Osmanthus Oolong

Where I see peach note, the frag is a must try (sadly most perfumes smell of synthetic peach notes which I cannot the least stand). The reviewer before me mentioned Mitsouko, so I decided to go for sampling this. Yet, it seems the peach got lost on my skin. I must say that on me, this is mostly about leather and tea. There is also a notice-able beeswax note in the background and believe me or not, the rest of the notes are quite hard to discern but all in all they would add a slightly sweet undertone to the fragrance, saving it from falling on the masculine side. I find this fragrance quite unique and among the leather fragrances I tried (well, not usually my favourite note as it tends to be more masculine than not but some leather fans would possibly able to cite a similar frag to this one) All in all, I would not say it was easy to wear this fragrance but those who like their fumes smoky and assertive will definitely be able to pull this off. With pleasure.

I was expecting something rather delicate, maybe because of the tea note, but this is quite dark and boozy. I guess the color of the perfume should have been a clue as to how intense this composition really is. The fruit very much has a fermented quality which is complimented by the smoky apricot nuances of the osmanthus flower. Jasmine is fairly prominent, rich and beautiful but takes a while to surface above the booziness. I've read that aglaia flower smells like sweet, floral lemon rind before being cut and I detect a little hint of that here (or it could be the citrus and floral accord). The culmination becomes smoother and somewhat intoxicating but without much of the oolong present. You really have to give this one quite some time on your skin for it to bloom to its full magnificence. A rather indulgent floral fruit liquor with a deep, rustic and tenacious quality.

This scent is quite a departure from most perfumes today. To me this smells exactly like old, rich expensive tooled saddle leather in the best possible way. The kind that is used, oiled, taken care of, treasured. Although at first I wasn't sure I wanted to smell this way, the more I wear it, the more I love it. It is an easy fragrance to wear exactly because it does smell good and it triggers all sorts of thoughts of anything rich and leathery. For me gorgeous saddles, but my friends thought it evoked an ancient library with thousands of leather bound books on alchemy and such. Another friend a leather steamer trunk filled with collectibles from a trip around the world (obviously it triggers the creative fantasy in everyone!). After a few hours, I do get the spiced tea scent, which is also lovely. It is relatively light, on me the sillage moderate.

All tastes are acquired. What else could they be? People today tend to have different tastes than, say, fifty years ago, because tastes are largely culturally determined and influenced by such forces as marketing and availability. In the perfume world, the age of abstraction moves inexorably ahead like a steam roller to remove all natural materials from fragrance, a result primarily of the need for corporate conglomerates to maximize profit and the fact that they have gobbled up most of the design houses. A visit to the wall at Sephora suffices to demonstrate that hordes of burgeoning perfume consumers are being trained to believe that simple and spare is better than rich and complex. Yes, they are being tutored, sweet laundry scents and shampoo and conditioner frags are legitimate perfumes. Why is this happening? Simply because abstract flowers are inexpensive, and natural essences are costly and prohibitively difficult to produce. Pink fruity-floral fragrances abound, and you will never find Providence Perfume Osmanthus Oolong on the same shelf as the vat-produced "no plant life was sacrificed in the production of this juice" perfumes. You may still occasionally espy an old bottle of Clinique Aromatics Elixir on the bottom shelf, nearly evaporated away and dark and viscous from the harsh light to which it has been exposed for years, untouched by any customer in recent history. This perfume is rich and dark and intense, and I do believe that the concentration is more like perfume than eau de parfum. The name might have led one to expect something light, after all, oolong tea is light and thin compared to, say, assam, and osmanthus is like the tofu of flowers but with a built-in light fruitiness, making it difficult to discern in most compositions, at least to my nose. In Osmanthus Oolong, what we have is a strong oolong tea concentrate along with a substantial leather note and some other oriental components, including some unsweetened dried fruits that could give le grand Serge a run for his money. Very dark and rich and oriental, and as usual it's hard to know what role the osmanthus is truly playing in this elixir. An all-natural perfume made exclusively of pure plant essences, this creation is going to strike some noses as foreign and inhospitable. To those who have been initiated into the fine world of natural perfume, on the other hand, this powerful little potion may be the perfect oolong tea perfume.

There's no citrus or juicy peach to be found in this scent - instead Osmanthus Oolong is all about the hyper realistic, bitterly tannic tea, which is balanced by a soft heart of musky leather, osmanthus, indolic jasmine and peach skins. This scent is concentrated and somewhat animalic with the beeswax and strong indoles. Osmanthus scents are often well behaved and restrained florals - but this osmanthus has more in common with the feral osmanthus from Olympic Orchids Tropic of Capricorn. Despite the tannic opening, there is a moderate sweetness in the mid notes (and at times the tea+peach smells has a slight sweet tarts note). Overall, it's well composed and not your average tea osmanthus scent. It's an interesting sniff but I'm not sure how often I'll reach for it since it's not an easy wear. Good sillage and good longevity. Edit: to my surprise, when asking my boyfriend to sniff it, he said "I love it. It smells like adventure. Places unknown. Can I have it?!" So I gave it to him :) The leather notes pop on him.

This is a richer, warmer tea scent than one might be used to. Luckily my personal taste is satisfied with how fleeting I perceive the peach to be. Different noses and whatnot. The yuzu sticks around the longest, making the citrus flow well into the more bitter tea notes. The osmanthus clears the way for the beeswax and jasmine to sweeten without making it sticky and the leather steps in and sexes it up. I like this take on teas. The journey lasted about four hours before I had to search for it on my skin.

Osmanthus Oolong is a fairly strange scent. I am not sure if I love it or not. Osmanthus is detectable with the faint apricot scent. Peach. And beeswax. Tea? No tea...but leather. Actually the smell reminds me of horse stables...the scent of saddles...Osmanthus Oolong is has more sweetness though.

Looking high and low for a bottle. Please message me if you have one and not give it much attention.