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Charme Essência 1998

6.8 / 10 169 Ratings

A perfume by Charme Essência for women and men, released in 1998. The scent is floral-fresh. It is being marketed by Manzanita Capital.
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Main accords

Floral

Fresh

Green

Woody

Spicy

Fragrance Notes

White freesia

Black pepper

Carnation

Gaiac wood

Desaturated Hangnail

Perfumer

Olivia Giacobetti

Ratings

Scent

6.8169 Ratings

Longevity

6.4126 Ratings

Sillage

6.1121 Ratings

Bottle

7.8129 Ratings

Value for money

6.438 Ratings

Submitted by Pazuzu, last update on 09/28/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

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Reviews

11 in-depth fragrance descriptions

09/03/2022

Mlleghoul
460 Reviews

Mlleghoul

2

the equivalent of sensible shoes

Ofresia is a thoughtful fragrance of honeyed and dewy florals, sheer and sweetly luminous, lively and peppery crushed green stems, and a softly rosy, woody musk. I find it somewhat akin to Bath and Body Works OG Freesia Fields but less watery and with a certain sensibility that comes from being a little older and having more discretionary income. And maybe just more discretion, period. It’s lovely even if it is not terribly exciting. It is very good I think, for visiting your in-laws, who really only have an inkling as to the depths of your freaky weirdness, and you are trying your best to keep it that way. This is a fragrance for inducing a certain sort of serene and sensitive spirit or state of mind that reminds you to be on your best behavior even when you’re feeling salty and snippy and sassy, and it feels like it’s got scruples enough to keep your secrets.

01/25/2012

5Scent 5Longevity 5Sillage

Sherapop
1240 Reviews

Sherapop

1

Florienal Freesia

Diptyque OFRESIA reminds me quite a bit of Leonard LEONARA, probably because of the significant benzoin note, which is a focal point rather than serving more as an anchor or a base. This floriental composition has feminine appeal without being overly flowery, but I think that I prefer the LEONARA. The florals in this composition are not that distinct, but I might be smelling some freesia. OFRESIA also has a light touch of wood and possibly incense as garnishes. I'm quite curious to see how this appears in a side-by-side comparison with LEONARA, so let's go ahead and try that right now, since I happen to have a bottle ready at hand...

Okay, I'm back and prepared to affirm that, in fact, I prefer LEONARA to OFRESIA. It's smoother, richer, and more scrumptious. Above all, LEONARA showcases benzoin much more so than OFRESIA, which seems by contrast rather dry. OFRESIA is nice, but LEONARA is better, for what it is. Of course, those who prefer flowers to resins will likely prefer OFRESIA... And that's just fine with me!

08/18/2016

3.5Scent 4Longevity 5Sillage

Meggi
1018 Reviews

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Meggi

Top Review 30

Antiquated, outdated, bygone

Pepper? Where is the pepper? I have often had the impression that, as someone who enjoys spicy food, I occasionally miss the pepper notes or at least find them lackluster. Instead, I immediately smell very strange forms of flower.

Unfortunately, I can hardly be considered an expert on freesias. We don't have any in the garden, and the last time I smelled them in a bouquet was a long time ago. So I have to approach the topic from a neutral standpoint. And this approach is not very flattering. At first, I think of the smell of a few days old flower water from the vase. The habituation effect (a phenomenon unknown to me regarding the original aroma!) relativizes the yuck factor in hardly a minute, but what replaces it is not much better. A musty floral scent, in an unpleasantly antiquated sense, outdated. My grandmother smelled similar in her last years.

These are the impressions from close range. With some distance from the skin and a huge amount of goodwill, the scent appears serious, herbaceous, and cool-airy, but it still doesn’t come anywhere near being appealing for me. I rather face the truth: A good portion of mustiness remains.

An elderly, authoritarian piano teacher, who has gradually lost sight of the value of dabbling after decades of frustration with legions of less talented students, might smell like this. She holds a ruler over her students' fingers during the torture of etudes, which has been inflicted for what feels like 200 years through Czerny's 'School of Velocity', so that their little hands don’t hop around while playing. Meanwhile, she nostalgically thinks back to the times before the war - whichever one - when the ruler was a riding crop or a switch and could slip out during acoustically (or finger-hop) induced discomfort without possibly calling the prosecutor into action. She likes to stretch out the time, but after at most an hour and a half, it’s over, and the poor non-Chopin is left with only a vague, unpleasant echo of the smell after leaving the practice room.

Phew. In other words: The strictness of the scent reminds me after just five minutes of stinky spring flowers. However, those - stench or not - always simultaneously spread an aura of purity, freshness, and becoming. This is completely absent in the present scent. It smells bygone. I don’t like it at all. The peak: After returning to the office after about half an hour of absence, including not thinking about it anymore, that very mustiness lingers there. Great, just what I wanted.

Throughout the day, at some point, an acceptable skin cream quality emerges. It can then be tolerated. But overall, this is certainly disappointing. I have no choice but to pull out a pretty poor rating.

Nevertheless, I naturally thank Gerdi for this experience.

02/13/2015

7Scent 7.5Longevity 5Sillage

loewenherz
917 Reviews

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loewenherz

Top Review 14

Ville fleurie

This is what the - loosely translated - 'bloomed' awarded municipalities of France call themselves. The coveted titles - always visibly placed at the entrance of the town - are awarded by the 'Comité national pour le fleurissement de la France' or, more recently, the 'Conseil national des villes et villages fleuris' - in France, titles and flowers are taken seriously! And so every village and town from the Pyrenees to Flanders, from the Lake Alps to Brittany strives for hanging flower baskets from lanterns, brightly planted roundabout islands, and blooming pots in front of the Hôtel de Ville. Even in the darkest mining village, a bit of friendliness and serenity can still be found.

