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Кристинка – :
Since recently joining this site, I have a renewed enthusiasm for perfumes. Although the caveat for me is that I tend to get headaches easily from them and so I must be slow and careful with a fragrance. I cannot wear too much, too often or I may end up sickening myself and retaliate by stashing the bottle in the back of the closet and forgetting about it for ages… like a relationship, it is best to take things slow.
I bought Tokyo Milk Bittersweet about 5 years ago. Initially I fell in love with the medicinal/ potion looking bottle, and the delicious and decadent chocolatiness of the juice. I greedily used way too much of it within the first week of purchase it became decidedly sickly sweet to me so I stashed it away, only to rediscover it thanks to you lovely reviewers.
For me, Bittersweet starts off like a pure rich chocolate liquor that I want to lick off my arm, and slowly melts away into more of a powdery chocolate flower, I wish that more of the chocolate notes would remain, and in the end its mainly powder to me. I believe this scent wears close to the skin, which I personally prefer. I would rather not leave a recognizable trail of scent everywhere I go, but rather a cloud hugged in close to me that gives those lucky enough to be so close a sense of a secret familiarity. That they will be enticed by the memory of the secret scent they alone received.
Bittersweet smells of a gift of jewels and flowers and fine chocolates slowly decaying in the tomb of a beloveds from the pages of a forgotten Edgar Allen Poe novel.
Or the smell one might imagine would waft from vapid vampires languishing in a mansion, waiting to seduce and devour the next human to cross their path.
As other reviewers have said, there is something decidedly dark, mysterious and gothic about Bittersweet, both in the heavy scented liquid and the black insect embossed bottle that contains it. Which is just fine with me, for to quote Lydia Deetz “I myself am strange and unusual”.
psnick – :
This seemed like a tug-of-war between cocoa powder and amber/musk. Nice, sweet and interesting, but much too strong for me. I couldn’t get a light enough application to tolerate it. Gave it to my sister who likes loud things.
koljan1122 – :
Halloween night in a bottle. The smell of powdery, dark chocolate goodies dumped into a freshly laundered pillow case, carried through the chilly autumn night air.
Longevity is a bit short and sillage is soft, but it’s fun and also good for layering.
Irridsrom – :
It’s surprising how much this smells like you’ve just ripped open a box of Betty Crocker style chocolate cake mix! As you tear into the bag a fleeting cloud of sweet chocolatey flour envelops you… this is the moment the fragrance recreates. The name is fitting — although it’s quite sweet, the bitterness from the dark cocoa helps to create balance. I don’t get much musk at all here. Overall this scent remains fairly linear and it’s nothing sophisticated… but it’s playful and warm.
aleks-mihailov – :
Yes, it IS Chocolate, but my least favorite one. I agree with the reviewer below that said there is a note in there they should have left out. Demeter’s Chocolates are much truer & a better price. This is the only TokyoMilk I have, & I am not impressed. It’s strange. Al Rehab Choco Musk is much better also, along with Chocolate Crave Perfume. My bad tho, It was a blind buy. I will use it, but maybe not in public….Natalie N on YT~
yaraa – :
A burst of freshly made toostie rolls! And the middle to drydown notes are cake flour. I can see me really wearing this all thru christmas!
breads – :
This genuinely smell like chocolate cake mix.. sweet and likably but has little to no sophistication. I don’t see myself wearing this out in public but it’s nice for lounging around the house.
kivalov1988 – :
Milk Chocolate Powder…
Mmmmm what a lovely scent from Tokyo Milk Parfumerie! I get a lot of dark chocolate powder, then softened by milk chocolate, and a mix of light florals… with a lot of musk, clean white musk. It’s a very nice fragrance. It blends with the skin well, and stays as a skin scent for a long time.
I think that people who love chocolate fragrances will like this one. It appeals to the gourmand side and the sweet side, but it also has enough dryness to be appreciated by people who don’t. It’s quite versatile in that respect. I like it, and I would recommend it if you have a taste for chocolate, or these types of scents. A good little fragrance!
lrg264Diobtetty – :
I deleted my previous review because I have completely changed my mind on this fragrance. I initially stated that although I loved the first spray of Bittersweet, the chocolate note disappeared into a drydown that I didn’t care for or that just wasn’t for me.
