Paper Soap

A student of mine got this for me as a gift from Japan. I don’t always enjoy soapy scents. I love a good musk, and aldehydes are fun, but when a fragrance smells like a bar of soap, there’s a fine line between feeling clean and feeling like there’s soap in your mouth. Some soapy “clean” fragrances have that effect on me; I feel less clean and more like throwing up, like the cleanliness has gone ahead and poisoned something. I suppose that is part of a larger commentary on our obsession as a society with the trend of being clean. Clean girls, clean fragrances, etc etc. They’re all good standards to keep, but at some point things get either boring or oppressive. Anyway. This opens quite strongly and quite bitterly, like a soap you can trust to kill bacteria in their tracks. It can be a little nauseating to me, but I am a patient person. When it fades, it fades so softly and creamily, melting the individual flowers in its composition into a suburban moment of calm. It is not the most exciting fragrance in the world, nor is it even the most exciting member of its family of fragrances, but it is pleasant and easy to wear. I appreciate it for that, at least.

this was the very first fragrance i ever sampled (don’t worry, i’ve put off reviewing it for several months so i could be accurate). i ordered a this on a whim, because there were other scents of theirs i was interested in sampling but i was new to perfumery, so i wanted to test out a popular one that i wouldn’t personally reach for. i didn’t know about the concept of soapy fragrances, but suffice to say i’ve become obsessed with them. this smells like the best flowery soap you’ve ever smelled, and the performance is great. it projects well for the first several hours before becoming a skin scent, but it lasts forever at this point — i wore it to bed and was able to detect it the morning afterwards. i’ve tried other j-scent fragrances, including sumo wrestler, so i know the house does musky florals very well. the aldehyde in this just brings it to the next level (if you enjoy that sort if thing). it’s clean, comfy, and wonderful, especially after a nighttime shower. i very badly want to buy a full bottle!

When I first received a sample of this, I was fairly new to fragrance and never gave it a chance as I was overwhelmed by the opening. I tried it again a few months ago when a friend wanted to test all my samples (over 40 😵). Again the initial blast of aldehydes stung my nostrils and I set the paper aside while we went through the rest of the samples. When we had mostly wrapped up our sniffing session, I kept getting wafts of a beautifully clean and bright aroma cutting through the heaviness of all the other scents filling the air. Once I had sniffed it out, I was shocked that it was Paper Soap I was smelling! The dry down is a stunning bar of French milled Marseille soap, clean, bright, cozy, and ever so slightly sweet/creamy. I've burned through that sample since, and am currently saving up for a FB ❤️ For anyone who is interested in testing Paper Soap, give it a full wear test, as the middle and bottom notes are where she shines the brightest!

Soap lover so I blind bought this because well, good luck finding a sample of this. I expected a skin scent because it's Japanese and they typically (from what I've heard) like skin scents. But this opens like a soap bomb 🫧 Projection is very strong initially before it calms down. It's got a waxy, rice paper feeling along with the soapy quality. I also get the fatty nuances just like real soap. I'm torn between this and Comme De Garcons Marseille for the title of "soap king". They do share some similarities; Marseille being more energetic and sharp like an arrow to the brain, and this is more creamy and relaxing. Both are top notch and top of their class of fragrances, specifically designed to smell like soap. Scent 8.8/10 Performance 8/10 Edit: after living with this for almost a year, I reach for this more than CDG Marseille. My bottle is very strong (for a soap frag), YMMV.

Paper Soap was a pleasant surprise. It captures the scent of freshly washed skin and classic soap with a bright aldehydic sparkle, creating a very clean, comforting, and reassuring fragrance. The overall impression is airy, elegant, and effortlessly wearable. The scent immediately reminded me of Dia Woman by Amouage, Heritage by Fragrance du Bois, Hotel Cotton by Villa Erbatium and Year 2059 by Bibbi, sharing that refined soapy-clean character that feels polished without being overly sharp or sterile. There is a nostalgic quality to it, like the scent of luxurious soap lingering on freshly laundered linens. For lovers of clean aldehydic fragrances and sophisticated soap accords, Paper Soap is definitely worth exploring and it is very reasonably priced when compared to the price of the other similar perfumes.