Dear Polly

I received this sample as a freebie when I ordered an Arielle Shoshana discovery kit. When I first tried it I was not impressed and it sat in my closet unused for about 6 months or so. I just got something smokey with a bit of apple (but not a sweet apple, more of a crisp green apple without all the tang and sweetness). However I recently decided to give it another try and to my surprise, I like it now! I am not crazy about the opening still because it does have a touch of smokiness, but not so much to the point that I hate it (which I normally do hate smokey scents); the drydown is really pleasant to my nose. I love how it is not overpowering and it's not "too much" of anything; it's not really sweet, it's not super aromatic, it's not super fruity, it's not super fresh. I don't know how I would describe it. It smells clean but not in a shampoo-y way. I'm glad that it's not as smokey now as it was when I first tried it months ago. It doesn't project too much but I am okay with that; I'm rather introverted so I avoid beast mode fragrances. However I wish the longevity was a bit better considering the price point. Maybe one day I'll be a travel size but I don't know if it's worth it for the price, which is unfortunate because I really do enjoy this fragrance. When I first wore it in public my friend told me I smelled nice, which is always a confidence booster and just makes me want to buy it even more lol. But my wallet can't handle this one unfortunately, so I will just cherish my sample while it lasts.

Dear Polly is an incredible smoldering tea scent. I've been on the hunt for a good Earl Grey scent for a long time, or at least one with a strong black tea note with nuances of bergamot. This is steamy and beautiful. Smoky black tea singed with a bit of honey, brightened a little with citrus airness. The apple in this fragrance is subtle and like dried apple -- fleshy with a hint of dark green, not thin and aquatic. There's a prominent wood note that meets my nose as something between guaiac and oak -- really dry and smoky, very well balanced with dark amber in this composition -- never setting aflame into campfire territory, just gently smoldering. Along with musk which is also dark, this reads almost like a smoky pipe tobacco note, especially with the moist dark fruit infusion. The hint of oakmoss gives the base a really good texture that weaves in and out. Sometimes smooth, sometimes airy, sometimes mossy with an occasional woody prickle. Dear Polly is a cerebral scent letter inspired by the founder Jan Ahlgren's wife. I love the clean depth, warmth and woodiness of this fragrance, the complexity that culminates into a simple, soothing and natural scent. Longevity is great on me lasting for a good 12 hours.

I was introduced to the brand by a friend. Loved the design of their website and the packaging at first site, however, since I do not live anywhere that sells the brand, I had a friend buy blindly for me. Choosing Dear Polly based on the brand's official website proved that I bought the right scent, it's amazing!! The story behind the fragrance is also as romantic as the scent. (Please read on their website and other reports!) The scent is extremely warm, which is always what I'm looking for in my perfume (note l'ombre dans l'eau or Le Labo scents...etc) Black tea is very prominent, and with body temperature, it smells like a warm, big hug. I love it. My friends and family all adore this scent, been asked a few times on which fragrance I'm using. Cons: Price tag is ridiculously high and the bottle design proved the be beautiful but very unrealistic. The shape is difficult to get a grip on, so I often fear that the bottle will slip and break. Anyway, it's a beautiful fragrance, and for people who love black tea should definitely try. I hope one day they'll create travel size tubes.

I buy (and bought) the hype. I know the vision behind Polly is a cosy, tender one, and I see her listed on a lot of “comfort scent” lists, but I get something far more vivacious. Flirty, puckish, twee. Picnic first date. Zooey Deschanel comedy. Head-to-toe Anthropologie. She’s a fruit-tea gourmand, like a Starbucks Refresher, all sweet black tea and lemonade doused in green apple syrup. (My go-to order at Starbucks is a passion lemonade, guilty as charged). The apple is tart, juicy, a so-sour-it’s-sweet Granny Smith candy. The tea is cleverly steeped. It’s a creamy Earl Grey, bergamot rich, but somehow not at all lactonic. She lasts me at least six hours on skin and fabric, and radiates enough to reliably get complemented. Mental Snapshot: Summer the city. A cheeky tea party on a hilltop in the park. Farmer’s market strawberries, thrift shop china, yellow gingham sundress. Inside the picnic basket there’s a bottle of acid-strong sour apple schnapps. All this is directed by Wes Anderson. tl;dr: Earl gurl 🦜🫖

