Wednesday Waftings: Sampler Set Review – Margot Elena TokyoMilk Perfume Wardrobe Classic Discovery Set

I want to share a special treat with you today: the wonderful TokyoMilk’s Perfume Wardrobe sampler. TokyoMilk and I go waaaay back! I first discovered this lovely line of delightfully scented products in the early 2000’s and it was love at first sniff! With its beautiful packaging and unique and fabulous scents, the collection quickly became a favorite of mine.

The mastermind behind this wonderful brand is the über creative Margot Elena, who heads her modest empire out of Denver, Colorado. Elena’s parents were both creatives (an artist mother & a musician father) so she was born to be artistic and innovative. She literally started selling cute products to her classmates at only 9 years old and opened her first shop at 22.

The first TokyoMilk product I ever purchased was this lovely hand soap (#082 Bird with notes of citrus zest, rosewood, mimosa & mandarin – the same notes as their Gin & Rosewater fragrance). I had never smelled anything like it. It was crisp and clean but also had this luxurious sophisticated powdery scent that instantly transported me to an ultra chic French boudoir. The packaging was also incredibly gorgeous, with its beautiful bird illustration and touch of glitter. I keep all of the packaging from every Margot Elena product I purchase. It’s so opulent and of such high quality, that it can be re-used to wrap gifts or even for craft projects. Sadly, this particular fragrance, size of soap, and with this particular artwork is now discontinued. The brand now carries a 5oz size instead, with the notes of Crushed Citrus, Jasmine, Crisp Greens & Neroli with several options of artwork on the packaging.

The Perfume Wardrobe Discovery Set

The set contains 6 of TokyoMilk’s most popular scents all in eau de parfum (EDP) concentration. With each fragrance being quite unique, there is definitely something here for everyone plus an opportunity to discover a new favorite as well! I have tried each of these scents multiple times over the years and will describe each one in detail below, along with giving a full personal review of how I liked it. The pricing for both this collection and the individual bottles is quite reasonable and even better: at the time of this writing, everything site-wide is 15% off for Mother’s Day!

Find it here:

TokyoMilk Perfume Wardrobe Classic Discovery Set (at Margot Elena)

TokyoMilk Perfume Wardrobe Classic Discovery Set (at Amazon)

Gin & Rosewater

• Notes: citrus zest, rosewood, mimosa, mandarin
• This fragrance also available in: shower gel, hand crème, petite treat hand crème, parfum crème délice, bar soap (under the names ‘White Flower’ or ‘Yellow Flower’ shea butter soap), and a shower gel & hand crème duo

The mandarin is evident from the first second of this fragrance. As shown from the multiple notes, this is a very citrus-heavy scent. I also get a peppery note as it begins to dry down. This fragrance is slightly sweet but not overly so and not necessarily into gourmand territory, though it is slightly reminiscent of a lemon poppyseed muffin to me. The rose is not a strong player here and I really don’t get gin (or any kind of alcoholic note) at all. This is citrus through and through and at times leans more lemon on me and at other times more orange.

This perfume is on the lighter side and sit closer to the skin. I get about 2-3 hours wear before it fades. Overall, this is a spunky, happy spring/summery scent. If you enjoy the smell of a freshly-peeled ripe orange and/or sweet lemonade, this uplifting fragrance will be in your wheelhouse.

Find it here:

Gin & Rosewater 7ml, 30ml (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Gin & Rosewater 5.5 fl oz shower gel (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Gin & Rosewater 2.3oz Bon Bon shea butter lotion (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Gin & Rosewater Bon Bon shea butter lotion bundle – 1 each, full-size and purse-size (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

French Kiss

• Notes: mandarin, tuberose, gardenia, vetiver
• This fragrance also available in: hand crème, eau de parfum & hand crème duo, and both small and large-sized tote bags with the iconic Eiffel Tower artwork from the product’s beautiful packaging

It pains me to say there’s a Margot Elena scent that I don’t love, but unfortunately I don’t love this one. And honestly, I don’t why because the notes sound great and I’ve read many reviews from others who rave about it being their signature scent. I think it just boils down to this one not playing nice with my personal chemistry. The opening of the fragrance smells like astringent, sweet violets on my skin. There’s a chemical smell for me, I know it sounds weird but it’s almost like turpentine? I don’t really smell any of the notes mentioned in the description and both gardenia and tuberose usually stick out as pretty strong scents to me. Any orange/mandarin/citrus is usually easy to detect, too, but I’m getting none of the notes except maybe the vetiver which is always a wild card for me. If I could sum up this scent, it would be: sugar/violets/turpentine.

If this scent doesn’t do weird things on your skin like it did for mine, I would imagine this would be a lovely date night scent with the mandarin, white flowers, and crisp vetiver. This fragrance seemed stronger than the other ones to me but that could possibly be because it didn’t agree with me. I do find the scents I don’t care for seem to last for an eternity (of course!) and be almost impossible to wash off. Sadly, she’s my least favorite TokyoMilk scent and I’m so disappointed about that. 😕 That being said, if the notes listed are usual faves for you, she’s probably worth a try because as mentioned above, many folks loved this scent. But she’s no safe blind buy on her own and as with all perfume, I recommend sampling before buying a full bottle.