Now I love this fragrance! Fresh sprays give me a very edible chocolatey scent, but the drydown is a fabulous, creamy vanilla with a hint of muskiness. On clothes, the chocolate morphs into a rich soft cashmere quality, all clean and warm and fresh. I’ve had people look around a (small) room and ask, “What smells so good?” and “I smell something very fresh and clean. Is that YOU?”. Then I get sniffed (always interesting if you don’t know someone very well), and they exclaim in delight that it IS me and that I smell so good.
Longevity isn’t great on skin, although it lasts forever on clothes. I kind of like that I have to respray Bittersweet though for that extra chocolate kick before the softness. Definitely a go-to for me for the fall and winter, and at less than 40 dollars a bottle (plus I got it with a coupon at Sephora for a grand total of 32 dollars), it’s a bargain. I can see where the chocolate is not for everyone, but give it a whirl. You’ll be surprised at how nice this is for a gentle and inviting scent.
neustyhaitien – :
No matter how much I want to, I cannot like this fragrance. There is one note that makes it sickly sweet in a bad way. I can’t imagine wearing this when there are so many better gourmand scents out there. This must smell wonderful on the right person, but that is not me.
Idepleneisp – :
This is a lovely chocolate/vanilla scent. It is not overwhelmingly chocolate, but noticable. Also, it does not have a projection that will offend anyone that does not like gourmands. It really is a beautiful fragrance for gourmand lovers and the price of this gem is so affordable…I just could not pass it up.
camisetasjtw – :
I love this and I wear it often with Aquolina Simply Pink by by Pink Sugar. I get compliments on this mix often.
stalker30 – :
I tried this in Sephora. At first spray it was rich and delicious. I was in love. It is a good thing I didn’t purchase it however. By the time I finished my browsing around the store, the scent was gone!
Xeroxaulsr – :
This is the perfume equivalent of a Tootsie Roll.
Not spectacular, but rather pleasant. Has a halloween candy vibe sometimes.
Scent: 8/10
galant306 – :
Not bitter at all. Not the sweetest one either.
It opens with a chocolate note, quite dry and powdery, makes me think of cacao powder. The smell is very pretty, smells like really good chocolate cake or yummy cupcake. It is just I don’t want to smell like that myself. As a fragrance this is a no for me, but I would love it as a room spray or a candle.
I haven’t tested many gourmands because I am not a fan in general of this type of scents so I cannot compare, it feels though as it is not overly sweet.
I think the scent is soft and lovely, recommend to test for all for those who are into gourmand/dessert/chocolate type of perfumes.
oksanakishyk – :
Barely sweetened cocoa and cake batter to open. I don’t find it sweet really and I don’t like overly sweet fragrances. It fades fairly quickly and dries down to a mild cocoa butter lotion scent. I don’t get much in the way of obvious osmanthus but may just add depth to the chocolate. I find it to be rich and sensual, cozy, uncomplicated. It layers nicely and adds depth to musk, spices, ambers, roses, earthy notes. And $35 is practically free these days! This is my favorite of the Tokyo Milk Dark series. The downside of this fragrance is that it only lasts about 45 minutes on my skin and a little longer on hair.
Brukcc – :
The only thing i can say about this perfume is that it smells exactly like Vaseline Intensive Care lotion – Cacao. Gone in 60 seconds after application.
pretty baby – :
if i smell this perfume on anyone i’ll be eating them all. this one is a very delicate delicious very sensual fragrance.
oncinemaonci – :
This was my first Tokyo Milk Dark perfume. I bought it as a birthday gift (instead of cake) to myself years ago and am finally getting around to talking about it.
Weak sillage. Shy lasting power. Notes are simple yet interesting.
First, you are introduced to this endearing chocolate cake note. It isn’t sweet or creamy. It’s dry and doesn’t have the orange note added to it like other chocolate fragrances we’ve come to know.
Next, the initial explosion of fudge cake mellows out and one can sniff out the musk quite nicely. Whether or not it is bronze, I cannot say. What remains of the cocoa and cake flour stirs a bit but ultimately fades gently out into forgettable musk and osmanthus.