Friendly and serene - that is also Ofrésia, Diptyque's tribute to the freesia, this often somewhat neglected flower - for too long it has been (in yellow) offered for sale in conjunction with baby’s breath (white) and carnations (pink) wrapped in plastic in front of fully automated gas station doors. Yet freesias are wonderful - their scent is spring-blooming-fresh and unmistakable, without the attention-seeking overpowering nature of rose or lily, and there is something almost musical in the delicate, flirtatious inclination of their flower spike. This musicality, this delicate freshness has been captured by Diptyque in this beautiful, small fragrance. Pepper is hardly noticeable, and the woods only give the central freesia a shy accompaniment - because floral notes in the base can sometimes smell a bit peculiar. This is not a grand fragrance and not one for lingering too long, but rather a magical moment of spring cheerfulness in a small, poetically charming bottle.

Ofrésia, this is the scent of a small flower shop, with Art Deco windows and a bell above the door - perhaps - after all, this is a scent from Diptyque - on the left bank of the Seine, in a side street of Boulevard Saint-Germain. Inside, a charming young lady (perhaps she looks a bit like Audrey Tautou) with a green apron stands behind an old softwood table, on which rests a slightly chipped marble slab, where she cuts flowers, branches, and green leaves. She brushes a strand of hair from her face and hums softly to herself while arranging freesias and colorful spring flowers in a zinc bucket, and as she places the bucket in front of her little shop in the morning sun, the postman arrives on his old bicycle, and she greets him warmly with: 'Bonjour Monsieur!'

Conclusion: it is spring in Saint Germain-des-Prés, and Paris is a place full of light, friendliness, and beauty. Ville Fleurie.

12/16/2010

6Scent

Antoine
207 Reviews

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Antoine

Top Review

It was a pleasure to meet you!

… this is how I sometimes say goodbye to new acquaintances, and I mean this "it was a pleasure" absolutely sincerely when I say it. At the same time, I often know quite well that there will be no further contact, because the encounter was pleasant, but somehow did not inspire a desire for more. This is somewhat how I feel (among several other fragrances) about Ofresia, the (according to the description) freesia scent from Diptyque.

I really like the scent of real freesias, even though it is quite intense: freesias have a strong and unmistakable fragrance; their scent is as characteristic and unique as that of lily of the valley or violets. And because only freesias smell like freesias, it is difficult to describe freesia scent. If I were to try, I would say they smell a bit like lily of the valley, but much more exotic, softer, powdery, and round, yet hardly sweet. At the same time, there is also a very own sharp, almost piercing note that one might find unpleasant or intrusive.

Due to my preference for the scent of real freesias, I wanted to test Ofresia for a long time, even though I usually do not like distinctly floral fragrances in perfumes. Porcelain provided me with the opportunity (thank you for the test spray).

Immediately after spraying, I notice a slightly peppery note that fades quite quickly. What then emerges is a rather subtle floral scent with a slight green-herbaceous touch. I would never have classified this scent as a pure freesia fragrance! To me, it smells distinctly floral, but not solifloral and certainly not freesia-like, but rather like a not too sweet floral scent blend with a bit of green. Only when I concentrate very hard on the freesia scent can I sense that freesias might at least be part of the floral mishmash. I notice almost nothing of woods or a base in the conventional sense as the scent develops. The fragrance remains subtly unsweetened-floral and becomes weaker after a few (about four or five) hours before it completely fades away.

What I find nice about Ofresia is that its floral scent blend has a rather natural quality and nothing cheap or piercing. The sillage is not very pronounced (which can also be seen as an advantage), but the longevity is also not great. Overall, this is a lovely, rather subtle, and naturally appearing floral scent for more summery everyday occasions where one does not want to stand out too much.

I really enjoyed meeting it, but we won't become true friends. It simply did not "click."

More reviews

Statements

37 short views on the fragrance

Hermesh

10 years ago

6Scent 5Longevity 5Sillage

Start promising: floral and springlike green. These notes disappear quickly , and the scent is then just clean with a little bitterness.

Yatagan

3 years ago

7Scent 6Longevity 6Sillage

18

10

I'm a fan of the brand, but this one feels too watery green for me. It takes patience for the freesia to fully come through.

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Pollita

5 years ago

6.5Scent 8Sillage

16

11

Oh, the first Giacobetti that I don't like. Unpleasantly synthetic, like a laundry room. Really not her style at all.

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Mefunx

6 years ago

7Scent 7Longevity 7Sillage

15

9

Green meadows, white blossoms, morning sun glistening on the dew, laundry already hanging on the line. Fresh freesia. As uncomplicated as it is charming.

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Güli88

10 months ago

9.5Scent 8Longevity 7Sillage

10

1

I love this scent. The pepper is barely noticeable and doesn't bother at all. Freesia as it should be. BEAUTIFUL

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Jennytammy

10 months ago

7.5Scent 6Longevity 6Sillage

9

Fresh bouquet of white freesias with green stems
Fresh, floral scent. Something reminds me of lilac. Spicy in the base.

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Susan

5 years ago

5.5Scent

9

7

More "stem" than "flower"...... bitter-sweet, mild-spicy, and overall quite unremarkable......

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DasCroe

4 months ago

8.5Scent 7Longevity 6Sillage

9

8

Ofresia dances through the apartment in her white-light green summer dress, only likes music when it's loud, and quickly adds new soap bars to the bathroom.

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