Find it here:

French Kiss 30ml (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

French Kiss 2.3oz Bon Bon shea butter lotion (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Honey & The Moon

• Notes: honey, sugared violet, jasmine, sandalwood
• This fragrance also available in: shower gel, hand crème, petite treat hand crème, parfum crème délice, and a shower gel & hand crème duo

Oh yes, I love this one. My best description is ‘sweet and sour honey,’ if that makes sense, though the emphasis is definitely more on the sweet. The honey note is the most prominent, as to be expected. But it’s not just a straight, boring honey. The other notes mingle with it and create an overall complex and interesting honey gourmand. I also love this in its hand crème and candle forms (though sadly, I think the candle may have been discontinued).

Same as with most of the others, not a very strong projection and sits close to the skin. Overall, a unique and enjoyable fragrance that I have loved for years. Side note: Bath & Body Works has a wonderful foaming hand soap they usually launch around Valentine’s Day that’s a dead ringer for this fragrance! It’s called Sweet Sugar Sprinkles and can usually be found year-round on Amazon.

Find it here:

Honey & The Moon 7ml (at Margot Elena)

Honey & The Moon 30ml (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Honey & The Moon 5.5 fl oz shower gel (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Let Them Eat Cake

• Notes: sugar cane, coconut milk, vanilla orchid, white musk
• This fragrance also available in: hand crème, petite treat hand crème, perfumed soap, a perfume & hand crème duo, lip balm, and a cute greeting card

If you’ve read my ode to vanilla post, you may remember me mentioning that this scent has been my go-to for eons. I am never without the hand crème in my purse and I think friends would probably say this is my signature scent. This yummy fragrance literally smells just like freshly-baked Funfetti cake! Starts out very sharp and alcoholic, you need to give it a couple minutes for the sweet vanilla scent to take over as it dries down. The coconut is also lovely here.

Overall, a lighter scent, not overpowering in any way. This is not a strong projector and I feel it’s very safe to wear around others. I’ve always gotten many compliments on how yummy it smells. I don’t recommend blind buys very often but this should be a very safe buy for sweet vanilla gourmand lovers.

Find it here:

Let Them Eat Cake 7ml (at Margot Elena)

Let Them Eat Cake 30ml (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Dead Sexy

• Notes: deep vanilla, exotic wood, white orchid, ebony
• This fragrance also available in: shower gel, hand crème, petite treat hand crème, parfum crème délice, lip balm, ceramic candle with cloche, travel candle, reed diffuser home fragrance, embossed soap, various gift set combos, and both small and large-sized tote bags with the iconic skull & roses artwork from the product’s beautiful packaging

This fragrance is TokyoMilk’s top seller and for good reason: she’s deep, dark, mysterious, and everyone will notice her. This starts out as a boozy vanilla combined with sort of a bitter-ish note that reminds me a bit of cloves. I also get a sort of powdery licorice as it dries down. It does not list it as a note but this smells as though it has sandalwood in it, maybe the ‘exotic wood’ listed is sandalwood or a similar-smelling wood? There’s also something sort of smoky and leathery-ish in here, perhaps the ebony brings that out. Bottom line on my skin: a powdery licorice with some sandalwood and deep vanilla bean.

This is easily unisex, I think it would smell great on a man. Definitely a darker, nighttime scent, perfect for going out to see a show at a club. Projection is pretty good and the longevity is excellent. Very interesting and worth a try but probably not a safe blind buy for everybody. This fragrance is a longtime fave of one of my best friends and always reminds me of her 💖

Find it here:

Dead Sexy 30ml (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Dead Sexy 100ml beautiful embossed collector bottle (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Dead Sexy 5.5 fl oz shower gel (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Dead Sexy Bon Bon shea butter lotion bundle – 1 each, full-size and purse-size (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Dead Sexy 0.6oz lip balm (at TokyMilk’s Amazon store)

Dead Sexy 10.6oz triple-milled fine bar soap (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Dead Sexy – entire line (at TokyoMilk’s Amazon store)

Kabuki

• Notes: sugared grapefruit, lychee, sweet jasmine, warm vanilla
• This fragrance also available in: hand crème and a perfume & hand crème duo

Yum! Initial scent is a sweet marzipan-esque almond. It starts drying down and the lychee comes in. Lychee’s essence is described as a “tropical sweet fragrance, fruity & aquatic” and “similar to a very juicy grape.” Overall, this reminds me of a sweet, unique fruity candy. Though it does list sugared grapefruit as a note, it is very distinctive and quite different from the many sweet citrus scents I have sampled and owned throughout the years. Though jasmine is listed as a note, it is not a powerful influence here. This is much more fruity-gourmand territory and not really in the floral family to me. I love how prominent the almond is here, though it’s not even listed as a note. Most scents that claim almond as a note don’t do it nearly as well as this does.

This would be a charming scent to wear on a Saturday stroll through a market. Little to no projection, this scent stays very close to the skin. I really like this, it is so unique and really different from anything else I own.

Find it here:

Kabuki 30ml (at Margot Elena)

If it isn’t blatantly obvious at this point, I am thoroughly enamored of the world of Margot Elena. She has so many stylish and unique product lines and for my money, offers the very finest subscription box on the market today. It is obvious a lot of thought goes into her creations; each one feels like a special experience. Have you tried any of her wonderful products? Let me know in the comments if you have a favorite Margot Elena scent that you can’t live without 🌟

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