Wūlóng Chá Nishane 2014 Extrait de Parfum

While I love a complex perfume with many layers and twists, when the temperature climbs over 33-35C with 80% humidity and the sun mercilessly beats down on you (aka Japanese summer), I don't want or need all that. During summer, give me a fresh green scent that doesn't need constant reapplication, a scent that's cool and comforting and can carry me through the day. Wūlóng Chá Extrait de Parfum checks all those boxes and has been part of my daily summer rotation for a few good years now.

It's been accused of being too simple, of lacking development, of smelling like a spa scent. True. I still get a lot of pleasure from wearing it. Imagine a Japanese commuter train at rush hour with everyone smelling rancid in their suits and now loads of funky tattooed tourists cramming you in with their own BO: in that hell of hells, this perfume is my little oasis of freshness and escape. Nothing else performs like it to last and project well enough that at least within my own personal space the stench of others doesn't intrude.

The bergamot with oolong is always there. I don't get much fig. Sometimes simplicity is best.