Tokyo Milk Wisdom No 26 perfume

~ stashy

Happy Black Friday!  I may or may not be out trying to nab a deal on winter boots. I haven’t decided if I’ll brave the crowds.  I might just order online. 😛

Today I’m reviewing Tokyo Milk Wisdom No 26 perfume.  I’ve heard a lot about Tokyo Milk fragrances – how niche and unique they are; the official name of the company is Tokyo Milk Parfumarie Curiosite, for heaven’s sake.  But, I feel like it’s a very carefully manufactured brand image, not as indie or novel as they’d like us to think.
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I bought the eau de parfum of Wisdom No 26 purely by chance: last year at around this time in November I was killing time in a little gifty shop – you know the kind, lots of trinkets adorned with whatever is the latest trend – be it owls, foxes, pandas; necklaces with lightning bolt / mushroom / wishbone pendants, and a section of cutely packaged hand creams and perfumes at greatly marked-up prices.  They were having a 50% off sale on select fragrances, and Wisdom No 26 was among the offering.  I snagged this for only $13.50.  I initially bought it as a back-up present – just in case someone gave me a Christmas present who I wasn’t expecting to receive a gift from, I’d have something to give them back (do you do this – keep spares?)  But in the end, it wasn’t needed and the perfume sat in my stash unopened.  So I decided to open it and keep it for myself! 😉

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The presentation of the perfume is outstanding – it’s housed in a glass test tube casing with a cork topper.  The tagline for the scent is: Wisdom: the course of time & observation lead way to its inky depths. 🙄
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Fragrance Notes: Water Lily, Woods + Moss, Walnut, Winter Musk
Fragrantica categorizes this as Floral Woody Musk – I normally steer clear of scents with strong musk so I was a bit wary about wearing this, but I do like lily scents.
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Upon opening up the vial, I saw that the rollerball was stuck askew onto the cork base – it just looked so messy.  Then I noticed that the cap on the bottle is crooked!  The threads of the bottle are malformed so that the cap screws on an angle.  I would have been embarrassed if I had given this away as a gift!
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But the rollerball works just fine.  I was quite underwhelmed by this fragrance. I smell mostly water lily but it’s very one dimensional, and the staying power was very poor.  Within two hours of applying this, I could no longer smell it on my skin even with my nose RIGHT up against my wrist.  Again, glad I didn’t give this away as a present.
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Overall: meh.  Maybe a 5. I’ve been so snarky in this review, I should give it a 5 for effort. 😛

Not sure if I would venture into other Tokyo Milk fragrances – any fans out there who can sway me into trying another?

26 thoughts on “Tokyo Milk Wisdom No 26 perfume”

  2. I’ve tried a few samples here and there, and they just don’t work with my body chemistry – they either disappear quickly or turn into a reeking stench on my skin. It is too bad, because some of them smell nice in the bottle. I do like their lip balm a lot though.

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  3. I have very mixed feelings about TokyoMilk. Their hand cremes are my favorite formula out there and they’re the only thing that keep my eczema from flaring up. That being said, there are only two scents from the brand that don’t give me an instant headache. I wouldn’t have any interest in trying a perfume from them BUT I will never stop buying the hand creme in La Vie La Morte.

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      1. As far as the eczema goes, the handcream just has the right combination of ingredients I suppose. I like it because it is thick and keeps my hands feeling moisturized for hours but it isn’t oily feeling. The La Vie La Mort scent smells kind of fresh and grassy. It’s still incredibly strong though.

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  4. I do the same thing with backup gifts, for sure! Been caught out before and it’s so unpleasant.

    Never cared for Tokyo Milk much – I agree that it’s mostly branding. Too bad, though, I do love a water lily scent!

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    1. I still have a stash of a few gifty items for this Christmas – just in case! Then I guess in a few months if I haven’t given them away I will keep them for myself muahahaaa.
      What’s a good perfume with a water lily scent?

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      1. Hermes Jardin Sur Le Nil, Susanne Lang Lotus Blossom, and the cheap & cheerful Ocean Dream! My fave of all time was L’Occitane Fleur de Lotus, but they d/c it ages ago 😦 TBH I don’t know what the difference is between water lily and lotus flower in fragrance; they’re kind of interchangeable for me.

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        1. Yeah I think lotus too… I’m SURE there are nuanced differences but our peasant noses can’t tell the difference lol.
          Why do they have to discontinue the good stuff!?!? Thanks for all the recs, I shall keep them in mind!

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  6. Lol I’ve had times when I’ve wished I had a spare gift! I’ve been intrigued by the brand myself only because of the name, but since I’m not big into fragrances I never tried any. Good thing you didn’t need to give it away since it wasn’t very impressive.

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  7. Loved the look of the packaging from the outside but things seem to get steadily worse from there. Good thing you didn’t gift this to someone.
    Did you venture out into Black Friday? xx Anne

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  9. Ironically, I would never have even tried a TOKYOMILK product – – look gimmicky, I tend to dislike musky fragrances– but lucky for me this one’s tester leaked onto my hand as I brushed past it. Perfect for my body chemistry–you just never know. Intoxicating, looking for more… Preferably on sale…

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