When all my other senses are unreliable, I go back to obsessing over incense and perfume. And incense is cheaper.
Shoyeido Daily - Kinkaku/Golden Pavilion: The benzoin/cinnamon combination here reminds me a little of my favorite incense,
Triloka's Aphrodisia, but it's also got that dry, cool, powdery feeling that most Japanese sandalwoods do. And the patchouli scent is the very "dirty" BO-ish kind, and very strong, which I think doesn't work well with the other elements. I mean, it's not as bad as when you get a crappy artificial jasmine accord with so much indole it ends up smelling like poop, but it's just not quite right.
I haven't seen this mentioned in other reviews of the stuff, so maybe I got a bad roll, or I'm oversensitive? I do like it overall, but it's definitely weird.
Shoyeido Daily - Nokiba/Moss Garden: If you just looked at the "ingredient" list - "sandalwood, benzoin, patchouli, and spices" - you might expect it to smell a lot like the Kinkaku, but they don't have much in common. This is smoother and more harmonious, if it's appropriate to use that word in when discussing smells. Very sweet, dry, and the scent doesn't linger long. It's not bad, but also not all that interesting! I think I like the Kinkaku better.
Nippon Kodo Sagano Patchouli: I didn't actually realize this had patchouli in it for a long time. I can recognize it now that I know it's there, but the impression I get from it a very dry green sandalwood with some very dry spicy/floral oil mixed in. Super-dry, basically. It smells brittle, if brittle can be a smell, which it can because I say so.
Nippon Kodo Yume-no-Yume - Maple Leaf: Wow, this stuff is sweet. I mean, I like it, but it's
extremely sweet. That seems to be a thing that all the Yume-no-Yume incenses have in common. This one's an ambergris/vanilla-y scent, but I'd say it's more cool than warm. That's Japanese incense for you, folks - a scent format that can make vanilla smell prissy and inedible.
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