snarp: small cute androgynous android crossing arms and looking very serious (Default)
2015-11-14 06:02 pm

Matching the perfume I'm wearing to the incense I'm burning.

Shoyeido Hoyei-koh + Al-Rehab Silver (the really good Silver Mountain Water knock-off) = ideal.

I wasn't initially sure about either one individually, but I combined them the other day, and now I think they're both great. Very good inexpensive Odor Experience.
snarp: small cute androgynous android crossing arms and looking very serious (Default)
2015-08-30 07:55 pm

Fool-Proof Methods Of Bribing Me

* The Mother's India Fragrances "Ganesh Nag Champa" incense

* Triloka "Aphrodisia" incense

* Any Shoyeido "Daily" incense except Haku-un, but particularly Kinkakuji and Nokiba

* small vials of synthetic animalic- and woody-type perfume compounds, correctly labelled with trade name
snarp: small cute androgynous android crossing arms and looking very serious (Default)
2014-12-06 12:58 am

(no subject)

In the background of a lot of my cat photos lately there have been three boxes of Nippon Kodo Mainichikoh incense. On the off-chance that anyone was looking closely enough at my cat photos to wonder, haha, no I don't actually have three things of the stuff! That would be excessive even for me! Two of those boxes I'm just using to store other incense and matches and stuff.

"Okay, but do you have the empty ones because you've gone through two whole boxes of Nippon Kodo Mainichikoh, which is six hundred sticks of incense?"

I have gone through at least four whole boxes of Nippon Kodo Mainichikoh.
snarp: small cute androgynous android crossing arms and looking very serious (Default)
2014-07-05 12:07 pm
Entry tags:

Odor investigations.

1) I think that Cedramber is the faux-ambergris that's in Cathode. It smells very close initially, if a little off on dry-down. And it appears to be the cheapest one - which would, y'know, make sense. I still need to try Cetalox, though.

2) I can't believe that I ever felt at all negatively about Shoyeido Kinkaku.
snarp: small cute androgynous android crossing arms and looking very serious (Default)
2014-02-15 02:14 pm
Entry tags:

Best Inexpensive Incense According To Me

Aphrodisia (Triloka)
Ganesh Nag Champa (Mother's India Fragrances)
Mainichi Koh (Nippon Kodo) (please understand that if you talk shit about the cheap green stuff I will be forced to do a bad thing to you)
Whooping Crane (Nippon Kodo)
Japanese Morning Glory (Nippon Kodo)
Bamboo Leaf (Nippon Kodo)
Kinkaku/Golden Pavilion (Shoyeido)
Kyonishiki/Kyoto Autumn Leaves (Shoyeido)
snarp: small cute androgynous android crossing arms and looking very serious (Default)
2013-08-03 04:54 pm
Entry tags:

Puzzling incense development.

Shoyeido's Haku-un/White Cloud incense is the most expensive item in their Daily Incense line, and it gets very good reviews from these guys.

The box smells exactly like a brick of instant curry.

I mean, I really like bricky curry, which we always have a couple things of in the kitchen, and I also really like the incense, which does smell a bit like bricky curry when burned, except classier and with sandalwood. It's just... unexpected.

I was honestly trying to say "brick curry" in that sentence, but both times I typed "bricky" instead.
snarp: small cute androgynous android crossing arms and looking very serious (Default)
2013-05-16 10:09 pm
Entry tags:

blergh

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.