Qi

Clean and serene. Beautifully balanced and with surprising inner strength. Like a delicate weeping willow tree with a robust, rigid trunk. Truly lovely, and less fragile than I feared. A win! (As it should be for OJ's high prices). Was expecting to be a bit underwhelmed by this, or frustrated by too-light performance, but not at all. Yes, it's all light and fresh and airy, with gorgeous lemony sparkles of blossom and citrus, with true, real, green tea ... familiar, but in a classier form than you'd usually meet ... and even though it teeters on the brink of disappearing ... it clings and carries on wreathing you in light wafts of scent. It lasts! This willowy wispy thing lasts! Amazing! I'd sprayed medium-generously - maybe about half a ml? - and this somehow survived 6-7h. Better yet, it's not even just an exceptionally classy citrus-tea deal: the mate and moss and osmanthus give it little extra tickles of vegetal almost-bitterness, near-pepperiness, which seem to magically buoy up those delicate citrus notes and even stretch them a little longer, as well as adding interest. Clean and crisp and dry, but much more complex and intriguing than expected. Somehow really does take you outside, among plants - close your eyes and you're in a contemplative garden. Really and truly a class act, and this sort of light-green-citrus-watercolour style has to work very hard for me to like. (My home turf is clashing loud spicy darkness, not light natural Buddhist calm... but I still get a whole lot of balance and happiness from Qi.) Seems true unisex to me but some might feel it skews feminine. Painfully costly at RRP. Try if you dare, it might end up as an expensive love affair...

Something about this one stands out from other tea fragrances. It's delicate but not in a boring or airy kind of way, transparent and light with a subtle depth. The mate tea gives it a slight dry and bitter after taste, where freesia and musk smooths it out. Osmanthus seems to add a pretty vibe to it, in a picture perfect kind of way, mixing with the lemon blossom that gives it this muted zesty kick (which also smells like olives in a way). Qi is incredibly uplifting, less so in an energetic rush than a soothing zen form. I'm picturing a light green garden filled with a good mixture of different plants and flowers, sun shining bright on a spring day just giving it enough warmth through the cool weather. Twinkling lights and pure white decorations surround the area with hints of sparkles everywhere, and the bride in a simple yet elegantly flowing white dress walks into the garden wedding. Qi is the kind of perfume I would want to recommend to someone looking for a wedding scent that is not too heady, or cloying, or traditionally floral, and seeking for something light and different that creates just the greatest "mellow feel good" day. It's nothing too flashy, so it's great for general every day wear as well. I appreciate all the great work from Ormonde Jayne :)

Beautiful light tea scent with decent lasting power but very weak sillage. So if you do not mind to sniff it here and there on yourself, when you come close with your nose and love tea, this is your scent. + very work / office appropriate especially iin summer + refreshing but not sharp citrusy + gorgeous tea scent, very light and feminine - rather weak musk scent, which is good, if you do not like musk. for my personal taste it could have been slightly muskier. - sillage is weak. this is nice, if want others to think you do not wear perfume - therefore, too expensive for what it is another nice option would be Nishane Wulong Cha. It only comes in 50ml für roughly 200 CHF / 160 EUR / 200 Dollars. bit more musk and more special opening (fruitier without being sweet)

This is a pretty, zen-like, fruity and fresh tea scent, that smells rather like the entrance to my spa-style gym. I love it for this - it's hugely evocative, even though it's a simple scent. The more I smell it, the more I like it. I get an abundance of tea, freesia and lychee - or at least the impression of. The top is sparkling and juicy, and the heart is warm. I don't love the advertising copy, which says 'makes its mark for those who don’t want to be too obvious but may feel unfinished without it' - as it makes it sound like it's for weak people who need a scent to feel complete. An uplifting scent for yoga bunnies, and not in a bad way.

I have the OG, not intensivo. Qi feels like sunlight passing through white silk. A tea note rises first—pale, and almost weightless—then a soft osmanthus‐like glow warms the edges without ever tipping into apricot or sweetness. Everything stays sheer, and breathable. It’s the kind of fragrance that doesn’t announce itself so much as settle the air around you. If Bvlgari white tea and Hermes Osmanthe Yunnan had a quieter, more meditative sibling, Qi would be it. It’s elegant.

A sophisticated summer scent, minus the usual citrus and floral (jasmine) suspects. I find Qi to be a complex tea perfume—with little to no projection—but a scent that stays with me for several hours. Performance is best in warm weather. I like several Ormande Jayne scents but this is the one I bought. Question: what is the difference between this and the Intensivo version?

This a lovely fresh yet sweetish tea based fragrance. The lemon blossom, bright neroli and fruity osmanthus is very noticeable along with tea at first but the osmanthus is sadly fleeting. The pepperiness of the freesia is barely detectable. The blossom is fleeting and quickly you are just left with mate, tea and musk. Nice but thats about it. weak sillage and longevity.

Smells like an high quality oolong tea with fresh jasmine and a splash of citrus. Yes, it is on the feminin side, but as a man I have no problem wearing this in the right context. Its so light (which I like) which make it quite unisex imo. Very happy summer vibes frim this one, it really gets your qi flowing in your body.

