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serega8655 – :
I just got this and I’m trying very hard to like it. I want to! The smell reminds me of drugstore perfume in the early 80’s. Maybe it’s Charlie it reminds me of. I see it’s been compared to Charlie. That’s all I can think of when I smell it. Aside from not being able to get my mind past that association I can definitely see how it smells like the inside of an old, fragrant, sealed off, mossy, wooden box. I wonder what impression it would have on me if I didn’t already have this fragrance memory associated with the smell? With a name like Kobako I was hoping it would have some Oriental qualities. If there are any they are very quiet and easy to miss. If there’s incense it definitely isn’t the rich Nag Champa kind in Shalimar and there’s no smokiness. More dusty like incense that never got lit and sat there dusty and unused in an old box. Maybe like sticking your head in Grandma’s old, dank wardrobe.
I’m not getting much of the musk. I get floral aldehyde and I smell something green that I think must be clover, then on dry down I get earthy, salty (weird), mossy but not the kind of earthy mossy patchouli has. It’s the inside of a sweet, dank, old wooden box mossy. Not much cinnamon for me either. I want to try it in cold weather and see what I think as it’s Spring time now.
vpnwd3027 – :
From wikipedia: ‘In 1936, Bourjois introduced a perfume called Kobako, which was packaged in a container “inspired by an old lacquered cabinet”. Kobako means ‘small box’ in Japanese, and a kōbako is an incense storage box used in kōdō (“Way of Incense”), the traditional Japanese art which involves using and appreciating incense within a structure of codified conduct. It can be used to store the items needed for the incense-comparing games. Often decorated with lacquer and showing a high degree of craftmanship.’
pasha235 – :
Kobako in Japanese means little box. Now, if we add a blade over the word’s first “o” and turn it into Kōbako, then we have a box for keeping solid incense substances like sticks, spirals and cones. But in both cases the name sounds quite felicitous for a perfume.
Pause.
I’m by no means some righteous politically correct hypocrite, but I would suggest that any underage member should stop reading beyond this point.
Kobako in contemporary Japanese slang also means vagina. This makes some interesting vernacular analogy, since “box”, English slang aside, is also used with the same meaning in some parts of my country, the one I come from included.
Thus I’ll venture into saying a couple of things, hoping I’m not venturing into the troubled waters of hyperbole by the same token. Kobako smells like a posy of magnolias, gardenias and jasmine that were cut sub rosa with a katana sword by an 19th century Japanese woman whose samurai lover is away for months. Not being able to withstand his absence any longer, she dared to take his sword and cut the flowers, trying perchance to re-enact inside her mind’s theatre the part where soft and fragile coyness gives way to hard conquering steel. Then she placed them inside an open wooden box and walked to the market to buy a bottle of sake. When she returned home she “discovered” the flowers waiting for her and pretended she was wildly surprised. She took the box with an almost religious-like piety in her hand and placed it before the sword stand. Later that night, inebriated by sake and her insufferable burning desires, she unmounted the katana one more time…
I won’t go any further unfolding the story. I’ll just conclude by saying that “ambrosial vagina” is Kobako in a nutshell. Bedewed and blossoming flowers along with piercing metallic gasps, all enveloped in a hint of sweaty flesh, all virtually impossible to ignore, let alone resist. As for the longevity of this ravishing and ecstatic assortment, it really borders on “epic”, since it lasts nearly for 48 hours on my skin. But no matter how long this duration may sound, which myriads of other way more renowned and pricey perfumes wouldn’t achieve even in their wildest dreams, for me it’s still not enough…
igrex00 – :
I noticed that this 80s version has been added to Fragrantica since I wrote my review so I’m copying it over from the 30s version page to this one.
