and gentleness, to avoid damaging them... There's a certain charm in this vision...

Dolls smells like a gateway scent into Musc Ravageur for newbies afraid of animalic musks. For me it was instantly likable. In the opening you get the brightness and prettiness of the floral notes before the musk starts peeking through. It's animalic, yes, but refined and wearable — not in a BO sort of way. It just melds into your skin like a sensual aura. I also like the contrast between the lightness of the "snow" fantasy note and the heavier musk. I'd probably buy this if not for the rather high price tag. I think it's overpriced for the intimate skin scent that you get.

Terrible (excuse me for saying this) old people perfume opening. Pungent, patchouli like, heavy. It stays quite floral, luckily the pungent smell evaporates, but it remains a heavy fragrance, like a sticky flower. It calms down a lot, which I am happy about, but to those who love this fragrance it's a shame, they won't get much longevity on this one. I smell plum, floral, indistinguishable sweetness. On paper I also smell liquorice. The fragrance is much lighter, more bearable. I can't smell any trace of it half an hour in.

oooh this is nice!!! sweet and juicy yet light and airy notes which were chosen intentionally and executed excellently. probably named ‘dolls’ to insinuate you’d smell like one when wearing this- though not in a literal plastic toy sense, but rather the embodiment of the sweet term of endearment. feminine and fragile, what more could a girl ask for?

I think that most people (for every perfume) get influenced by a perfume’s name or description that they immediately think that it is what they’re smelling. This name is misleading if you think it’s about dolls, but no it’s about some movie. That doesn’t have anything ti do with dolls. Except for it’s name. Just like this perfume.

i love it. its way creamier and sweeter on skin than on paper. its very simple, but very nostalgic, the plastic doll note is very prominent and thats what makes it so good. soapy in a good way.

Your favourite Barbie doll with perfume on it. I'm not talking about the perfume your doll would wear, it is your doll with the perfume. Plastic-y, sweet snow scent.

Girly pretty baby powder bubble bath. It's reminding me of those bath time dolls when I was a kid. I had a cabbage patch one teehee.

Anamalic powder - I actually like this a lot bc the anamalic notes are obvious but not overwhelming

Synthetic sweetness deluxe. Not my thing, but in this one unnatural plastic is exactly what you would expect. I am getting more upset over the all the new mainstream perfumes advertised as fruity, floral, woody, etc... but all just smells of the same generic fragrance molecules that is in everything from detergents to "luxury" perfumes nowadays...

very interesting scent. Opening is too harsh, almost burnt plastic to me, but much nicer on the dry down. I really like to layer with TF Lost Cherry or BR540.

I was fully interested until the ambroxan emerged and subsequently tainted the fragrance. 20 minutes tops. This is not a nose burning ambroxan bomb by any means, but the note is still perceptible and just as bothersome. Prior to that, it did smell like a sweet plastic doll or maybe a nice hair conditioner. I was not able to individualize any notes, which I’m sure is due to my extreme sensitivity to ambroxan. I would not have gone for this had I known it contained the note. Frustratingly, its inclusion is neither listed on fragrantica nor the Moth and Rabbit webpage. I’m really sad about this one because I was expecting to love this one, the notes are right up my alley, then IT showed up.

This had so much potential, I almost almost like it a lot, but there is something like plastic in here that I can't figure. Pass. -

Smells vintage, dusty, and kinda sour. It ends up smelling like chemical baby powder once dried down

Davana opening, balsamic. There is a touch of vintage stirring here - aldehydes? Or is that the snow? A touch of maple but not very obvious. Musk. What is this? It's just gross, like an aldehyde toxic hangover. I get aldehydes and musk and it feels so synthetic and poisonous. It's a good thing it doesn't last.

I would love to see the movie that inspired Dolls, but I am having a hard time getting my hands on it, so I can’t say whether or not this fragrance in any way conjures the essence or spirit of the film, its characters, or its story. Dolls is vaguely sweet, in a stovetop simple syrup made with water and white sugar kind of way, somewhat powdery in a dusty violet candy way, and gently floral, as in the floral notes that come in the form of blossoms from a flowering tree sort of way. Combine the delicacy and fleeting characteristics of these mild, mellow elements with ylang ylang’s rubbery musk and you do get a bit of a plastic doll head scent. Although I don’t know if the avant-garde film inspiration even had any dolls in it, so I could be reaching there. I will tell you that I was wearing this scent while reading Catriona Ward’s new book Sundial and Dolls makes me think of one of the book's main characters, Rob, a suburban housewife who is just trying to make a normal life for her two daughters. Rob senses with growing horror a chilling and evolving darkness and in her eldest daughter, Callie. Desperate for a solution for this child with whom she struggles to connect and doesn't actually even like very much, Rob journeys with Callie to her childhood home, Sundial, in the middle of the Mojave desert. Shocking secrets are revealed gradually, nothing here is as it seems or as you expect, and once you think you've got the story straight, your expectations are subverted and turned upside down and inside out. This is an intensely brilliant, brutal, breathless tale that kept me guessing right up until the end. So this ended up more of a book review than a perfume review but Dolls is a scent of someone going to drastic measures while maintaining a facade of normalcy, and you can almost smell how heartless they are going to need to be in the realization that this scent is all window dressing with no heart or soul inside.