Sophisticated, very heavy on the tea and amber in the beginning for me but then it dries down to a nice citrus tea. I do tend to go nose blind to this and this perfume. It is a lovely year round sent and is very unique. My nose sensitive parents can smell it very easily on me and beg me to only use one spray so it can definitely be picked up on by others. This perfume is like walking through a forest after it’s rained and is foggy. The trees are wet to the point where moss is easily visible. Earthy smells in the air but not necessarily in a bad way. It’s grounding. It reads like a fairy or enchanted forest vibe. This is what I think some fae may smell like. No, it does not smell like nest’s tea perfume, at least to me. It’s much more refined and whimsical. It’s extremely unique and still quite not as known in the regular world so you’re very unlikely to meet someone who wears it too. This makes me think of Jude. Not sure why, it may be the earthiness of it. But I feel it fits her so well.

Dear Polly, You are so fresh, so green, so delicious. A fresh apple and a cup of black tea while you are sitting in the garden or in a park just enjoying life. Someone is walking past you, and for a brief moment you smell a trace of a cigarette, a menthol one to be precise. It makes you feel grown up and put together. You could’ve been a juvenile scent if you just got the apple and tea, but the musk and amber ties it together, and in my book, you are one of the best tea scents. Alas, I do understand why some would say you smell like apple shampoo, or a conditioner spray or something along those lines, but all that aside. You have a great lasting power. You are absolutely intoxicating and alluring, and I can’t help but think about you, dreaming about sitting in that park with my warm tea and green apple. Just try this, you won’t regret it. I promise. Love from me.

She is my favorite!! I was fortunate to find a bottle for a fantastic price because I had wanted Dear Polly for a loooong time!! This vetiver, black tea and apple trifecta reminds me of a cold, rainy day at the English countryside retreat. There’s a roaring fire from the stone fireplace and a riveting book to be read. The fragrance is sheer feeling for the heavier elements, and that apple adds just enough sweetness to not be too masculine. The vetiver has almost a burning match quality. There’s an edge about it, like a cigarette smell (but that’s what I like about it!). The tea helps calm that down. Dear Polly took some getting used to, but is a staple in my fragrance wardrobe. Side note: I also love to mix this with Cote D Azure by Oribe and God is a Woman by Ariana Grande - and those two happen to come from the same perfumer!

Dear Polly" by Vilhelm Parfumerie transports you to a chic city café, where the air is filled with the delightful aromas of fresh baked goods and the subtle waft of someone’s cigarette in the distance. This fragrance embodies a perfect blend of sophistication and playfulness, inviting you to imagine yourself sipping tea while indulging in a spoonful of fig jam, all while clad in a stylish outfit topped with a beret. The scent opens with a bright, refreshing burst that feels as vibrant as the city life around you. As it develops, it reveals warm, inviting notes that evoke a sense of comfort and ease, making you feel effortlessly sexy and confident. "Dear Polly" is a beautifully crafted olfactory experience that captures the essence of leisure and allure, perfect for those moments when you want to embrace your inner muse.

I want to start by saying that I absolutely adore tea fragrances and I've been constantly searching for good ones, therefore i criticize them a lot and without hesitation. Spoiler alert: this is literally addictive. It's cozy like a warm cup of tea, but fresh like an ice tea during summer at the same time. It transcends beautifully into a slightly nice bitter-ish scent that I personally directly link to black tea. Definitely tea is the main actor here, accompanied in the beginning by a lot of bergamot and the moss comes along with the musk after an hour or so. Nothing smokey, rubbery, burnt or anything like that, or at least not on my skin. It's true that the projection is quite bad, the performance is per usual for this category and the price is kind of insane, but IT IS JUST TOO GOOD!!!

