Armani Privé - Thé Yulong Giorgio Armani 2020

This was a blind buy for me. It’s a calming fragrance. I struggle with cardamom notes at times, and I do get the cardamom in the opening but it’s very mellow. There isn’t any lemon or bergamot in this scent, which is a shame. I feel those notes would have given it more of an uplifting sparkle, which it’s lacking for me. The citrus in this scent comes from the Mandarin. Another note I can struggle with, although it’s nicely done here. It does kind of remind me of a Lipton ice tea, something I’d always buy on holiday in tropical climates, so I feel this would be very refreshing in hot weather.

This is still love and an 8 or 9 / 10 for me. I bought the glitter bottle, which is stunning, but ridiculously overpriced for an eau de toilette! This is also a skin scent. I’m happy to have it in my collection regardless …. I do really enjoy layering this with J-scent On A Cloud, which is a peppermint fragrance. The two together are amazing!

UPDATE - I’ve had this a few months now and have since tested many other tea fragrances. This is the best I’ve found scent wise. I’ve updated my rating because this is a 10/10.

This is a very calming, peaceful jasmine tea scent. It smells so fresh and is an absolutely perfect Spring/Summer clean, pretty girl perfume. It's also good for the office and for the gym as Thé Yulong is one of those perfumes that leaves behind a good impression, I find. The jasmine and orange blossom teeter on indolic in the opening but don't ever quite cross over into that dirty, pungent type of jasmine. Overal the white florals still stay on the fresher, greener side of things in the opening. It dries down almost completely to a very realistic green tea somewhere around the 1.5 hr mark and I can still smell it as a skin scent at 5 hours.

I like this quite a bit and would give it maybe an 8.5/10 on its own, but when layered over Van Cleef and Arpels Santal Blanc then the two together slingshot into a 10/10 fragrance. Together, they are absolutely the perfect combination of fresh jasmine, clean woods and green tea that I have been searching for. The addition of the woods underneath also extends my ability to wear Thé Yulong farther into colder weather.

I will say though, while Armani did a great job with the juice, I think if you are on a budget, then you can't beat Elizabeth Arden Green Tea and don't need this. It's the packaging and the juice combined that make the Armani more worth it to me, but I do have to concede the fact that on scent alone there are 100% cheaper alternatives that do the same thing almost just as well. That said, I have the Soie de Nacre version of Thé Yulong and those pearly blue-green shimmers really get me. There was no way I could pass it up when I saw the bottle and smelled the fragrance inside.

Eta: this is another one in my collection that has slowly become one of my favorite and most worn perfumes. It is so beautiful to wear and is appropriate in almost any setting. Not only is it lovely, but I still find it to be very calming and almost cooling.

I’ve tested my way through tons of tea fragrances, and this one just made my eyes roll back in my head from first sniff. I wouldn’t say it’s hyperrealistic; it has citrus and florals and a light muskiness that make it a bit more wearable and rounded, versus some tea frags that smelled like realistic brewed tea or tea leaves. It leans on the sweeter side, and is unisex but ever so slightly more femme than masc.

I’d been living off a dabber sample, so I knew I liked the scent, but the sprayer bottle adds a whole new dimension. This stuff just melts into my skin and the scent lingers all day.

I wore the sample to a festival out in the desert, and it was tenacious and fresh. I live in a place where temperatures get close to 120°F / 49° C in summer, and I have high hopes that this one will be able to stand up to the heat.

Edit: I did end up buying a full bottle and have since put a big dent in it. This is all-seasons, everywhere-appropriate, an ideal signature scent or daily driver.

Ever since I've started my perfume journey, I've been searching for an exquisite, beautiful, fresh and uplifting green tea scent that lasts longer than an hour. Yves Rocher's interpretation disapeared from my skin after 30 minutes and Elizabeth Arden's had this strong spiciness to it that I didn't vibe well with. Nest's interpretation was nice, but I felt the tea shared too much of its spotlight with other notes. During a trip to New York I got the chance to visit an Armani designer store and try out Thé Yulong on a strip of paper. It was almost a blind-buy (because I hadn't tried it on my skin), but I knew right then and there I had to grab it.

Is it expensive? Yes and I'll admit it's one of the most expensive fragrance in my collection, but to me it was definitely worth the money. I'm a sucker for minimalistic bottle designs and this one fits the bill perfectly. The square shape of the bottle, the nice gold plaque and the black cap are simple, yet convey a luxurious experience. I do admit I would've loved if the cap had been magnetic or a bit heavier in my hands but it's not a strong negative point. I also loved the box in which it came.

As for the scent, it's exactly what I was searching for. A perfect balance between citruses, spices and tea. Fresh, exquisite and uplifting, I always feel very put-together when I spray it on. At first, there's this nice blast of sweet juicy, fresh mandarin with a slightly spicy undertone (nothing too overwhelming) and then the tea comes and takes you away on a nice refreshing trip. The flowers are well-blended and serve as support to the tea note. There's a hint of powdery, almost indolic aspect in the background, but nothing that throws the scent off. I can't really tell the difference between the green and black tea notes as they mingle together quite well, but I can tell you there's a nice organic fresh green accord with a subtle undertone of smokiness. It's just an overall sophisticated fragrance. It ends up drying down to a lovely, slightly spicy scent with an undertone of tea.

Like I've already mentioned, it is an expensive perfume, I won't deny it. Is it the best tea scent out there? Maybe not, but to me, at this point in my fragrance journey, it is the best tea scent I've tried. Thé Yulong is a perfume I will be cherishing for a long time until I stumble, accidentally or not, on a better tea scent. Until then, I can take off tea fragrances from my list as, for now, I have found the one that checks all the boxes.

I've been putting off writing a review on this, which is criminal given how influential this fragrance was on me. The Yulong is a total masterclass in how to blend a tea/citrus fragrance. Unlike One Day's tannin style photorealistic teas Yulong focuses more on the floral qualities of tea. There is defenitely more jasmine than orange blossom in this, which could be a deal breaker if you wanted more of a balance. I find the ratio used to be perfect - it reminds me of a vestigially warm cup of tea. The orange opening is gently tempered with a pinch of cardamom without veering this fragrance into warm beyond redemption territory. I find the heart of the fragrance post opening to be total zen, this is what a 5 star hotel in Shanghai would perfume their bath products with. I don't get much iris in the dry down to my nose it's more of a light musk in my opinion reminiscent of L'eau Papier without any nuttiness or spice. Sometimes you encounter a fragrance that completely rewires your brain chemistry, The Yulong made me a tea fanatic and now most of what I collect has to do with tea. That, or some other facet of this fragrance. It's probably not as good as I'm describing it to be but easily at the very worst a 7/10 for people who like tea scents. Do I think this is better than Wulong Cha? Yes. Is it better than One Day? Photorealistically no but not every occasion calls for smelling like a fresh cup of tea. The Yulong makes you smell like you took a shower with water perfumed with fresh green tea and jasmine flowers. Is this better than Bvlgari The Blanc, Elizabeth Arden Green Tea, Dear Polly, and Black Tea by Molecule? Easily. However, I cannot say if I like this more than Neroli Outrenoir. Give me some more time on that one.