Lapsang Lover

I honestly was offended by the smell at first. The myrrh and resins, at least on me, were very, very prominent and almost insulting to my nose, but I do acknowledge I'm very oversensitive to perfumes; this is just a warning for future buyers. After the dry-down though, it became this sweet black tea scent with cardamon, almost like a chilled tea with ice cream. I'm genuinely all over this perfume, and I will buy more from Providence Perfume despite living in Australia with obnoxiously long waits for shipping times.

Very honey-forward dry down (on my skin). Sexy, smokey, lightly herbal, amber-tea scent. The dry down is very similar to their Shivoo, but far less rose (and no coco), same level of dark sweetness. Very long lasting. I see what people are saying about the medicinal opening, but I love that! It's resinous and earthy and complex. Reminds me a bit of this gorgeous reishi lotion I got from Niawen (an indigenous skin care company that makes great stuff).

It smells a touch medicinal when wet (the resin maybe?), but that goes away when it dries. For a scent with honey, it's not sweet at all. It smells like a cup of tea. It's wonderful.

The best way to describe this scent is that of an old fireplace. Being next to the fireplace, sipping your tea, reading an old, dusty book. On my skin, this perfume unfolds as a most gorgeous Amber Fossil accord with a prominent Lapsang tea woody-smoky aroma. I get almost zero sweetness from it, although it lists honey. You have the smoky quality from the tea note, with a characteristic woody undertone adjoined to the smokiness of the amber fossil, labdanum, and other resins used. I love Amber Resin accords in perfumery, and this one is among the best I have come across. On top of that, all-natural, using actual fossilized amber resin. Hence, you get the typical facets of leather, dustiness, dryness, and toffee-like texture. There is also a slight bitter-medicinal feel to the perfume that works well with the other accords. When I smell an amber resin-themed perfume, I want it to make me think of something old and dusty. Very few managed to pull off that imagery, this one being one of them and the most realistic at that. In a market where all the Amber perfumes are overdosed on vanillin, ambrarome, and ambroxan, with the sweetness reaching sky-high limits, compositions like this are a breath of fresh air, or should I say, old air. IG:@memory.of.scents

Calming and hypnotizing. Imagine it's what a bee experiences when they encounter smoke. I'm distracted by any existing stress as my nose follows the smoke. Medicinal bitter opening (like Po Chai pills if anyone's familiar with this Chinese herbal stomach medicine). But the development is tantalizing, soft smokey, sandal woody - hint of cocoa next to a fire pit. If you like the smell of a wood burning fireplace, chimney or like the way a bonfire smells in your hair, you'll like this. The dry down is welcoming and gorgeous - leather, rose and honey with the smoke just trailing.

Lapsang Lovers starts off like a freshly brewed cup of Lapsang tea (I have only smelled the actual tea before. I have never drunk it; the smell was too strong for me to even think about consuming it. I prefer Orange Pekoe, Black, Earl Grey or Oolong for drinking) that has a good amount of honey w/ it. As the fragrance goes along the honey note fades quite a bit and becomes more in the background. This is quite smoky, as is Lapsang tea is, so you get a lot of smoke. The medicinal and at times bitter myrrh is very strong here as well. Labdanum makes this perfume warm, and you get the feeling of being near a campfire. This perfume is very smoky but a sweet smoke that has a medicinal edge. There is almost a tar like smell here, like a birch tar but it isn't listed in the notes, but I smell birch tar all the same. I'm not really getting a lot of rose here which is a bit disappointing for me because I am a rose lover. This is much more masculine than I expected. Lapsang Lovers is very smoky, medicinal, dry w/ a tar like smell that I am not liking. It kind of makes my throat dry smelling it. I Love this house and own several of their perfumes, but this is just an ok for me. If you like medicinal notes (probably from the myrrh and tea combo) w/ lots of slightly sweet smoke this is something you should check out. The tar smell I am getting isn't a heavy a tar, but it is noticeable. This is just to smoky, medicinal, and tar like for me. Edit: Later today. I had my husband test this out and he says it is way to smoky for him as well. He thought it was a very linear smoke fragrance. He has a bottle of Gather Perfumes Tea Season. That starts off really smoky and strong as well, but Tea Season becomes more floral and has a nice vanilla. It also has a brightness because of Aglaia blossom. I wish Charna would have added some vanilla and some type of citrus to Lapsang Lovers I think that would have calmed down the smoke a bit and added some depth to a quite linear fragrance. Edit 12/10/25. I let my sample of this sit since 2022 and now I can wear it. If to much smokiness bothers you let this sit for a few years lol. Now it's perfect. I also layered it with Nest Vanilla oil that I got for a steal at TJ Maxx. Great combo.

I reviewed this perfume when it first was released. I've let my sample sit sense 2022 and now since a lot of the harsh smokiness has died down I really like it. It's a more mellow cup of this particular type of tea. Some perfumes get better with age (many Chanel are that way) and this is one of them. I've also layered this with Nest Vanilla oil I picked up at TJ Maxx for a steal. Great combo. Update to a like after years of aging. Layer with a vanilla oil helps as well.

I had high hopes for this, but unfortunately it was just tea and smoke on my skin. I got a waft of amber only for a short period after dry down. But that was it.

This perfume is giving dirty elephants in a zoo and dries down to leather. Not for me.

Initially, this was smokey tea and something that was very medicinal on me. The scent was reasonably strong almost over-powering. This took a very long time to change and dry down. When it did, I still get the smokey tea, but the medicinal edge was tempered with something. (I think the rose and amber.) The smoke and medicinal edge to this was a bit too strong for me. It lasted forever though :)