Your dessert is digested. You miss it.
Alexpros – :
I had been wanting to try this, and finally got a tester from Sephora. I admit I was disappointed. The fragrance itself is wonderful, the longevity just did not match. It disappeared completely within an hour and a half on me.
darknegr – :
Notes: Cake Flour, Dark Cacao Bean, Osmanthus, Bronzed Musk
Opening smells like a powdery chocolate. That’s probably the cocoa and the cake flour combined. It’s only slightly bitter, which is nice. The cool down is nice. Very calm. The musk is light, with the osmanthus just somewhat stronger. Overall not a bad scent, but it’s not for everybody, so I wouldn’t recommend a blind buy.
makdak777 – :
This smells just like bittersweet chocolate cake mix (hence the name, I’m guessing.) Before purchasing this fragrance, you should probably ask yourself – “Do I want to smell like ACTUAL baked goods?”
—> If yes – This scent is delicious, and affordable. It sweet, but not sweet enough to give you a headache. There is no burnt, metallic, or other unpleasant note that generally comes along with less expensive gourmand scents – so that’s a plus! The dry-down is something that I personally have not experienced before. It’s a curious “powdery rice” note – and after showering with this fragrance on, that same “powdery rice” note is INTENSIFIED, and I wish I could find a fragrance of JUST that quality. These bottles are also very unique, and I love having them in my collection.
—> If no – Then turn and walk in the other direction!
Heathefeevief – :
I get chocolate cake.
In my opinion one of the better chocolate cake scents. Although, not sure I would purchase a full bottle.
I would suggest testing as a scent for Autumn and Winter months.
paolo555 – :
this is a fantastic Chocolate…sometimes i get the rose note but moreso over all i get nothing but a good quality Chocolate…the same Chocolate you smell in Guerlain’s Coquin..i am not saying its the same as Coquin but the same exact Chocolate note used in coquin without the rum and cherries…its on the lighter side as are most of the Tokyo line but i still love it and its only $36 in the US..so its a good quality Chocolate that left a good impression..i really want this one…
leepzxgeykh – :
I really wanted to love this fragrance! The notes sound like heaven! But, on my all I get is an extremely bitter chocolate note. Like unsweetened cacao that you use when baking or something! The bitterness almost reminds me of coffee. It’s an interesting vibe but I don’t know if I could rock it as my perfume. :-/
Кэтрин – :
This is a fantastic chocolate scent. It starts out as chocolate frosting, then dries down into powdered hot cocoa mix. It’s a very true chocolate, not for those who want their cacao note subtle. It takes “smelling good enough to eat” to a whole new level.
deniskamaler – :
love chocolate, had to have it!! jajaj!! and it is really good!!
pushok.7.7 – :
The notes don’t blend on my skin. I get synthetic chocolate, a pasty note that might be flour and a cloying oversweet osmanthus that reminds of sunscreen. Epic fail with my chemistry. Try before buying the whole bottle.
seveerr – :
Powdery chocolate blast – like brownie mix or tootsie rolls. But a few minutes later, all I could smell was overripe banana.
mzilbournf – :
Oh goodness! This perfume sure is a decadent, pervy little thing. At first you get a blast of dark cocoa with nuts in the foreground with velvety vanilla in the background. As it evolves, it becomes more vanilla-y and musky, with some tropical flowers peeping from behind the curtains. It summons up images of wine-coloured dresses, crimson lipstick and nails painted with dark brown polish, dark velvet… it’s kinda gothy even. Im loving it.
09pirat09 – :
This is one crazy ride of a perfume! The first thing you get it a brownie… a rich chocolate cake. You want to bite your arm. It really smells like you just came out of a bakery. After the cocoa tones down, you get the musk and the osmanthus. If you take longer whiffs, you can still get the cocoa. Definitely one for the gourmands!
rodnoy – :
Perfection. Sophisticated, cocoa-powdered perfection. I could take a bite out of myself! I just got off work, sprayed a sample of this on, and here I sit at the mall on my break wearing Bittersweet, catching a waft of musky cocoa with every subtle move I make. It’s so decadent. It’s just too good. You hear that, Margot Elena? TOO GOOD. I now have the power to draw my husband (the not-so-cuddly chocolate fiend) a little closer to me… can you hear my evil, mischievous laughter?