It's a cold winter so when I tested this fragrance outdoors it didnt really blow me away and I was ready to write it off as another nice but boring frehsie. Then I went to sleep while having it on my wrist.... and oh man I woke up hypnotized. What I thought had middling performance was now filling my nostrils without even the need to bring my hand close to my face. The tea note came off much stronger and added a soft and warm character to the scent. Completely unlike most tea scents that I've tried which were either too earthy or too spicy. The tea in this fragrance is how I imagine Uncle Iroh's tea shop to smell like: warm, delicate, and inviting. Completely blew my previous fave fresh tea scents Wulong Cha and The Cachemire out of the water.

Oh this is beautiful! On paper I didn't get a whole lot, the scent was quite shy, but on my skin I get through all the notes so beautifully! First a not too sharp bergamot, with a little fruity/sweet apple which made me wonder if I would really like this perfume as I wasn't really looking for something sweet. And then it transitioned into a really pleasant tea, still keeping a little bit of the sweetness, in the exact right amount. As a tea lover, I often get disappointed by many "tea" perfumes which don't actually really smell like tea, but this gets pretty close! Smelling it again as I finish typing this and I think I'm falling in love with this perfume. I keep smelling my hand and the more I do, the more I love it. Damn.

Never have I purchased a full bottle so quickly. How do I even summarise my love for this fragrance? She is everything I’ve ever wanted and more. I love tea notes, and this is so perfect and divine. To me the black tea is very photorealistic but the other beautifully blended notes stop it from being bitter, or overpowering. To be fair, I wouldn’t want to walk around smelling totally of tea. The citrus and oakmass are the stars that perfectly complement the tea in my opinion. Imagine going on a picnic amongst lush, earthy greenery. The air is crisp, and no one else is around. It rained recently so the greenery has come to life, and you’re sipping on an ever so slightly sweetened lemon iced tea. What an incredible blend.

I’m a big tea fragrance fan, but honestly was surprised at how much I like Dear Polly. To me it is the most balanced and wearable version of a tea fragrance where it clearly has notes of tea but in a way that melds with the person wearing it. It does have a light sweetness that lingers nicely and again just feels balanced throughout the wear, never cloying. I also agree with some other comments that it’s a darker tea, but not heavy or challenging (there are some maté notes out there that are way more challenging as far as tea goes). While I love a gourmand that smells like a London Fog, or a Chai, or even a lemon iced tea, sometimes I just want the hint of tea to keep me company, which is when I pick Dear Polly!

This does something magical when sprayed on my skin. I get dark brewed black tea with smokiness right behind it; almost as if the two coincide to concoct the uncanny likeness of a freshly steeped lapsang soochong. The bright bite of apple and bergamot comes in next with resinous dips of amber and fig. The woody oak moss wades throughout the base with a welcome hint of powdery musk for balance. This scent is surprising; the more I smell it the more I notice about it. It’s complex and intriguing; at some points throughout the day I swear it almost smells peppery too. This is pleasant, interesting, and unique without being TOO out there. Big fan!

I grew up near the Baltic sea, so it was almost always cold and everyone, including children, drank a lot of black tea. The rich, loose-leaf tea was served piping hot with a wedge of lemon, no sugar. I used to squeeze the lemon into the hot liquid and smoosh it with my spoon to make it extra citrusy. The scent of that lemony tea, including the earthy dregs, would linger in the house for hours. The first time I tried Dear Polly, I was instantly a kid again, wrapped in a blanket in my grandmother's kitchen, drinking a hot cup of black tea with lemon. This is a masterpiece of a tea fragrance: hyper-realistic, comforting, and beautifully nuanced.

Oolong tea with an amber, orange, & musk dry down. This is a unique blend of notes, and my husband described it as unlike perfume but more of an aromatic luxury spa scent. We agree it will be a date night and special occasion perfume, not an everyday reach. Nest Indigo is a lot sweeter, but it comes from a similar family—like a distant younger cousin. My husband gifted the 100ml to me for my birthday after I adored the sample I tried, and it’s such a special gift presentation. The bottle truly feels special with the engraved flowers on the cap and bottom, as well as the weighted glass.

