Top Notes 
Green mandarin orange
Heart Notes 
Salted vanilla
Ginger lily
Water jasmine
Base Notes 
Ambergris
Cashmere wood
05/12/2019
JSpines
171 Reviews
JSpines
Very helpful Review
4
It's a Salty World
My story about Olympea begins where I work. As some of you know, I work in a high-end, discount department store. We get a shipment in every day, Monday to Friday so our stock remains full. Our fragrance section consists of a few glass shelves, usually overflowing with everything from low-end (Addidas) to high-end (Flowerbomb.) You never know what you're going to find.
I usually stroll by that section at least a few times a week to see if anything new was added and if so, how badly do I need it?! A couple of weeks ago, I noticed an interesting looking gift set perched on the very end of the top shelf. I picked it up to explore. It was Olympea by Paco Rabanne. Now of course I'm familiar with his offerings but for some reason, I hadn't paid any attention to this one in the past, to the point that I didn't even remember seeing it before. I was tempted! Afterall, it was only 69.99 (plus an additional 10 percent off) for the 50 ml. bottle plus the 10 ml. travel spray. I placed it back on the shelf and left it behind, being unsure if the scent would suit me or not. I needed to make an educated purchase!
Over that weekend, I read reviews on the fragrance and they addmittedly weren't much help. That's the thing about reviews, they are just opinions and they can differ greatly so unless you are able to test it yourself, it's still hard to know. Some said that they hated the salty note in this and that it ruined the fragrance and some said that the salty accord gave it a unique vibe and set it apart from other more generic vanilla scents. I was confused! Haha
I told myself that if the gift set was still there on Monday (stuff sells fast), I would take a chance and go with my gut and buy it. I just had a feeling that I was going to love it. Would my hunch pay off?
Miraculously, the gift set was still there when I arrived to work on Monday so I happily purchased it and felt pretty good about my decision.
Upon application, the first spritz is like nuclear war. It hits you hard. Like a medicinal blast of green, acidic citrus. I told myself to remain calm and let the storm pass. The top notes need time to chill out and fade so the other notes can be revealed and have their chance to shine. Thankfully, that is exactly what happened. I got a hint of jasmine and then it went directly into the salted vanilla. I was happy. The fragrance remained a salty vanilla with an underlying fruity vibe for the remainder. I don't have anything else in my collection that smells like this and I think it would be perfect for Spring, Fall and Winter. It was very cold yesterday and I went to an outdoor event and was frozen solid but I kept catching my scent lingering around me in the air and I was enjoying it immensely!
It's not cloying and doesn't induce headaches or make me sneeze which is always a good thing when you're sensitive to scents like I am (I suffer to smell good! Ha!) The lasting power is quite impressive as well. With only 2 spritzes, it lasted all evening and even after sleeping, the following day it's still quite evident.
This isn't a safe blind-buy however. The salt won't be for everyone. It is quite pronounced. I find that it mixes well with the vanilla but at this point, I know what notes I like as a whole and which ones won't work for me so my confidence was fairly high this time around. Definitely worth testing this one out though!
I usually stroll by that section at least a few times a week to see if anything new was added and if so, how badly do I need it?! A couple of weeks ago, I noticed an interesting looking gift set perched on the very end of the top shelf. I picked it up to explore. It was Olympea by Paco Rabanne. Now of course I'm familiar with his offerings but for some reason, I hadn't paid any attention to this one in the past, to the point that I didn't even remember seeing it before. I was tempted! Afterall, it was only 69.99 (plus an additional 10 percent off) for the 50 ml. bottle plus the 10 ml. travel spray. I placed it back on the shelf and left it behind, being unsure if the scent would suit me or not. I needed to make an educated purchase!
Over that weekend, I read reviews on the fragrance and they addmittedly weren't much help. That's the thing about reviews, they are just opinions and they can differ greatly so unless you are able to test it yourself, it's still hard to know. Some said that they hated the salty note in this and that it ruined the fragrance and some said that the salty accord gave it a unique vibe and set it apart from other more generic vanilla scents. I was confused! Haha
I told myself that if the gift set was still there on Monday (stuff sells fast), I would take a chance and go with my gut and buy it. I just had a feeling that I was going to love it. Would my hunch pay off?
Miraculously, the gift set was still there when I arrived to work on Monday so I happily purchased it and felt pretty good about my decision.
Upon application, the first spritz is like nuclear war. It hits you hard. Like a medicinal blast of green, acidic citrus. I told myself to remain calm and let the storm pass. The top notes need time to chill out and fade so the other notes can be revealed and have their chance to shine. Thankfully, that is exactly what happened. I got a hint of jasmine and then it went directly into the salted vanilla. I was happy. The fragrance remained a salty vanilla with an underlying fruity vibe for the remainder. I don't have anything else in my collection that smells like this and I think it would be perfect for Spring, Fall and Winter. It was very cold yesterday and I went to an outdoor event and was frozen solid but I kept catching my scent lingering around me in the air and I was enjoying it immensely!
It's not cloying and doesn't induce headaches or make me sneeze which is always a good thing when you're sensitive to scents like I am (I suffer to smell good! Ha!) The lasting power is quite impressive as well. With only 2 spritzes, it lasted all evening and even after sleeping, the following day it's still quite evident.
This isn't a safe blind-buy however. The salt won't be for everyone. It is quite pronounced. I find that it mixes well with the vanilla but at this point, I know what notes I like as a whole and which ones won't work for me so my confidence was fairly high this time around. Definitely worth testing this one out though!
Acanthea
PurpleKat
Jazzy76
Bcars10
