Noa Noa

Noa Noa is a gorgeous freshie! Photorealistic blending of various refreshing citruses, zingy ginger, a touch of petit grain, juniper and monoi oil for contrast layered on a soft, clean musk and sweetened with creamy vanilla custard. An absolute joy to wear during summer hot days or holidays, depending upon where you live! Second best perfume from the Elixir collection, after Taro for me. If you’re a citrus person, this might be your number one, it’s so realistic and natural smelling, it’s very uplifting and energising. If you’re on the market for something that sounds like this, you should definitely check out Noa Noa! For the quality of ingredients and how expensive it smells, it’s a really good value perfume. I find myself really tempted by Noa Noa even though I live in a cold climate and I have way too many citrus, fresh perfumes in my collection already! It’s really beautiful done and it’s the perfect freshie scent with vanilla dry down, for day to day wear for warm climates. Somewhat similar to Ingenious Ginger by Goldfield&Banks. If you like that one, you will love Noa Noa for sure.

“Goodbye, hospitable land, wonderful land, home of freedom and beauty! I leave two years older, twenty years younger, more barbaric than when I arrived and yet wiser. “ These are the splendid words of Paul Gauguin when, with a heart full of sadness, he left his beloved Tahiti to return to his homeland. Here his painting experienced its most prolific period, here he found peace, here he freed himself from rules and preconceptions. To celebrate his experience he wrote "Noa Noa", or "perfume", a diary where in addition to talking about this new land, he will express his emotions. Noa Noa, olfactorily speaking, with its initially citrus accents, communicates the emotion of the first impact with the island, which becomes more enveloping and prosperous with notes of monoi and juniper, to end with a woody base representing wisdom and heart full of memories. I have it and it's gorgeous. “La Orana Maria” painted by Gauguin.

My bottle has just arrived in the mail and so far I’m not getting the fresh or uplifting, sparkling, ginger lemonade people describe. All I can smell is a dry Petitgrain and juniper. I’m going to hope my juice is in shock from traveling and just needs time to recover and develop. I’ll revisit this again in a few days/or weeks and update my review if it changes. UPDATE - my bottle has been sitting for 4 days since I first tested it and wow! This is gorgeous. A fresh, zesty, sugary lemon, ginger, juniper, herbaceous bomb. I love it. What a difference a few days had made! Excited to see how this develops over time. Definitely recommend this.

Divine. Beautiful delicate citrus notes, especially lemon, underscored by vanilla at the base. It reminds me of lemon cheesecake. It's like a softer Edition Blanche with a hint of Nishane Ani. Very pleasant if you enjoy this lemon-vanilla DNA. For others, I don't think it's a must-have.

I like how it smells on the blotter strip, but something about it on my skin puts me off. It just doesn't work for me. (I love other Botanicae scents: Saudade)