I’d just like to add that this fragrance is animalic and I can smell indole in it. It adds a musky vibe. Since I wrote my last review on this, I haven’t worn it much. I bought it during my leather phase and it doesn’t smell much like leather. Nor does it smell like Charlie Blue – it’s too spicy for that. It doesn’t smell like Opium by YSL either – it’s not deep enough. It just smells like itself. I voted ambergris down in the notes section because I can’t smell it and didn’t want ambergris lovers to build their hopes up. What I do agree with is that this fragrance is very good value for money – you get a rich, complex, potent fragrance for about £10 give or take.
Anyway, please see my review from Jan 2016 below:
“Very soapy and not as leathery as I’d hoped. It only starts to smell a bit leathery in the drydown but still not very much.
However, it is still a very pleasant perfume and I’m not disappointed with my blind buy. I could wear this when I want to smell clean and affluent.
I imagine an older, wealthy Italian lady wearing this.
Sillage is enormous and it is very long lasting.”
erma4o4ek – :
Kobako Parfum de toilette 1.7oz
The notes of current formulation:
Top: Aldehyde ,jasmine, vanilla and citric-tangerine
Middle notes: clover, magnolia and rose.
Base: leather, frankincense and cinnamon
My bottle is a after 1985 reformulation. Judging by the barcode on the box..after 1991. I dont know when production stopped.
The citric aldehyde opening mingles with jasmine (gives the bottle juice a orange color) with a cinnamon spicyness that is around the edges. The clover and magnolia heart adds to the rose and gives this a different approach. The base does finally settle down into a cinnamon spicy leather much like its predecessor vintage release in the 30s. Its a odd, interesting perfume for vintage/ old 80s chypre enthusiasts. It leans balsamic oriental with the spices so it straddles both genres. The listing makes it seem its a white flower scent. They are there, but in the background. It reminds me of vintage Prelude by Balenciaga with cinnamon and leather.
Reformulated by François Demachy.
iwan.1991 – :
At first spray, and for about 15 to 30 minutes, Kobako is a wonderful, sweet spicy explosion on my skin. Cinnamon, enhanced by salty ambergris and mandarin orange is delicious, enticing, delightful. The florals and soft musk mix in very well. At this stage, Kobako is feminine, sensual, inviting.
BUT, as the drydown begins, the spices fade fast leaving only the overpowering scent of civet on my skin. This civet isn’t the deep richly sweet real natural civet. It’s synthetic civet that turns very bitter on my skin. I can’t wear it at all.
паркан – :
Heavy, noticeable, very 80’s in a positive way, soapy, classy, aldehydic. Very well blended, perfect for winter time, great when mixed with ice and snow so to speak. It feels like a child of Opium and No 5 but it costs a fraction of the price of mentioned fragrances. I got a bottle for just over a fiver and I consider it a fiver well invested. Good lasting power and silage. Should appeal to oriental/chypre lovers, it is such a shame that this gem isn’t well known or popular, it certainly deserves much more attention. Sensual, sexual, feminine, a perfect fragrance for a fiery wild date with your beloved partner, it has the potential to make a man go purrrrrr 🙂
guliguli – :
Fascinating vintage fragrance! I’m unsure if I have the original or the reformulation so I’m posting this on both. This is a beautiful (although definitely dated) aldehyde/ spice/ leather/ earthy fragrance that is softer and more harmonious than the notes might imply. A little soapy on the drydown, but not unpleasant, and incredibly long-lasting: 12-24 hours. Overall, a remarkable example of historical perfumery.
Update: I now have a full bottle – just as shown here – and I’m sure I have only ever had the modern 1980s version, not the 1930s-1970s original. But I must say, I quite like it. It is a blast of pure cinnamon bark with exotic, borderline-bitter florals underneath, and mysterious animalic undertones. The leather is only implied; not actually featured. There is a note here I have never smelled before that is almost green or aquatic; I suspect it’s the ambergris: even synthesized, it is remarkable.
Are there any other Frank Herbert / sci-fi fans out there? Kobako is how I imagine the spice melange must smell. This is the essence or Arrakis, Dune, the Desert Planet – it is otherworldly.