The first tea fragrance I smelled where I ACTUALLY smelled tea. Not sure what Dear Polly did different but it really clicked with me here. I really like this one, it's bright and fresh. There's something kind of snappy and green in it. I think this would be gorgeous on a morning walk in the springtime. I see the complaints about cigarette smell and it's funny, my skin definitely tends to pull those notes out of fragrances but I really don't smell it here. Similarly, a lot of these black tea fragrances smell masculine on my skin but not this one. This was definitely a win for me.

I love the tea and bergamot notes. I don't love the ambroxide note. I don't get the smokiness that a lot of the comments talk about, but the ambrox has that dull grey saltiness to it that mellows out the bright freshness to this one. However, I'm sure that the super longevity this has is due to the ambroxide in it, so there are pros and cons. Dear Polly lasts on my skin overnight and projects strongly. This is a strong like for me. This and Wulong Cha are duking it out as my favorite tea frags but Dear Polly may come out ahead as it smells less like a hotel lobby.

I do not agree with the review below me at all. BR540 is very different. This fragrance really smells like green apple bergamonte. They both have a crispness to them, but in very different ways. MFK said he wanted BR540 to smell like what he envisioned crushed crystal to smell like, and I feel like he accomplished that. Dear Polly is nothing like that. This is pure green fruit. Crisp green apple and green leaf tea. Hint of green citrus. All balanced with wood notes like oakmoss and vetiver. It's very elegant and approachable. I'd 100% have both in my collection.

The opening is like opening a bag of loose-leaf Assam tea. The apple soon makes an appearance and the fragrance slowly dries down to a very calming and quite fantastic ambery black tea. Very well done, IMO. I bought it for myself (on Mercari. Don't pay full price) and my wife sprays it on herself quite often so it's safely unisex. A must-try for tea lovers. 4 sprays is more than enough and it will last several hours. If you layer the dry down with a citrus scent like Jo Malone's Orange Blossom Cologne, it smells like a wonderful spicy tea rose.

When it comes to citrus fragrances, I always prefer for there to be a tea note. Dear Polly delivers that in the best way. The fragrance starts out with a sharp but organic citrus opening and dries down into beautiful, sweet apple notes, with the black tea still ever present in the back, never going away. Finally, it becomes a musky skin scent with the black tea scent, allowing the musk to become truly captivating. Dear Polly lasts quite a long time for such a fresh and organic scent. It lasts around 5-6 hours on my skin and projects moderately.

I have been looking for my PERFECT tea fragrance for a very long time. While I love many, this is something special. It's very dry, not too sweet - which I think some may have been expecting. Sweetness. I believe that's what makes this beautifully unisex (which is the avenue I often prefer to go down). It's gentle, like a soft kiss more than anything else. I adore this. I do see where the "cigarette smoke" idea comes from - but I don't get that on my skin. A love at first sniff. Once I finish my travel, I will absolutely be buying the 50ml.

Lovely “juicy” rainy day fragrance. The tea note is prominent. It opens twinkly because of the bergamot, but becomes more watery and fruity from the green apple as it dries. It’s a cold fragrance with a warm base from the ambergris. It is early October on the west coast in a bottle. Where Nest’s Indigo takes it in a much fruiter direction, Byredo’s Mixed Emotions takes it in a much smokier direction, and Le Labo’s Thè Noir 29 is a very dry iteration. Dear Polly dries down in a soapier way. But they are all part of the same family.

Love love love this fragrance. My signature scent, discovered it through a free sample. Hated the name, didn’t know the brand, expected nothing - but by the end of the sample I had fallen in love. I don’t know how to describe it. Sweet, lightly spiced apple cake with tea perhaps. It’s amazing. I so resent the cigarette smoke comparisons from a couple of reviewers! Don’t insult my beloved - she’s a getter-of-stranger-compliments! (In my case, from a pharmacist lol.)

