Elegantly Tokyo

got this in its new packaging from a seller online. was afraid that this would turn out sharp and pretty synthetic, but all i ever got was a sweet burst of lily and jasmine! after a few minutes, the wood comes out but the jasmine gets to stay all throughout its wear. i would say this is a very realistic scent. i live in a country where jasmine is pretty much everywhere and my mom used to have lilies in our garden- i can very much smell both of them here. for those who were afraid that this would cross the bathroom scent territory, consider this an assurance that it doesn't. lasted about 24 hours on my clothes and 8 hours on my skin. at the 16-hour mark, the scent settles into an ambery wood profile. can't wait to wear it outside! a rundown of how each note "appears": 1) lily - stays for the 1st hour. the lily in here is very dominant (up until its stay). very pretty and sweet! not as sharp as i was dreading it to be. i found comments here saying that it smells like a muji diffuser. while i haven't smelled the diffuser, i kind of get where they're coming from. i would say it manages to stay away from potentially being room spray-ish since it's not "green" enough for me. 2.) jasmine - smells so so so beautiful and clean, but still floral. it gets creamy enough later on (around 2/3 hours after) to avoid being heady. 3.) akigalawood - even though i haven't encountered akigalawood before, i've had plenty of experiences with woody and oud fragrances. upon research, i saw that it's supposed to resemble patchouli, but i honestly don't get the comparison since it's not very earthy, i would say. this appears closer to smelling like cedarwood for me. the way i interpret it is like smelling pencil shavings if it was a little bit metallic (must be the peppery aspect of akigalawood). this is more present on my skin than on clothes. my sister says that this is the only thing she smells in the air whenever i spray elegantly tokyo, which is completely different from my experience- be warned. don't overspray. tried doing this with 5 sprays in one go and i felt like i was getting strangled by numerous string bands of jasmine. overall, this is so beautiful and i can completely trace it to jo malone as i feel like it could fit in her current fragrance brand. a scent that is perfect for intimate occasions, work, and even casual days.

Jasmine has been the center of my scent profile since time immemorial, and after much sampling, hunting every Jasmine perfume I can find in my country, I'm so grateful that my search finally led me to this gem of a scent. For starters, this perfume is an intimidating white flower bomb at initial spray, a room-filling straightforward Jasmine scent that can easily frighten non-white floral fans. But despite of its over-the-top opening, the real beauty of this perfume lies in its dry down, an elegant creamy-aquatic neutered-by-Lily Jasmine scent sitting on top of its woody base. This has been my signature scent since I got this few months ago, and it easily became one of my most complimented perfumes along with my old time favorite Mugler Alien. For comparison, if Alien made me feel "out of this world" and beautifully foreign, this one made me feel like I'm "one with the world", an incarnation of a certain Flower God that leaves blossoms in its wake. Seriously, in our work facility, my colleagues always say that they can easily detect my presence and whereabouts through my lingering scent trail. And people from other department often described me as the "guy who smells good". Thanks to Elegantly Tokyo's beastly sillage and longevity. LOL! The only downside of this perfume is its affinity to temperature. At cold dry days, its dry down profile can get too zingy, feels like the Akigalawood base evokes a peppery, bitter and spicy scent. During hot humid days, sometimes the Jasmine note will have a "resurrection" moment, it'll take over the dry down scent and will act up like a fresh Jasmine that blooms in the night.

I had promised myself: never blind-buy a perfume. I am extremely picky with fragrances and blind-buying simply never works out. But in the back of my head, I remembered having read about this fragrance series and especially hearing rave reviews about Elegantly Tokyo. So when I noticed that ZARA recently restocked it, I broke my oath and placed an order... ...and I'm so glad I did! This is a lovely floral fragrance. Smoothly blended, leaning more towards the Jasmin than the Lily. Bright, invigorating, with a bit of innocent and nostalgic sweetness. It smells like laundry that has been left to try in a sunny garden. Simply gorgeous and signature-worthy. Even someone who usually doesn't gravitate towards white florals would easily love this. I prefer it over any Jo Malone fragrance, as it is much more complex and interesting. Scent-wise it is almost identical to Immortelle from Chloé's luxury range Atelier des Fleurs, but at a fraction of the cost! Elegantly Tokyo's new bottle design is also stunning. Heavy glass in an elegant shape, magnetic cap with a mirror inside, no one would ever suspect that this is a ZARA fragrance. Cannot recommend this enough, and I'm already thinking of getting a backup bottle because I will be upset when I've used up this one.

Man oh man/woman, how I love this scent. It's a smell of fresh flowers wafting in your space with that lily and jasmine so fresh it clears smog in the air and in your head. It lingers on quite some time and is super elegant and sophisticated. I also find it very unisex, even though the jasmine/lily might come off as very feminine notes, for me perfume does not really have a gender so wear what ever you want to wear, as tastes evolve and labels on things should not hold you back loving something . Besides, who the F*ck decides what you can do, wear, smell like anyway then yourself. Express yourself , even with perfume and let's start a revolution :-) Edit; since Akigalawood is in here too, which gives it this mossy scent profile, now I know why I get a light reminder of one of my favorite perfumes Cabochard , the mossiness of the Akigaliawood reminds me of the oakmoss that is used in Cabochard, but also I think in E.T there is some aldehydes and ylang-ylang mixed in there , same as in Cabochard. ( Just my opinion/cross over scent memory link )

This is undeniably nuclear - in terms of projection, silage, scent bubble, throw, longevity, length this sticks on clothes - you name it! I’ve never experienced anything like this with Zara perfumes. (I tested the version in the cylinder bottle in Zara, one spray on an a pair of trousers since there weren’t any paper blotters around. It’s been a day, I’ve had the trousers folded on a pile and it has completely filled my room with the scent, almost taking on the characteristic of a lit candle/high quality reed diffuser). Heavy white floral in the beginning, very clean but also earthy - I feel some cashmeran and the akigalawood comes through. I find akigalawood quite sharp and gives me headaches but with my chemistry, this works well. A mixture of scents - Do Son + Molecule 05 + Zarkoperfume no8 wooden chips. Leans a teeny bit masculine but personally, I gravitate to earthy - woody - floral scents, so this is great for ladies who like these scent profiles. Tested in warm weather during the day.