Osmanthus

Osmanthus is a strange accord that is hard to get your hands (or nose) around. All you have to do to confirm this statement of mine is read the reviews of this perfume. In its purest and most botantical form, I would say the majority of people find the flower off putting. I think it's one of the best olfactory marvels of nature, so, naturally, I love DC's Osmanthus and many do not. In order to like - little alone love - this perfume, you need to have a general fondness for the real deal, because Jean-Claude Ellena is going to give it to you unapologetically and in full force. If you have never smelled real osmanthus, either in flower form or perfume form, and you're unsure if you like it or don't like it, DC's Osmanthus is far from being a safe blind buy. The perfume's opening is going to grab your attention and check your courage. Galbanum, bergamot, and orange come together to give a very bitter, slightly sweet, and very green accord, that calls to my mind underripe green bell peppers. Ellena is taking cover charges at the door with this opening accord; you're either going to like it and think it's worth the price of admission, or you're going to turn around and leave. What comes next in a seamless dry down from the opening notes is osmanthus. There are little bits of jasmine and rose here, but the accords that shine are the leather and tea. Real osmanthus has pretty clear presentations of both, but very few osmanthus perfumes lean into them; the accords can be quite challenging, so brands prefer to dial them back in favor of osmanthus's fruity and floral notes. Not Ellena and DC, though. The leather here is a rich, freshly tanned suede that is both strident and strong yet plushy and velvety. The tea note is a funky fruity black tea, and this is the part that piques my curiosity the most. In many osmanthus perfumes, as I mentioned, the fruity part of osmanthus is given favor and put front-and-center, and this note is usually very reminiscent of apricot (or perhaps underripe nectarines, or some similar yellow tree fruit). In this pefume, the fruit hovers over the earthy, grassy, rooty, fermented leaves of Camellia sinensis, seamless and inseparable. The heart of this perfume is funky; be warned. The musks at the base give this earthy and rooty fruit-inflected tea note a dense silkiness that I find very addictive. It's a small difference compared to other osmanthus perfumes, but it has outsized effects. If you have been able to make it through to the end of DC's Osmanthus, this is another part where people have a problem. For many this smells a bit too lotion like or soap like. Welcome to Fragrances in Cosmetics 101; today we start on Chapter One. The floral aspects of the osmanthus, namely the pink rose part of it, combined with the musks do have a soapy or lotion type accord to them, but if you don't like it that means you don't like it, not that Ellena made a technical mistake: natural osmanthus does have a fair bit of this aroma to it. I, for one, like it, and it also works in a naturalistic and logical way by providing a pleasant salve at the end to help you recover from the more difficult parts of the perfume that came before. I love this perfume. Whenever I try an osmanthus perfume that's new to me, I usually at some point ask myself "what do I think of this compared to DC's Osmanthus?" It was after I realized that I was doing this, some better part of two decades ago, that it truly occurred to me just how good it is. Two decades on, it's still a bar to measure against.

It's a big floral, and smells very exotic. I learn that this fragrance was inspired to JC Ellena by a trip in China, where the very rare (and scarce) flower "Osmanthus Fragrans" was harvested and reduced to a concrete form for travelling to the West. I can clearly see why it is inspiring... it's a creamy , poetic flower, and so is the scent. Definitely feminine and to be used with a light hand, the creaminess is paired to some green leaves and the top notes of bergamote, orange and mandarin (that generally marry well wiht white flowers). Some rose. A warm musk base that makes it long lasting (I would have loved more a benzoin/amber base, by the way). Reminds me of Farouche, for some non-explained reason. A Lovely, classy and sophisticated feminine perfume.

This is so addictive, I can't stop spraying it. I could probably wear this every day for the rest of my life. It is quite simplistic and fragile but also really blooms. I sometimes find Jean-Claude Ellena's creations to be a bit too pungent, this however strikes a perfect balance between that sharp freshness and softer feel.

It's just very lively, comforting, feminine and soft. The bergamot and mandarine give the slightly raspy osmanthus a good balance. Actually smells like an expensive face cream, with a hint of rose. I'm a fan.

I bought this as one of the 48 heures packets so I didn't spend that much for this as an individual perfume. That said, I'm finding myself likeing it more and more as I wear it more. At first I didn't like Osmanthus at all. I was very surprised because I had heard so many glowing reviews from friends I trust. It had a bitter green scent to me and on top of that a creaminess that I found disturbing. It reminded me of citrus peels mixed with Jergen's lotion. Yech! Maybe it was the nostalgia for Jergen's lotion that got me to wear it again but each time I wear it, Osmanthus grows on me. I am getting more floral now, less green bite and cream and more of the semi-musky base. This is a very pleasant scent to wear to bed or as someone else noted, when you are going to be close to other people and don't want to give offense as there is very little sillage. And unfortunately, very little lasting power. I doubt I will buy a bigger bottle of this. There are other bedtime scents I like better, but I will enjoy it while it lasts.