I swore up and down that I would never wear a chocolate themed fragrance because Aquolina Chocolovers killed it for me. From then on, I was keen on avoiding anything with cocoa or chocolate. Now I never want to try another cocoa fragrance because in comparison to Bittersweet, anything else might disappoint me.
Imagine those packets of cocoa powder for instant hot chocolate. It does not smell like the drink itself, but just that swirling, delicate cocoa powder ready to be made into a comforting, hot drink. It’s not too sweet, but sweet enough to linger. I can catch a hint of musk infused into the osmanthus. I do not get the cake batter accord that others are getting, so for me it is not too foody. That’s what makes Bittersweet so wearable! It has lasted a few hours now, still going strong. This is the perfect, dark chocolate fragrance to send you into a midnight food craving, and quite likely have others crave you!
SPIRT 36 RUS – :
For me, maybe the best chocolate scent ever. It is chocolate-y, but not sickening gourmand. I don’t know how they achieved this combination, but whenever I wear Bittersweet I do not feel as if I poured hot chocolate over me, I smell chocolatey and clean at the same time! It sounds crazy, I know:) Bitterseet went straight to my want list, only to find a place that sells Tokyo Milk in the UK! Many thanks to the lovely Fragrantican for my generous sample; this site has given me some great perfume friends that never stop amazing me with their generosity and kindness:)
alex20222 – :
I really liked this scent on paper. It was very chocolatey. On my skin, it turned very powdery. Powder and chocolate don’t mix well together and together they don’t smell good on me.
natusalisa – :
In the summer I had a period where I had to have all the coconutty, vanilla, or chocolate perfumes I could find.
I found this one, and really liked the way it smelled on the bottle. Such a pleasant smell. So I bought it. And it turned out to be a waste of my money. This perfume is giving me headaches and makes me so nauseas…. It is extremely overpowering once you spray it on your skin. Yikes…. I hate it.
djironimo13 – :
Dark, rich chocolate with only a hint of sweetness and a bit of musk. This has great staying power on me, especially when sprayed on clothing. Love!
graf666 – :
The more I try from Tokyo Milk, the more I think that these fragrances are to be experienced, but not worn.
BITTERSWEET holds fairly true to name and notes. There’s just a touch of something gourmand in the cake flour note and an overwhelmingly bitter and clean scent not unlike a bitter version of baby powder. I’m guessing this is comprised of the bitter notes found in dark cocoa and the bronze musk. Its very clean, but not sweet. There’s a bitterness to it that overrides any sweetness that could be found in cake flour.
It stays that bitter baby powder scent for quite some time until you hit the dry down. Then it begins to warm and it grows more gourmand. There’s a dark cocoa cake powder scent that sweetens the composition, but that bitter baby powder never truly goes away. It remains, a blot on what could be a gourmand scent but really isn’t.
I struggle with this because the reviews seemed to suggest that this was a chocolate gourmand fragrance, when it really isn’t. I don’t find the powdery notes here appetizing and I have trouble thinking of anyone who would. I’ve had this for months now and I have yet to even wear it out of the house, but I guess it speaks to how much of a sucker I am for packaging and marketing because I just cannot let go of the mysterious and edgy black bottle. I want to love something from this line just so I can have a bottle in my collection, but alas, they have yet to impress.
I’ve tried layering this scent with a strong and sweet vanilla, just to see if I could bring out something more edible. It failed; the powder refused to conform to sweeter notes and the vanilla lost the war completely. BITTERSWEET can be sweet after a time, but only in its own due time, and you’ll have to take the bitter powder that comes with it.
stepanchsina – :
I’m so disappointed!! I just bought this today and I absolutely adore the fragrance, but after coming home I’ve come to realize it has ZERO staying power… I spray it and literally within 5 minutes I can hardly smell anything. And I’m the type of person who can usually detect even the very faintest scent. What upsets me is that at the store it was a tossup between this one and Brownie by Demeter, they smell almost identical but I chose this one because I preferred the bottle and the name… I’ve heard Demeter doesn’t have much staying power either but I could have bought 2.5 bottles of that for the price I paid for this one. And such a tiny bottle too! Such a shame because the way it smells is amazing… I was so excited to finally find a replacement for Amorito. Will just have to carry it around in my purse and spray myself as I go…
boubpooli – :
I am not surprised that Bittersweet ended up being my favourite offering from the Tokyo Milk Dark line. This is a wonderful balance of dark and soft notes.
