1carian

This fragrance smells exactly like L'eau Papier from Diptyque to me, but without the rice and sesame. The opening is dominated by pink pepper and ambrette seed, which gradually fades to an indiscernable blend of patchoulli, iris, and cashmeran. It has a subtle addictive quality to it almost reminiscent of a favorite sweater/blanket, you really want to bury yourself in it.

Mental image: You order a hot cup of Oolong Tea in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district. You mix in some honey, and take small sips while people rush to their next destination outside. You place the cup down, and notice a beam of afternoon sunlight dancing along on the surface of your tea. A gentle breeze wafts in through the shop door, carrying the faint aroma of a nearby bakery.

One Day's Tea Exclusive line has what I easily consider to be the most photorealistic tea in the fragrance world. This one in particular manages to capture the subtle smokiness and tannic qualities of a cup of high quality oolong tea. Do test on skin though, the smokiness varies and becomes tobacco like on some. The tea note generally stays from application to dry down, however the honey only becomes noticeable about a hour in. I do wish the dry down had a little less vanilla, it would make this fragrance more wearable in all four seasons but that's just my own preference for less sweetness in fragrances. It does however have beastly longevity like Taipei - this fragrance will stay on your skin for the whole day and last an eternity on clothing.

Philosykos opens with a green and almost vegetal smell upon first application, similar to crushing fig leaves in your hands. Thankfully this only lasts for 5 minutes, and it becomes a gorgeous creamy almost soapy fig. On myself it's not something I constantly get whiffs of, but when I do it makes me want to bury myself in it. Summer tranquility in a bottle.

The Matcha 26 is the house of Le Labo's take on a fig scent. Perhaps the matcha is more about the contemplative feeling it invokes? It has a creamy quality similar to Philosykos EDP but taken in a more herbal/woody instead of the coconut direction. Despite being what I consider to be a skin scent, it has beastly longevity and sticks around forever on fabrics. Beyond fig with a creamy quality, I am unable to discern any other notes from the fragrance.

This is straight black tea, zero sugar with a tinge of citrus. It's quite photorelistic, however what makes this different from something like the Armani Yulong is the magneticism this fragrance exudes. There is an outline to the tea scent, but never a full impression. When you finally get a whiff of it the result is intoxicating. I assume the Iso Gamma Super is responsible for this, this fragrance has dimension that a single ingredient fragrance would usually lack. Wearing it is like experiencing the various refractions of tea, its dominant quality is always changing. Sometimes I smell citrus, other times It's clean verging on soapiness like I came right out of a spa. Occasionally a tad astringent, an indiscernible smoke trail. Defenitely try this if you like tea!