That’s a very pretty and fresh osmanthus scent with a prominent tart tea note and lovely citruses. I think it’s a beautiful example of a lighter osmanthus with refreshing aspects. It’s a cheer scent by it projects quite well. In love!!! My ig: scent.guide

Qi – Second impression, six years later. I wrote a short review of Qi back in 2020, describing it simply as “glacé jasmine in green tea.” Revisiting it now through an old travel-size set, I realize my impression has changed quite a bit. The tea note here is much subtler than I remembered. It carries a faint crystalline sweetness, almost like fresh green tea leaves after their third infusion, lightly drizzled with linden honey. The floral nuance does not really remind me of jasmine, nor of the freesia or lemon blossom listed in the notes. Instead, it resembles the blossoms of a camphor tree : airy, delicate, subtly woody, and quietly elegant. What strikes me most today is how understated the fragrance is. Nothing shouts for attention. The composition feels quiet, restrained, and deeply elegant in a very Ormonde Jayne kind of way. I still sense a distant resemblance to Grand Bal by Dior, not so much in the note structure itself, but in the way both fragrances handle airy florals against a soft honeyed backdrop. The difference is that Grand Bal revolves around jasmine, while Qi feels closer to the delicate blossoms of a camphor tree. As the fragrance settles into the drydown, the camphor-blossom nuance slowly disappears, leaving behind mostly a soft linden-honey sweetness. Beautiful as it remains, the composition feels slightly less complete toward the end, as if it loses a bit of its “qi” along the way. Rating: 7/10

Qi is a pleasant fresh floral fragrance with an addicting tea note. It opens initially with lemon blossom which gives the impression of sharp citrus, but has that soft white floral touch. This is combined with gentle neroli and freesia which adds a clean airiness. The tea note is prominent right from the opening too, and is the dominant note throughout the scent. It’s a sweet and addicting tea note which combines very nicely with the osmanthus, hedione and rose. In the base, the tea is made ever so slightly earthy as the mate presents itself, which rests gently on a bed of musk and benzoin. This is one of the better summery freshies from Ormonde Jayne as I find it’s got a bit more character than the others I’ve tried, however it still doesn’t blow me away.

At first spray, very photorealistic lemon blossom. The mate really shines in the beginning with the addition of citrus. It's a sweet, lightly floral + osmanthus tea. Towards the end, the lemon blossom wafts away from my skin and becomes more of a sweet mate + light musk. If I put my nose up to my skin I get a hint of the myrrh (slight bittery-resinous vibe). While pleasant, imo it's a bit too sweet. I wouldn't say this is particularly "fresh", in fact as far as tea fragrances go this one is pretty "solid" and sweet. Leans feminine.

Qi is an interesting perfume. Slightly green, slightly smoky, slightly citrus, slightly floral, slightly earthy. It smells more like something that would be an air freshener at a spa than a perfume, but I like it, nonetheless. Very unisex. Very realistic and natural smelling. At least it doesn't smell like a candle, but I wouldn't call it a perfume either. If you like spa day scents Qi is something to check out.

Somehow, I got slightly tart fig when I wore this. There’s no fig listed in the note pyramid, so either it’s there but not accounted for, or it’s just how some of the notes happen to come together on my skin. It makes me think of a lighter Indigo by Nest, which is nice, but for the price they want for this I’d rather buy a big bottle of Indigo and just layer a bit of a citrus-heavy scent over it.

Glace jasmine in green tea. I like it. The quality of the tea note could have been better! I realize that Francois Demarchy has taken a lot of pages from Qi to make Grand Bal since they are really close to each other, for instance, the glace jasmine accord and tea note are shared in two of them. Rating: 6.5 (Parfum)

Honey lemon tea, with a blend of floral notes, mainly neroli and osmanthus, suitable all round the year for something fresh and soft. I enjoyed the sample but no way I am getting a full bottle - overpriced. I would reach for Chant d'Aromes (Guerlain) for this kind of everyday fresh floral scent. Agree with SearchingScents, Qi sometimes reminds me of lemon scented dishwashing liquid.

I like this. My first thought is that it feels like a lighter Tea Tonic (Miller Harris), which I have and love - but unfortunately feels too intense on me. This might be perfect layered with Osmanthus, also from Ormonde Jayne and allready on my wish list. Have to try.

The ad copy is right on the money--far more subdued than other tea scents out there and that is by design. However, there is something slightly sour here that bothers me, and the lovely floral aspect disappears far too quickly.

Some curious notes, including mate which mellows and grounds the citrus fairly well. On me this perfume is unremarkable. Doesn't last very long and has almost no sillage.

I hate to be a contrarian because people seem to really enjoy, not only this fragrance, but this house, but my experiences with this one has me quite frustrated. Qi by the house of Ormonde Jayne is definitetly not an enjoyable freshie to my nose. It begins with a bitter green tea (Most likely the mate) and a perfumer's alcohol that smells fishy, salty, and herbal right out of the gate like Ajax or some sort of bathroom cleaner. The perfume stings my nostrils in the first few seconds and then it finally begins to settle and transform into what it should be 30 minutes in. I hate having to wait for my perfumes to settle to transform into what they should. The mark of good niche perfumery or good perfumery in general is when the fragrance smells smoothly of its top notes first sprayed and not of perfumer's alcohol. I do not know much of Geza Schoen's projects or his perfumes but so far I'm not loving his work. These fragrances from Ormonde Jayne are my first exposure to Schoen's work. I will give everyone the benefit of the doubt and say that it is probably just my skin that Qi is probably not agreeing with which is a shame because those notes looked like just what I needed this summer. It is unique and I've never smelt anything similar to it but sometimes that can be a bad thing. What this dries down to on my skin smells like cold, stale, marinara sauce as if the tomatoes were starting to get moldy, strangely sweet, and bitter. Crushed tomatoes with a bit of an herbal and slightly metallic twang that is really rubbing me the wrong way. A modern designer quality profile. And because this smells so chemically and fuzzy to my nose it is making me quite sick to imagine a bowl of off marinara sauce with Ajax or chlorine on my skin. Completely not what I was expecting from this blend and the notes list. I don't know man, the notes looked so promising I really wanted to like this but to me there are better floral freshies on the market that smell more balanced and less synthetic for far less than $375. Please sample this one first folks... 6/10