Himitsu Violets

ugh. i really like this, which sucks, because i had to spray it 3x more than i usually would to get even close to a little bit of projection, and i am the opposite of a beast mode oversprayer, so that should tell you something. i just can barely smell it unless i put my arm up close to my nose, and that's a shame for a scent so lovely, but especially for a scent so damn pricey. anyway, of course i was going to like it, violets and heliotrope are my favourite florals and they are front and center here, and the leather is more of a moccasin suede rather than a new car leather, making it soft and not at all nauseating. the violets are impressively lasting, and they are the exact kind of violet that i love, edible-sweet and powdery. the heliotrope radiates a warm floral glow, and there's an almost minty undercurrent to the entire composition that keeps it from becoming cloying. it reminds me of someone's well-loved suede purse, with a spilled tin of violet pastilles, a pack of mint chewing gum, and lingering floral perfume. elegant, but not trying too hard. all of this in miniature, of course, like handwriting so tiny you have to squint to read it. it gives my other leathery violet favourite (deadly nightshade by alkemia, now tragically discontinued) a serious run for its money, although they are very different in mood, but i just don't know if i could justify the price point given the performance. but the more i smell it the more i fall in love... oh no.

This perfume is a real treasure in perfumery. Himitsu in japanese means secret, but I feel like "Memory" would be a slightly better name for this gorgeous bottle. It evokes memories from your best days and teleportes to deep caves of nostalgia. Somehow it is also achieving that without sad feeling that normally comes with looking back at our past. It is warm and powdery, moist and sweet, leathery and refreshing.. Its just everything but still mostly gentle and subtle. I personally can smell: -soda (cold Coca-Cola) -violets (sweet but not too sweet) -leather (adds warmth after I would say 1h) -sweet powder (creamy and cottony) I would say this scent is for women, although the leathery notes could make some men want to buy it. Its a scent that is perfectly balanced. Sweet but not too sweet. Warm but fresh. The longevity is there for few hours if you gonna spray it few times. If you gonna spray it one time- it will dissapear pretty fast since it is a skin scent (u will smell it delicatly on your skin). I would reccomend spraying it few times since I see some comments that are dissapointed by longevity- just spray a bit more and its gonna last you few hours. Very pretty botle. Romantic, soft and nostalgic. My new favourite <3 Edit: Still my favourite but the lasting power is nonexistent T-T

If Santal 33 is the downtown extrovert, Himitsu is the uptown introvert. Wistful, worldly, just back from a writer’s residency abroad. And while you may balk at the comparison to S33, I think both fragrances cultivate that clear, bone-blond woods scent I associate with luxury furniture stores and Arch Digest-worthy artists’ lofts. I swear they pump something cousin to Himitsu into the W Hotel. However, compared to S33, there’s more chapters to this elixir. This is an all-season pleaser, both nocturnal and diurnal. You could go straight from board meetings to violet hour cocktails with this blend. In Himitsu, refined, earthen notes like leather and suede are offset by candied violets and sassafras cola. If there’s any evocation of Japan, I’m also getting white peach gummies, like the gumdrops from Kasugai. It’s a Hermes satchel magpie-d full of sweets. Maybe that’s the secret to Himitsu. Mental Snapshot: You’re nestled in the buttery leather of a first-class recliner on the shinkansen, orchid stormclouds blotting the dusk. You’re travelling on business. And the business is a complete and total lack of responsibilities. You’re nursing a packet of gummy lychee. You’re the most celebrated poet of the century, but none will crack your pseudonym. Tl;dr: c-suite sweet-tooth 👜🪻

Oh DR, you’ve done it again. This is just exquisite. After a series of disastrous recent blind buys I was not expecting such a gem. But this is really special! I don’t understand the people saying they cannot detect violet, because one little spray and there was a full on blast of sweet, parma violet sugaryness to my nose! But then immediately comes a lovely almost menthol aniseed note that cools everything down. Exactly like one of those violette French pastilles with the little aniseed inside. After which there’s a lovely, suede leather bottom note that matures the perfume and makes it feel so much more sophisticated and grown up. It’s sweet and tender and comforting and motherly, but also a little fragile and sad. This makes me think of 1980s Russia, walking to the Bolshoi ballet in the snow, hand in hand with mom. Your mother sporting stylish Princess Di short hair and a long warm black fur coat, she gives you a violet candy from her leather purse, the cold Moscow night wind blowing her musky feminine perfume in your face now and then, reminding you of her warm comforting presence among the bitter cold.

A shy scent, a wallflower, lightly sweet like the softest sprinkling of confectioners' sugar. The suede is quiet in the background, slyly idiosyncratic, like rolling your eyes when no one's watching. Honestly so pretty, but in a way that evades convention. It's difficult to really describe this in a way that does it justice. I get powdery violets and a whisper of a dried-apricot-like sweetness, suede that's soft from loving wear, the muguet and heliotrope rounding it all out. There aren't any hard edges here. I love the imagery of secrecy in the marketing on this one. I think it's the perfect concept.