This fragrance opens with a dark, intensive and luscious chocolate liqueur scent. It develops into the scent of a boozy, rich dark-chocolate cake. Bittersweet is a unique fragrance in the way that it conveys the decadence of dark chocolate without getting that sweet.
The intense chocolate scent progressively mellows as this wears on my skin, becoming smooth and soft as it blends with the musk and osmanthus. In the drydown, the creamy, beautiful, apricot-like scent of osmanthus dominates, with just a whiff of cacao lingering in the background.
I will look forward to adding this to my collection..the affordability and gorgeous bottles in this line certainly add to the appeal!
Suvenirchik – :
Delicious cocoa without too much sweetness.I can´t imagine that anyone would be annoyed by this fragrance. It´s really lovely! Thank you for the sample Renate.
kapohkin – :
There is no doubt that the top notes consist of a rich and moist bittersweet chocolate cake, the kind that will ruin your diet. It starts out totally gourmand, but as it dries down the osmanthus comes out more, making it a luscious fragrance, but not quite so edible. For a chocolate perfume, I’m impressed. I prefer Bittersweet over Mugler’s Taste of Angel. Due to the lack of nauseating sweetness, this perfume is easily unisex. I think it might even play out better on a man’s skin than a woman’s.
veter_peremen – :
Bittersweet. The name reflects quite much what comes from within. Without parroting what the other reviewers found about this, I agree this being
-powdery
-cocoa-driven
-musky.
I must add there is a tiny bitter note in it (as the name suggests), very reminiscent to me to a cognac note. (as I come from Europe I could not tell if this was from any specie within the osmanthus family).
Many of the reviewers before me compared this to other chocolate/cocoa dominated fragrances (also agree there is no sugar/vanilla overload here).
However, Bittersweet reminds me another perfume, other olfactory group but similar genre imho, the genre I call ‘black magic woman’. The sister would be Jesus del Pozo’s In Black in a way, without the cherries (Bittersweet comes as if there was liquorice but the notes don’t suggest that).
All in all, if you like dark and more a lover of subtle gourmand fragrances, this is for you!
KIFAR – :
Right off the bat, this smells like chocolate covered cherries to me.( but not syrupy sweet cherries which is a plus). This is a realistic chocolate scent. Odd that is in a collection called
“dark”. The only dark thing in this perfume is the chocolate, in a literal way. Beyond the chocolate and the little bit of sweet..there is musk in this. Musk in perfumes always seems soapy to me (<–and not in that good fresh way) I do like this, but instead of musk I think it would’ve been alot better if it had maybe a coffee note in it to get it more truly bitter-sweet towards drydown. This becomes a sweet soapy chocolate after an hour. soapy chocolate?!?! wth?? But the strangest part is I would buy a full bottle of this. perfumes…you just never know, do ya. I’d say this is like a feminine version of Rochas man. Like.
utisyatrott – :
This is a gorgeous combination of notes. The chocolate to me is more semi-sweet than bittersweet, however. Maybe the “cake flour” is sweetening it up so that I don’t smell the bitter. The osmanthus peeks through after a minute or so and swirls with the lingering cocoa, creating a symphony for the nose! The musk is not prominent but gives an overall “golden” effect.My only complaint is that it could have more sillage and last a bit longer….I’ve found that the original Tokyo Milk line tends to have better staying power than the Dark line.I bought this as a gift for a loved one but I would love to have in my own collection!
osiris77 – :
very interesting,but not so chocolaty as I was waiting for.Could smells chocolate just a little and only in top notes.More floral-gourmand.Also could smell cherry in it.
