Gigi

This review is for the oil version, although the EDP has the same notes. I was already a fan of Olivine Atelier, having fallen for and purchased 3 others, when I heard about Gigi, Julie's most popular perfume from her old line, Lulu Beauty. It sounded wonderful, but it was not part of her newer Olivine line, so I searched eBay for months in vain, hoping to find a partial bottle. I was so excited when Julie posted a notice on her Etsy store that she had enough of a particular ingredient that she could no longer source to make one more run of Gigi. I bought it unsniffed, but knowing that I had such good luck with all of the Olivine scents that were not the 'big gardenias,' I had a good feeling about this one. That good feeling paid off. Gigi is really wonderful! Yes, there is gardenia in Gigi, and while I can definitely pick it it out, it doesn't overwhelm the overall fragrance, but is more of a supporting player. More prominent to my nose are the ylang and fruit notes. I was a bit nervous about the pear in this one, because pear notes are rarely done well, but my fears were misplaced. The combination of pear and passionfruit is inspired; the tartness of the passionfruit tempers, and makes tropical, the sweet juice of the pear. These partner well with the duo of ylang and vanilla, and the clean musk base. There's a ting of green tea in the middle notes that gives the fragrance a certain freshness. I suppose that Gigi is technically in the fruity-floral territory, but its overall effect is a welcome departure from the usual notes in the designer or celeb-scent forays into this genre. I really enjoy wearing this in hot weather, and have received several compliments on it. Be warned: Gigi packs a punch! Even in the oil version, one good dab has great sillage and excellent longevity. I can usually pick up wafts of the fragrance 12 hours after I've applied it to my neck. This makes the oil a great value, and the 5 ml bottle is travel-friendly. If you're looking for a memorable, sultry, warm-weather scent, Gigi is absolutely worth sampling.

I have the oil sampler set, and I think this is my favorite. I can't honestly pick out a single individual note in this, but it's just an overall warm, soft, delicious scent. I am not a fan of gourmand scents, but too me this is like what gourmands used to be before the rise of perfumes that smell like cupcakes and candy and sugar coated, syrupy desserts. It is sweet, but doesn't even come close to cloying or too-much. It doesn't really smell foody to me. It is perfect in the heat, but would be perfect in the cold, too, I think. It stays very close to my skin, and only lasted 2-3 hrs, but that may be just my skin in the summer, when Perfume just disappears on me. Not sure I love it enough to spend $50 for 5 mls, but I do think it's beautiful.

This is my least favorite out of all I've tested from the sample pack. That's not to say I don't like it. It's just that I like the other's more. I loved every one of the other perfumes, but this one just didn't grab me like they did, though it is a little more unusual than most tea scents out there. A light tea fragrance with juicy tropical fruit notes, soft florals of gardenia, jasmine, and ylang, on a base of sweet, creamy vanilla and soft white musk. Very pretty, but unlike other scents from this brand that literally last all day, silage and longevity are way below par. That's very surprising because reading through the reviews I really thought this would perform like a powerhouse. In his review, Shenandoah did mention that this fragrance wasn't available for a while because they couldn't source the ingredients to make it. So maybe they are using other ingredients to replace what they couldn't find to the detriment of performance. IDK, but I do know that it became a skin scent in about an hour and was gone completely within 4. Even EA's Green Tea performs better than that on me. So even if I really liked it and was interested in adding another tea scent to my wardrobe, I would still take a pass just based on the poor performance alone.

I really love the opening of this. It's very fresh and green, which I'm looking for more of in my fragrance wardrobe. However, I find that everything I love from the opening fades away in about an hour and I'm left with the vanilla sandalwood musk that is pleasant but not very exciting. It has very similar vibes to other fragrances I've tried from this house recently, and I have one I like much more than this one (Bluebird <3) so I don't think I need another. It also faded from my skin in 3-4 hours. I'm kinda glad because it means I get to wear something else now.

This is a very thoughtfully balanced tea scent sweetened with tropical fruit and dressed up with a bit of gardenia. The fruit doesn't dominate, and this raises it above similar, sticky-sweet compositions. If any of the supporting notes were stronger, Gigi would tip into generic territory, but thanks to the dominance of green, earthy tea, it's great alternative to the standard beachy fare.