Himitsu Violets smells as if a candied violet accord was created from a 1:1 blend of iris and lilac. Perfectly blended, multifaceted, masterfully balanced. A supreme illustration of heliotrope. Floral forward. Realistic, honeyed florals. A hint reminiscent of Queen Anne’s Lace before it turns indolic. Delicacy counterbalanced by an ambery, gently musky, subtle suede backbone. Soft, warm, fresh, lightly powdery, slightly creamy, faintly tart, a tickle of spice. Gorgeous and addictive. Romantic with an edge. Serene, enchanting, and easy-wearing.

Oh my god heavenly! Like crushing a violet candy to powder between your teeth. Like wearing a soft, soft sophisticated suede jacket, or borrowing your mom's purse. Cool, elegant neutrals, a brush of femininity. A dawn fragrance & dusk fragrance Update: my mom said this smells like "a box of fresh bandaids" lol Update #2: after a second claim of "antiseptic" smell, I'll confess I can detect a note of doctor's office; I hate going to the doctor but I still love this perfume. A utopian doctor's office, if anything

Himitsu Violets is like you are on your way to the ballet, and you open up your suede purse to pull out a tin of violet pastilles to freshen your breath before you enter the theatre. I don't notice any lily-of-the-valley or saffron, but all of the other notes are present. A relatively simple fragrance but so nicely done. I love how it's not too green or ozonic like so many other violet perfumes. Update: Bought a full bottle 1.5 years later. Couldn't forget it. Two sprays last all day on me with soft sillage.

This is for sure a candied Violet fragrance with suede in the background but for me it also has a bit of a Coca Cola vibe as well. During the dry down the violet stays prominent and there is an almost smokey note that appears. There’s such a light effervescence about this fragrance that makes me happy every time I smell it. I’d say if I had to that this is unisex but leans a bit feminine, as a male I’ll still happily wear it.

Soft and dry. Sugary. Something I’d gravitate towards at bedtime but it's so clean and sweet I'd wear it during the day too. There’s something faintly artificial smelling about it (parma violets spring to mind) but it doesn’t bother me. Kind of like being given a really good hug by someone you feel ambivalent towards. The more I wear it the more I love it. Pairs well with: Ooo - Karen O

Eating gummy bears in a suede jacket. I think this is a masterpiece. The soft and clean violets, something round and bouncy, almost fruity if you lean into it, and slightly medicinal saffron giving it an unexpected edge. It has enough dimension to make it interesting while still feeling like pure & simple joy.

smells like: crushed violet pastilles, a sprig of mint, a suede leather purse (in no other shade but brown/plum) filled with gum wrappers, lychee flavored konnyaku jelly, peelerz gummy peaches, 'franny' by mad planets, and watching 'blue velvet' (1986) by david lynch in a dark, quiet room.

Beautiful violet on first spray but the suede over powers for a few minutes once settled it’s a lovely powdered suede with a hint of violet. Love but not sure I Love it enough for a full bottle

a soft, mournful, and beautiful scent. candied violets with soft powdery florals to add depth. makes me want to curl under my comforter and let melancholy take hold

This was an immediate love with the realistic violet and soft leather notes. This is going on my to-buy list.

Very grateful to have worn this through my first trip to Japan this past year, love you.

Interesting, unique, and well conceived...a great daytime fragrance which is unisex

Forget Tears, Himitsu Violets is the one that truly smells like melancholy

I have learned I only enjoy Leather/Suede when it is with Violet.......

This is really pretty and well-made, although sweetish powder/doll-head violet-heliotropes like this aren't wearable for me. I've tried to figure out why, and I'm begining think that (for me) these kinds of 'trad fem' cute/nostalgic/vintage smells only work if deliberately, performatively queered/subverted by the wearer, either by some aspect of the wearer's identity (not necessarily sexual/gender), or by some other performative coding indicating a deliberately chosen/transcended ironic gap between wearer and scent. Alternatively, romantic pastel-toned 'girly girls/boys/...' might be able to embrace the trad feminine codes of such a perfume without irony. I don't feel able to do either of these things, and since candied-violet-heliotrope for me smells of inherited feminine norms that so many of us are obliged to work all our lives, most of the time failing, to instantiate, on my skin the genre just reads as mawkish. It's not even age-related - I remember feeling this way about a similarly pretty-floral, albeit non-violet, perfume (Givenchy Fleur d'Interdit) in my late teens. I'd really like to smell Himitsu on interesting others, though, so do test! A useful comparator is Universal Flowering's Heliotrope Milkbath, which I also struggle to wear, although it's slightly weirder than Himitsu due to its funky drydown - if pushed to choose, I'd go for HM. Another close relative of Himitsu, Violette Fumee, also nostalgic (Grey Flannel was a deliberate point of reference I think) and playdough-ish, by cutting out the sweetness and veering unisex somehow makes violet happily wearable for me. In the wider sweet-doll perfume arena, I like Celeste's exaggerated brightness and artificiality, which do some of the ironising work for me. In the drydown Himitsu fades towards featherlight yet plush suede, and is lovely. A note on presentation: I haven't seen the bottle in real life, but the colour of the cap is just perfect for the scent.