Lucky #9: Birthday Tomcat review

This is part of the Lucky #9 Falloween collection to celebrate the birthday of the Lucky #9 brand. For those unfamiliar, Lucky #9 is Ajevie's in house brand, and they offer a range of perfumes, bath and body products! They also have seasonal collections available, and you can see all of that and pick these up on their website. 

This was sent as a press sample in exchange for reviews. 

Birthday Tomcat - Tomcat cologne, (Cedar and sandalwoods, a light verdant musk, whispers of ocean and mint) on a silky new bowtie stained with smashed buttery birthday cake with chocolate frosting!

I was a little hesitant about trying this scent out based on the notes, and I can definitely say this one is an interesting scent - but not one I'm ready to love just yet. The opening here is bold; a mixture of astringent cologne with indistinct sugary musk. For me, it's a cacophony of sugary, sharp, musky, woody and bitter notes - layering both cologne on top of a smear of vanilla essence and a touch of chocolate powder, paired with sharp lemon cleaner, but it's hard to pick out a specific note during the dry down stage, especially with the exhaustive and diverse list of notes in this blend. After dry down, the sharpness interestingly has an almost orange blossom, honeysuckle floral quality, and also goes vaguely indolic on my skin. Although I find the later stages of this scent is a little less harsh than the opening, there are whiffs of a less than pleasant indole accord which feel a little like I've been marked by a particularly precocious cat - but I can't say it's not in line with the naming situation here. Unfortunately for me, this one veers very close to scrubber territory, and while I didn't feel the need to immediately rinse it off, it's one I think I'll have to rehome to a more loving owner.