Byrehoe

Hyper-realistic matcha on first nose, a greenish French vanilla on the second. I believe the waffle cone. My favourite scents are herbal tea-adjacent (De Los Santos, Ching Shih), but for some reason I never got into matcha. That said, this is the most on-the-nose matcha I’ve met... for the first minute. Similar experience to White Rice, which gave white rice in the opening before fading into its much stronger supporting notes. The heel-face turn between bitter matcha powder to a sweet, too-pretty-to-eat custard is some olfactory sorcery, but nothing I find myself craving. (Filed under: "It's me, not you").

Mental Snapshot: An Instagram-famous dessert, served at a Japandi bakery that has a line wrapping down the street. It’s edible art. Lavish whorls of Hokkaido cream and a dusting of ceremonial matcha, cradled within a perfectly scalloped cone. You eat it all and your Instagram post gets a ton of love, but you’re not quite sure if it was worth the line.

tl;dr: bitter sugar

Clean, elegant, antique. A powdery lullaby livened with lipstick. Kimono smells like borrowing the coat of someone much more fashionable and mature than myself. It’s as demure as Sakura Snow, but with a huskier tone. Office-safe, yet intimate. Sometimes you can’t be a sad dirty rat girl and you need your perfume to give you that kick in the pants to get your workweek together. There’s a beautiful rice note in the opening, however it evaporates within minutes (much like White Rice, sigh), though the lipstick thickens with wear. Musky, waxy magnolia petals drift in around the thirty minute mark and carry the scent for hours.

Mental Snapshot: A boudoir dripping with silks and satins, a vanity gleaming with lacquer shells of powder and bullets of rouge. The costume department of a royal ballet. Or the estate sale of an elusive starlet.

tl;dr: opulent dress-up

Gentle, feathery, pure. Whisper-thin blossoms and cloudless skies. Clinical in a crisp white sheets kind of way. There is something of a crushed snow effect about it, at once aquatic and powdery. It’s soothing, but very put together. Like I feel I need to sit upright and mind my sirs and madams when wearing it. A scent best suited for cotillion balls or luxury medspas.

Mental Snapshot: A hug from a princess, on her wedding day. A bouquet of get-well-soon flowers, but all you got was Botox. Silk opera gloves and teardrop diamonds. A white mink muff and freshwater pearls. The word of the day is “pellucid.”

tl;dr: icy angel

Delivers exactly what it promises: rhubarb. Sweet, tart, clean, and candied rhubarb with a heavy hand of silken rose petals. Has that sparkling/carbonated texture to it, which I crave so much (adding to my growing file of “soda scents”). Similar to the grapefruit-rose seltzer of Odette by Gumamina, but this is much greener and does not have an ounce of powder. The aldehydes here add a sense of clarity to the juice, rather than any soapiness. I associate most “infusions” with flavoured water, but this potion wears pretty opaquely. I’m two days out from my last spritz and it’s still wafting strong on the cuffs of my jumper. It’s linear, but I can’t fault it when it lands such a lovely note.

Mental Snapshot: Prim and pretty, but in the most unhurried way. Gingham sundress, barefoot in the grass. Crisp red lip, windswept curls. Picking berries with fresh French tips. A giddy picnic party, for a Vogue photoshoot.

tl;dr: rhubarbie

Jet-puffed jasmine liquorice. A springy, blossomy herbal. This is what faerie candy must smell like. My favourite of Chopova Lowena’s art school Powerpuff Girls. The main character is the fennel, which adds a nice “chew” to an overall airy profile. She’s a soothing scent – I swear I get some chamomile – but neither a quiet nor a sleepy one. I can also fool myself into thinking there’s jasmine tea too. Caffeinated tea. I may have been the most hypeless beast in Dover Street Market, but didn’t feel like such after misting myself in Zhasmina. Longevity hit over eight hours in fabric and was still going strong after a jog around Hyde Park, marathoning the Marina and the Diamonds discography. An absolute vibe.

Mental Snapshot: Lying in a sunlit meadow. The wildflower pixies are trying to charm you into a nap but they’re giggling too much. It’s like listening to ASMR on 2x speed. They scalp massage you into a backcombed bouffant and braid in hundreds of daisies as an elaborate crown. It's going to take a whole day for you to detangle, but you've never looked so magical.

tl;dr: chamomile Adderall