Another Vilhelm love-at-first-sniff fragrance! I'm a huge tea lover, so this one grabbed me right away. I'm not noticing apple as much as I expected, but I really love the tea note, and that's pretty much enough for me. The dry down is pleasant, and to me it doesn't differ drastically from the opening. I would wear this every day! It didn't last as long on me as I would have liked, but it's possible with a real bottle the sprayer won't suck like the sample does.

On my skin it smells like wulong cha's more introverted sister. The bergamot still feels fresh but the apple is a gentle sweetness and not sharp. It smells like a sweet tea but in a cozy early autumn in the rain way? It would be wearable in any season but to me it feels more toned down on the citrus and more warm earthy tea compared to other citrus tea scents out there. I thought the projection wasn't amazing but i kept smelling it on me even 12 hours later.

I find that my skin chemistry makes tea scents do strange things on me. But this one is amazing! For me Dear Polly opens briefly with bergamot, but almost immediately is overtaken by a strong Lapsong Suchong scent which I think comes from the oakmoss. She's smokey, slightly musky, and like there's a very strong cup of black tea near by. I get absolutely no apple. This is one of my favourite perfumes. Very expensive but the longevity is quite good.

This is a really beautiful and well-balanced perfume. I get all the notes, which for me is rare. The scent basically stays the same for hours, which is also rare. Usually after a couple hours only one or two notes are detectable on most fragrances. This is my fall go-to scent, and the only downside is the price. I bought the small bottle for that reason. I guess it’s difficult to put a price on a piece of art, which to me, this is.

When I first smelled this it reminded me of a nice cold glass of sweet tea. It’s a really nice and easy going fragrance to wear. It’s in the same ballpark as Wulong Cha but in my opinion Dear Polly is easier to wear, Dear Polly has a very tea forward note but it’s blended very nicely with the apple and citrus. It’s not beast mode or loud by any means and honestly that’s totally cool when it comes to this fragrance.

I got a sample of this and purchased a decant immediately after trying. Instant love! There's something addictive about some of the Vilhelm scents, I notice this same quality in Poets of Berlin and Dear Polly has it, too. I adore a tea perfume and this does not disappoint. A gorgeous crisp, juicy green apple mixed with tea leaves, and a hint of mossy amber lingers. This will be a spring and summer repeat for me.

A beautiful black tea scent with noticeable citrus and fruity tart green apple. It is like sipping a glass of fresh brewed iced tea infused with apple and a squeeze of lemon. Lasts a good 6 hours on my skin and stays within an intimate projection which I love. Not sure why some people are noticing a cigarette scent or cigarette ash scent other than it is their skin chemistry. I don't notice that at all.

I've been through a decant and a half of this now so I need to just get a full bottle already.. This is for sure one of my top favorite tea scents (and I have many!). I really pick up the apple, bergamot and oakmoss. The apple in this is a tart green apple and the tea is a smoky black tea and I love the contrast of them together. It is a moderate to light projector and has great longevity on skin.

So far my favorite scent from Vilhelm. It opens with a crisp citrus and a weird (to my nose) plastic note that I think is the apple. But the plastic fades quickly and the middle is a lovely warm black tea with honey and some mellow spices. Above average projection and longevity, wouldn't say it is super strong. Easy to wear as a daily scent if you're a fan of freshies with a little spice and musk.

