Jade Dragon

This is love from the first sniff for me. Jade Dragon is similar to Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Novaya Zarya The Vert and many citrus/tea dominant scents But much better, completely natural feeling, smooth and bright, almost realistic combo of green tea and bergamot. Gorgeous, simple and linear. It also has the uplifting effect which is very nice. I don't really get vetiver.. this is strong green tea with bergamot. I can feel something like non-sweet amber at the background but it's very faint. Totally unisex tea scent. I won't comment about its performance which doesn't feel great. I'll update with new info the next days. This may be a fb worthing. All I can say for the moment is that it stays close to the skin and you can't overspray this scent. It's impossible. Update Longevity : it is easily detectable for the first 2.5-3 hours. It lives as a skin scent for about 5.5-6 hours. Most of its life stays close to the skin so Jade Dragon is mainly for personal pleasure or for indoors use if you prefer. It has edt concentration. At the drydown, when it is a skin scent, I can feel floral traces. To be more specific, jasmine. I was told that the old formulation was much stronger but different from the current Jade Dragon. Anyway, I prefer the modern version. It retails here 250 usd per 100 ml. UPDATE After owning and some full wearings I can get the vetiver which is easy detectable 2-3 hours before it dies. It has the same feeling, the same qualities and volume as in The Botanist by MiN New York house. It's fresh, wet, slightly citrusy green vetiver with a clean vibe. Feels dark/wet/mossy and it's velvety smooth. I suspect the presence of high quality white musk in both of these scents which may create the wet/clean illusion. Moreover, this fragrance is among the most complimented fragrances I own. A big surprise for me. I didn't expect that. Notes according to me. Green tea Vetiver Jasmine White musk Mild/soft amber Bergamot If you want to improve the longevity make some sprays on hair and/or clothes. It creates an aura around you which lasts easily 6-7 hours max. Every person who will come close to you, will feel it.

This is a blind buy for me. I was willing to take the risk as I love vetiver, tea and bergamot notes, plus, I am liking what Carlos Benaim did with Dunhill Icon. I found out soon enough that it was an expensive mistake. What I got is only a whiff of the listed notes and it would not last. 6 sprays to the chest and neck areas, 2 sprays each on either arms - the silage is non-existence and everything disappears after 1 hour. Totally a waste of money. Oh and by the way, the bottle is quite nice, the weight is quite substantial as it was constructed of solid glass, the sprayer is however, very weak. The fragrance is made in China. This is a very expensive paperweight Today decided to have a go at it again for the sake of fairness. The scent is quite good if you are into these sort of notes. It does not smell synthetic. It also reminds you of Bvlgari Eau Parfumee au The Vert except that in the latter, the tea note is more prominent. Longevity & sillage is in the same ballpark. The scent of the Jade Dragon is very linear from start to finish. It is very soft and I guess you can spray a lot to get a stronger effect as it doesn't choke you like some stronger perfume. You get the combination of the three notes and none is more prominent over the others. The tea scent is better than that of the Bvlgari EPaTV, the vetiver is right there between Guerlain vetiver & TF Grey vetiver. The bergamot note advertises its presence in a very polite manner. My Verdict: Scent: 7/10 Longevity: 3/10 Sillage: 2/10

The positive reviews are quite accurate. Like the earlier reviewer GRAF I also note the presence of jasmine. That is much more evident to me than the musk note most also feel. I do not detect an amber. I sense so much Jasmine that it could actually be the fourth listed note. When I first tried this fragrance 5-years ago it immediately brought to mind jasmine-infused Chinese green tea from a high-end restaurant or tea shop, sometimes even served with fresh jasmine petals, the smell and taste of which is very familiar to me. When tested back then I had no idea of the claimed notes. Chinese and Japanese green teas differ significantly, and while I won't get into that here I will say that the vast majority of fragrances on the market seem to feature a green tea note more in-line with the Japanese variety. Jade Dragon was around $250 that day, and with limited retailers and availability was likely targeted toward the wealthy of Chinese decent. There aren't many fragrances for which I can justify such a price paid (even today) so I passed... and dreamed. A few years later in 2017 I was able to obtain my first bottle at 50% off and this has been my most used perfume since that time. Pure, simple, excellence! It's discontinued, so if the reviews justify a blind buy you might want to grab one soon.

UPDATE After owning and some full wearings I can get the vetiver which is easy detectable 2-3 hours before it dies. It has the same feeling, the same qualities and volume as in The Botanist by MiN New York house. It's fresh, wet, slightly citrusy green vetiver with a clean vibe. Feels dark/wet/mossy and it's velvety smooth. I suspect the presence of high quality white musk in both of these scents which may create the wet/clean illusion. Moreover, this fragrance is among the most complimented fragrances I own. A big surprise for me. I didn't expect that. Notes according to me. Green tea Bergamot Vetiver Jasmine White musk Mild amber If you want to improve the longevity make some sprays on hair and/or clothes. It creates an aura around you which lasts easily 6-7 hours max. Every person who will come close to you, will feel it.

I'm happy I found it last week at sales rack. It's fun and fizzy fragrance, with green mate-like drydown and beautiful uplifting vetiver in it. Hence my association with LV Cactus Garden in recommendations. They share similar DNA down the line, even though zero similarity is there in the opening hour. Jade's opening is very bergamot heavy and something we all smelled before, but mid and drydown from this fragrance are what you are paying for. In terms of longevity it lasted for 7h on my skin with moderate projection while after 9 it was becoming skin scent. I could still sense the trace of it the next morning when I was taking shower which makes me believe that it is a solid performer in humid weather. Definitely best find for me this year.