• Smell Bent Tok’Yo Mama EDT Fragrance Review

    Date: 2010.08.18 | Category: fragrance | Tags: ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

    Smell Bent Tok'Yo Mama illustration

    Smell Bent Tok’Yo Mama EDT is in the Leisure Cruise Collection, a collection that takes your nose around the world with regional inspired scents with silly/ humorous names. Tok’Yo Mama is a tart and refreshing citrus fragrance that takes us to Japan. The name conjures up stupid insults from waiting at the bus stop in middle school. (Time for me to admit that “yo mama” jokes are some of my favorite). Now to the fragrance…

    Tok’Yo Mama is a zesty citrus fragrance. At first is is very sour. It’s realistic. It reminds of the sour juice and the rugged rind of a mandarin mixed with a grapefruit. I can definitely tell that the citrus used in this is yuzu becuase it is so sour in comparison to other citrus notes. It really wakes up your senses. The sourness mellows out a little. It’s still a tart citrus fragrance but it does get a tad bit sweeter and juicer like lemonade. Yuzuade. It’s very fresh and refreshing. It’s one of those “Shiny Happy People” scents (EauMG, this fragrance totally reminds me of that r.e.m. music video because of the illustration on the bottle). Anyways, Tok’Yo Mama is a more than yuzu. After 20 minutes of wear or so, I get genmaicha, my all time favorite tea. So, the citrus tartness is still there but it has the complexity of earthy green tea and toasted rice bran. This adds an entirely different element of warmth to Tok’Yo Mama.

    Smell Bent EDT Fragrance Bottles

    Photo of Smell Bent EDT Fragrance bottles

    I can see this as one of those quintessential ”summer” scents because Tok’Yo Mama is such a bright and sunny fragrance. But, personally I think of citrus for the winter because that’s when citrus is in season. Yuzu is a fruit typically used in Japanese winter baths. It’s supposed to strengthen the immune system. I like citrus scents in the winter because smelling them feels like taking a Vitamin C supplement :) And I need the energy and especially the sunshine (living in Seattle) in the winter. Tok’Yo Mama has enough “umphh” to be worn during the winter. It does wear like a typical citrus EDT. This fragrance wears on me for sometime as an EDT, 4+ hours in 90° heat. My skin has a tendency to “devour” citrus scents so this is a big deal. This is easily a unisex fragrance being that it’s yuzu and green tea.

    Notes listed include fresh squeezed yuzu, hinoki, and steeped genmaicha tea (“brown rice tea”).

    Give this a try if you like “Shiny Happy People” fragrances or if you want sunshine in a bottle. Or if you like tart citrus scents or fragrances like 06130 Yuzu Rouge EDT, Sage Citrine Perfume Oil, Fresh Sugar Lemon EDP, Moton Brown Enlivening Toko-Yuzu products, Parfum d’Empire Yuzu Fou EDP, and/or Diptyque Oyedo EDT. If you really like tart/sour citrus fragrance, then you really should try Smell Bent Tok’Yo Mama. Currently, I can’t think of a better fragrance in the “sour citrus” genre.

    This fragrance is available in an EDT spray or a perfume oil. I have reviewed the EDT. The EDT spray retails for $45 for 55 mL (about 1.9 oz.) and the perfume oil for $20 for 8mL. It is available at Smell Bent. The company also offers sample sizes to buy.

    With Smell Bent’s knack for being “punny”, I’m waiting for perfumer Brent to launch the Martin Lawrence citrus  inspired fragrance collection “Yuzu Crazy” and “Daaammmn, Or-Gina”.  :)

    Oh, and  you’ll get major cool points if you leave a wonderful “yo mama” joke in the comments section.

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    *Disclaimer- A sample of this fragrance was provided by Smell Bent. I am not financially compensated for this review or any others. This review and my opinions are my own.