Aki (2005)
by Tann Rokka

This lovely woody-oriental amber is an interesting composition of powdery-smoky  woods, ambary vanilla, musk, a touch of earth and flowers. The powder starts to turn itself out since the beginning but is in the final level of evolution that the combination of sandalwood, cedarwood, tobacco and amber produces a dust of powder dirtied by the rootiness of vetiver and patchouli and made precious of sophistication by a very subtle floral spark. I smell some spices in the air together with a touch of hesperides that, on the side of patchouli and vanilla, produce a slightly old-fashioned  and classic feel. The dry down is ambary for sure, but is notably musky and averagely dry, cool and almost talky with its dusty and rosey kind of moderate mildness. A rich ambery fragrance with a smoky, a bit rooty and floral talky dry down. Not bad.

24th December, 2011.

A somptuous, rich, long-lasting fragrance: its powdery character, due to the rich amber and sandalwood notes make it a warm, sensual, very attractive scent. Vetiver and patchouli give their slight smokiness and some of spicy accent.
Excellent in winter time, it is a perfect evening and night fragrance, when cold and dark comes...

13rd September, 2011.

I don't understand the negativity towards this fragrance.

I've been wearing it all day and it has more of a kinship to Habanita than anything by Guerlain.

It's not as full on as Habanita, which if over-applied can be overwhelming.

I echo jrd4t's thoughts that it is a raw, sexual fragrance though. It is a dirty, besmirched smoky vanilla with skanky floral notes in the mix.

It's unquestionably sexy as hell though, it invokes sultry warm evenings with the smell of coarse but aromatic tobacco smoke in the air.

I'm going to pop this fragrance's cherry and give it a thumbs up.

If you like your tobacco florals to have a hint of getting jiggy with it then you should be rushing out to buy this.

It's an EdP too and for a niche fragrance, very reasonably priced.

I like this. A lot.

Grrrrr, helloo gorgeous...

16th March, 2011.

Simply put, Tan Rokka's Aki is the lovechild of Guerlain's L'Heure Bleu and Shalimar. Aki is a sweet-ish, predominantly amber/sandalwood fragrance with a great deal of powder and a smattering of spices. It is surprisingly strong so be sure to apply it sparingly as this is one of those perfumes that could easily end of "wearing you"! As compared to Aki, I much prefer Becker Eshaya's Golden Amber for amber, or 10 Corso Como or Diptyque's Tam Dao for sandalwood.

Here are Aki's notes, courtesy of The Perfumed Court: amber, patchouli, sandalwood and vetiver.

2nd September, 2008.

Smokey vanilla and dirty florals. For comparison, I only smelled Shalimar once in a store and this instantly took me back there. Shalimar repulsed me and so does this. Old lady oriental scent.

28th June, 2008.

It's very nice. It's familiar. I has some spice. It's old lady vanilla meets baby powder. I generally will defend a house I really love (I LOVE kisu/signature). The middle is really comforting and warm, but it's not quite up to what I'd really hoped for from such a cool, quirky house like Tann Rokka. There's the top and middle.

The dry-down. There are elements of MKK and Musc Ravageur in the drydown. It is NOT a dry spicy like you'll find with Kisu, but really a warm, sensual vanillic. I LOVE it. It's sexual, it's raw, it's comfortable and familiar. There's a touch of Givenchy Pi with some dirtiness.

I would give a big thumbs up if you didn't have to suffer through 45 minutes of baby powder. I won't buy it, especially for the price.

18th June, 2008. (Last Edited: 19th June, 2008.)