Jade

I've been testing all the scents from this line during the last couple of days, and this is my absolute favourite. I need a bottle of this at some point, I'm considering buying this for my birthday this year or maybe christmas. Anyway. On my skin Jade opens very green and fruity. It smells like a combination of fresh green tea leaves and green pears, still hanging on the tree. The scent has a very natural soft, green sweetness, but it's balanced by the gentle bitterness from the tea and the slightly more pronounced bitterness from the mate. The mate also makes the scent deeper and more earthy as the fragrance develops on the skin. Paired with the oakmoss, patchouli, vetiver and imortelle it creates a gorgeous, grounding smell of soft, smoky earth and greenery. Jade feels very zen like on the skin. To me Jade evokes imagery of meditating outside, surrounded by lush, fertile nature. It's such a calming scent, deep, but also with bright facets. After about an hour on the skin there is something that reminds me of tobacco in here. Don't know what it is, but I love it. It gives the otherwise smooth green scent an interesting edge. Sillage starts as a solid medium, but slowly softens on the skin. This is never a loud scent, but it's noticeable. Soft, but with a clear presence. Longevity is very good. I get between 8-10 hours out of this. The last two hours it's more of a skin scent.

In the autumn of 2017 I met Olivier Durbano in his shop in Grasse and had the opportunity to try all of his 10 fragrances. Somehow I started with Jade and was instantly mesmerized by this truly unique fragrance. At first, I couldn't imagine wearing something like this. It's just too different and reminds me of no other perfume. Jade combines a fresh and warm greenness with a sweet and fruity edge in an extremely well balanced composition. The perfume is structured around a green tea accord. Mint and other herbal notes give it a fresh green character, with anise standing out. Immortelle gives way to the warmer notes like cassia (spicy) and moss. After one hour of wearing the extrait de parfum (not listed on Fragrantica) I even get hints of a warm tobacco note. To me, Jade is to Durbano, what Hindu Grass is to Nasomatto; a work of art that radiates the artist's belief in world peace.

Green tea oakmoss cassia holly mint jasmine and i can pick up menthol intoxicates the cerebral senses into a vision of a pagoda a top the highest plain of heaven inside are the purest and the most flawless Jades beautiful golden Buddhist statues side by side a long carpet of baltik tapistry rolls in a long distance and suddenly startled by fearful Wrathful Faces with bulging eyes of a Bodhisattva continue walking your smelling incense so you turn your head and discover a ball of incense next to you and it generates into a Dragon in the dragon claws a cloudy ball he summoms you to listion as the dragon reveals esoteric knowledge in the cloudy ball that no mortal can decipher only a chosen few can share his secrets. This comes to show you that this is a one of a kind scent there will be imatators but nothing can live up to it's name Jade by Olivier Durbano.

Jade is... Unusual for a perfume. On my skin it smells a bit medicinal, a little herbacious and... Mysterious. Yes, it hides a mystery you have to reveal yourself. Actually it's quite linear on me, start's off like a kind of medicine, a little sweet as well (actually - bitter-sweet). Later in time herbs get more and more powerful. But that's not all. I can clearly smell, detect incense, similar to other fragrances from the brand, especially to Black Tourmaline (not so rough on the edges though) and Rock Crystal (not so churchy though). That's basically it. Longevity on my skin is quite impressive - it lasts easilly half a day (12 hours), sillage is leaning more towards skin scent to be honest. It could be a scent of a fairy. Or even a witch/sorcerer.

Finally a mint i DO love. I tried several frags playing around this note, like Cartier Roadster or Very irresistible Homme de Givenchy, but mint has never been my cup of tea. Jade is the first that shows me the beauty of mint, it is really interesting PLUS i absolutely adore the durbanote. Well, very uncommon. No blind buy.