LLIyT2011 – :
inital spritz: i am LOVING this. reminds me very much of Chocolat Mat by Masaki Matsushima, and less sweet than comptoir sud pacifique’s amour de cocoa. it’s a deep, dark, unsweetened baking chocolate, which i love. unfortunately, it very quickly (in minutes) turns even less sweet- woodsy & then slightly flowery. later, i can barely smell it. i like lots of sillage & staying power. i’m hoping if i keep reapplying, the chocolate will be more pronounced!
AbsovaSoave – :
Another unique offering in the Tokyo Milk Dark line-up, BITTERSWEET really took me by surprise upon initial spritz. Yes, there is a cake mix quality, as other reviewers have noted, but what is fascinating to me is that the sugar is missing. So, to my nose, BITTERSWEET is a sort of “cocoa meets BOIS FARINE” perfume. It took me some time to process this one, but after a few wearings I appear to be developing an addiction. Yum!
In addition to wearing well as a stand-alone perfume, I think that BITTERSWEET would make an excellent layering scent. There is no vanilla in this composition, so perhaps this pleasingly bitter cocoa-flour could be used to moderate some of the over-the-top sweetness of the vast range of vanilla-patchouli frags now in frightening ubiquity.
BITTERSWEET is a must-sniff for gourmand perfume lovers, and also for those who love cocoa but can’t take all of the vanilla sugar which so often masks (and sometimes mars) this worthy note.
keellireelm – :
This is a very realistic chocolate fragrance. It reminds me more of cake batter. It does have some floral notes to it and it makes it a little odd. It smells more like a perfume because of the floral and tones it down so you don’t smell like you dumped the cocoa powder box on yourself. It lasts nicely over 7 hours now. So how did I actually like it? Surprisingly, even though I am a self-proclaimed chocoholic, I am actually rather neutral on this! I put it in my likes because I don’t dislike it. :)Thank you so much for satisfying my curiosity and sending me a decant Dame Piglet
🙂
kuka101 – :
The best chocolate yet, really chocolatey without relying on orange for the counterpoint note ,like Aquolina Chocolovers, Montale’s Chocolate Greedy and many others. Somehow, that chocolate/orange thing got very cloying and unpleasant after a while.
Despite the almost edible fudge brownieness of Bittersweet, the osmanthus and musk allow Bittersweet to retain a small sense of being an authentic perfume, unlike Delicious Chocolat, which lacks the cloying citrus but ends up so very chemical soupy that its unwearable to me.
The musk rolled into gourmand notes has definitely been done before, and masterfully, in Ava Luxe’s “Love’s True Bluish Light”, so the concept is not original. Its is, however, nicely executed here, not too animalic, not too white musk laundry-like. Whatever aromachemical “Bronze Musk” is works nicely, and this from someone who is decidedly not fond of musk.
I confess that I am still not 100 percent convinced that Bittersweet is wearable as a perfume. It somehow misses the “perfume” boat and stays at the dock stirring the brownie mix. Perhaps a little floweriness, a little incense, something to magically make the musk brownie a potion for sirens to wear, as opposed to a confection for sirens to devour?
In the end, I may be looking for a close follow up to my all time favorite chocolate perfume – Maya by Scents of Time – instead of appreciating Bittersweet for being a creation of the “Parfumerie Curiosite”(sic), an odd little ultra gourmand curiosity. Tokyo Milk can doubtlessly do exceptional work with gourmands, note their amazing and addictive “Honey and the Moon”.
Bittersweet has got decent sillage and 6-8 hour lasting power, and at the price, its a real steal for chocoholics, not to mention that fabulous matte black bottle with the elegant white lettering/imagery.
Bittersweet is soft and warm and pretty in a musk brownie sort of way, 6/10 for the juice, 8/10 for the sillage and lasting power, 10/10 for the fabulous packaging.
katepoluxina – :
As Dolby said, this scent is true to its name. It’s bitter without smelling burnt, and sweet but not the slightest bit cloying. The osmanthus + musk dries down to almost a rose-like scent on me.
I promise that I will be wearing this beauty when I go out to dinner on Valentine’s Day. I cannot think of anything more appropriate!