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Sherapop
Helpful Review
5
Stoutly Brewed China Black Tea--or is it leather?--with Cream
Tokyomilk Dark BULLETPROOF is a surprisingly good perfume. The surprise arises primarily from the low cost of this line, with 2 ounces commanding all of $40. Sounds impossible, I know, but Margot Elena is the master of what I have come to refer to affectionately as "budget niche" perfume.
Why niche? Well, because the creations smell natural and feature unique combinations of notes not found anywhere else. What more could one want?
BULLETPROOF offers a dark, even black, China tea note which smells rather leathery to my nose, no doubt in part because of the ebony in the mix. Some reviewers have compared the scent to rubber tires, but I find this quite a bit less intense than either Molinard HABANITA or Bvlgari BLACK, my two reference rubber tire scents. BULLETPROOF also does not give me a headache.
The sillage is pretty big and the longevity excellent, and overall this smells quite good, all things considered. Most of the Tokyomilk creations are fairly linear and sometimes I find them a bit flat. They definitely lack the "radiance" of many haute niche perfumes being offered today. The good news is that they also tend not to be overloaded with the usual aromachemical suspects which have been homogenizing niche perfumery. Margot seems to compose to the beat of her own drummer.
I recommend BULLETPROOF to anyone who likes dark tea and leathery perfumes. I recommend the entire line to anyone who looks to perfume as a substitute for world travel, as each and every one of the perfumes from this house occupies a distinct node on the grand olfactory map.
The bottles are small (the dark series are 2 ounce and the regular series 1 ounce), so they are fun to explore and do not require a big investment to do so. These are probably not perfumes which I would buy twice, but the experience of wearing them for the duration of one bottle is certainly worth much more than the modest asking price!