Wow this is pretty and unusual, I rarely like things with rose and animalic notes but even though I can slightly pick up both in here, it works. This is such a funand weird smell that it immediately made me flash back to my 90s/early 2000's childhood. Primarly the folding polly pocket dolls that I think had scented clothes (they were made out of rubber). Also makes me think of my littlest pet shop, barbies, unicorns with plastic hair you could brush, those cheap make up kits with that scent (ifkyk), scented texters and other scented toys from that era. This is like ultra girly-girl, pink, cutesy, bubbly, fun, quirky and nostalgic. Reminds me of fragrances like V6 by Map of Heart and Voodoo Lily by Heretic. If I leaned in to the hyper-femme pink aesthetic, I would need this with V6 and VL but I am not bubble-goth enough for this. Edit to add: There is something a bit 'off' that starts to come out after 10 mins and clouds over the cutsey-ness. I can't put my finger on it but it smells a bit human (probably the animalics) but it does have this sort of savoury meaty smell? It does shift again after this though and goes into a sort of powdery cherry and yellow floral scent.

Just a little review to share that DOLLS smells similar to BATH and BODY WORKS (BBW) BUBBLE GUM POP. It opens with a powdery dolls head accord and after about 10 minutes you start getting whiffs of faint pink bubble gum undertones. DOLLS also reminds me of MOSCHINO TOY 2 BUBBLE GUM. The main difference is that Toy 2 Bubble Gum has an added rose note which DOLLS does not have. Also, DOLLS is much more powdery than Toy 2 Bubble Gum. Last but not least, DOLLS is also similar to BEL REBEL BUBBLE GUM. Please note, the bubble gum accord in DOLLS is very faint and subtle, whereas in the other scents mentioned above the bubble gum note is much stronger. The main scent bubble that DOLLS creates is a talc amber-scented powdery dollhead scent mixed with the bubble gum powder on pink hubba bubba bubble gum, faintly in the background. Sillage of DOLLS is intimate to soft, and longevity is good. The scent lasts several hours on the skin, however sillage is modest and with time, the faint bubble gum accord disappears and one is left with a plain amber powdery doll head scent. I hope that helps!

The listed notes won't really help you out with this one. Maybe cherry blossom? Maybe animal notes? But if I were not looking at the note pyramid, I wouldn't be able to identify those. Not a safe blind buy AT ALL because it's one of those strange and synthetic on purpose fragrances. Syrupy, powdery... one of the rare perfumes that gives me a sense of foreboding unease. This isn't a finished doll ready for purchase. This is a bin of doll parts.. arms, legs, torsos, heads... all waiting to be joined together.

Plastic baby dolls and strawberry bubble gum in an 80’s cat lady house - animalic, softly synthetic, sweet and delicious. Totally wearable. Very nice ! My only complaint is that after about an hour it becomes a basic clean synthetic musk and loses it’s character. This house is so cool- every perfume is so artful that some for me are unwearable, but always appreciated.

Cherry blossoms falling in slow motion, compact powder, and slightly dusty melting plastic like a doll left on a window sill. Tragically beautiful in an abandoned way, graceful, and precious. Very different. Almost scary.

Ok this has to be said. Some of yall complain about a plasticky smell when you knowingly purchased a fragrance that is doll based and don't seem to understand that they are ummm made out of plastic!!

Wow!!!! This really does smell like a doll: part cabbage patch part dollar store Barbie. Can’t single out any of the notes, it all combines really beautifully. A little sweet, a little powdery.

Smells like going to the neighbors house as a kid to play with cabbage patch dolls, who also never cleaned their carpet. Powdery, rosey, syntethic and slightly dirty.

Stinks so bad smells like alcohol & moth balls.. nothing doll about it

Love’s Baby Soft meets bubble tape gum but make it animalic