This fragrance is a captivating blend of warm and woody notes, featuring a harmonious fusion of oakmoss and black amber. The addition of crisp apple and bergamot adds a refreshing brightness, while the Ceylon black tea provides a comforting depth. Soft musk envelops the scent, enhancing its sophisticated allure. Overall, it embodies a womanly charm that is both familiar and enchanting.

opens with a fresh and fruity aroma; the apple note doesn’t smell like spot on apples just more like a general fruit like smell. The heart of this has a beautiful black tea note, unsweetened, that blossoms into a warm and earthy oakmoss covered tea leaf scent by the dry down. It’s very warm, comforting, aromatic, and earthy. It has a slight smokiness to it too. Really loved this one

joke's on you, I love it when my black tea is steeped forever and gets that dark, bitter, medicinal taste to it. Opens with a light sweet apple, beautifully aromatic tea, still seeing how long this lasts. I don't normally spray more than twice and I put on 5 when I smelled this! need me a full bottle of this, it's a cloudy autumn day all the way

It’s a very pretty tea scent. Very feminine, sweet, clean. Reminds me of Elizabeth Arden Green Tea. I found it a bit boring compared to some of the other Vilhelm fragrances I’ve tried but I do like it and I can see why it’s their most popular as I think it would appeal to most people. Can’t justify the price tag for this particular fragrance.

it smells spicy on my skin, like in a warmed spiced way. I get the tea and it's so incredibly comforting, it reminds me of the fireplace by MM without any of the vanilla, chestnuts, or the extremely smoky scent. This is just smoky enough to feel like you are drinking tea by the fireplace but not in an overwhelming way like by the fireplace.

Divine freshly brewed black tea with hints of apple, utterly magnificent. I find it a good spring/summer replacement for Gris Charnel. There's a slight resemblance between the two in my opinion, yet Dear Polly feels more carefree and light. It's truly addictive. Only downside is lack of projection and longevity considering the price tag.

It sounds as if you were in summer cottage and your grandma brewed you a strong black tea. A warm enveloping fragrance with the first notes of bergamot awakens in you dear memories from your childhood. After a while, the fragrance opens up with unsweetened green citrus notes.I would like to purchase this fragrance in full size.

I'd sell my soul to Vilhelm to have a lifetime supply of this. It smells like going on a date with a forest fairy in an antique tea shop. It's tea without being too fresh, romantic without being cliché, vintage without being dusty. It never gets too cozy, like butterflies at the start of a new relationship.

Oh my very Dearest Polly, You are the one I had been looking for all my life. You are sparkly and smoky; a most gorgeous balance of citrus and black tea. You are strong and commanding yet feminine and beautiful. You are a love letter to me as well. I know you were created to be one. And you are perfect.

Light airy scent. Clear, crisp, refined, fruity on my skin with hints of apple, but not overly sweet or juvenile. Similar to Morning Chess in that it makes me think of cold, sunny spring mornings, but this one is staying at home with clean sheets to Morning Chess’ stroll through the city.

I tried Dear Polly using a sample I bought and right away reminds me of Matsukita from Clive Christian however Dear Polly was softer and less intense than Matsukita which makes me like it then I ordered a full bottle. The design of the bottle is really ridiculous and difficult to use.

This is my favorite perfume. It smells more woody and mossy when I spray it on, but after that I get a very prominent tea note that compliments the bergamot and apple so well and lasts all day long. I would bathe in this. It's a more adult, mature tea note and I adore it so.

This is how characters from Jane Austen books smell like. This is Elizabeth Bennet's signature scent. She smells like this as she wanders through the fields. I am utterly bewitched by this creation, it's the perfect black tea scent, the best tea scent I have ever tried.

This is such a lovely fragrance and I can't stop sniffing my wrist! I have fallen in love with this scent. The tea note, in my opinion, is very prevalent off the top then comes the bergamot, I have had it on over 4 hours, so I smell musk & oakmoss. Love so much!

I love this perfume and the story behind it. It is very articulated, classy and nostalgic: to me it is like a cup of tea one would drink looking at a beautiful garden outside the window, while wearing a cashmere jumper

Smells like an expensive hotel... a really, really expensive hotel. The amber and musk become more prominent after the dry down. This fragrance works as a really clean, yet intriguing scent for men and women.

My coworker wears this one. It’s intoxicating. Its always a beautiful bubble scent around her, very appealing. I can’t smell typical tea scent, this is very sweet citrusy, aromatic scent. Just love it.