VentoAureo

Transparent, airy, brightly glowing.
Aromatic bitter tea, smoky guaiac wood, refreshing ginger.
The blend reminds me of typical creations by the perfumer (Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud) that he has also crafted for Louis Vuitton and Bvlgari. At times, a thought of LV's Afternoon Swim or Bvlgari's Tygar flashes through my mind, yet the Pour Homme EdP is an independent scent with better performance than the EdT version. Very modern and mature, somehow fresh, sometimes a bit wet-aquatic like a rainy summer day. I like it very much, as I also enjoy the other fragrance DNAs of the LV line.

Worth a test! :)

Vanille Fatale is, to my nose, a blend of floral alcoholic vanilla, relatively unsweet, at least in direct comparison with Tobacco Vanille. Sometimes VF has hints of a floral vanilla body lotion or shower gel from the drugstore, but then it often shifts back into a very luxurious vanilla. The supposed coffee-wheat notes are hardly noticeable to me. The overall scent impression is quite wet, rich, liqueur-like, somewhat humid, not at all dry or super sweet like other vanilla fragrances.

With other vanilla fragrances, I have the image of sweets in my mind, or vanilla sugar... which can also be appealing, but with Vanille Fatale, I think of homemade vanilla extract, vanilla pods steeped in vodka, stored in the dark for several months, shaken vigorously on a regular basis, transforming the clear vodka slowly into a dark brown-black nectar full of precious vanilla aromas.

Unfortunately, the sillage and longevity leave much to be desired, with perhaps 5-6 hours of longevity and weak sillage.

"Yuzu" is currently the last J-Scent sample I can comment on, I hope to soon have the opportunity to test more fragrances from this exciting brand :)

Just to clarify... when I say "Yuzu," I mean the perfume, and Yuzu the fruit. I hope this makes it easier to understand :)

So now to the scent: "Yuzu" starts... quite unspectacularly and smells exactly like Yuzu smells. Citrusy, floral, and slightly menthol-like. It's difficult to explain what makes Yuzu a Yuzu, but once you know the differences, it's obvious. Just like a mandarin smells and tastes different from an orange or lemon. All citrus fruits, yet fundamentally different.

"Yuzu," the fragrance, remains quite focused on that very scent of Yuzus, feeling very juicy, natural, and pleasantly harmonious in the nose, almost lifelike and moist as if you had the fruit right in front of you. Nothing feels harsh or piercing. Light menthol-like nuances are woven into the scent, likely also coming from the thyme, otherwise, hardly any other notes are present. The rose, for example, does not show up at all.

"Yuzu" bears some similarity to Diptyque's "Oyédo," although the latter has stronger mint/menthol facets that can make the scent feel like a mint candy or toothpaste. In contrast, "Yuzu" is more of a pure natural Yuzu, yet still feels like "perfume" when worn, and not just like an old essential oil.

The longevity and sillage are a big surprise, because despite being a citrus scent, "Yuzu" really lasts relatively long, with 6 hours. This is not always the case with scents of this type, but it also has to do with the nature of the molecules, as citrus molecules tend to be light in molecular weight and thus more volatile and quickly "disappear."
In short... "Yuzu" has better performance than "Oyédo" since the latter only lasted 2-3 hours on me.

Conclusion 1#: Yuzu is on my wish list, but I will probably only get it during my next visit to Japan, as it is immensely cheaper there than if one were to buy/order it from Germany.

Conclusion 2#: Yes, "Yuzu" can be considered a Yuzu reference fragrance, much more so than many other Yuzu scents for the Western market.

Honorable Mention: "Almost Transparent Blue" by ALabOnFire also has a very lovely Yuzu note, but is more intertwined with other notes that distract a bit, with poorer performance! Nevertheless, a great scent!

Thank you for reading! :)

All good things come in threes, and this fragrance is no exception. Originally, I intended to buy Roasted Green Tea as a blind buy, but I’m glad it turned out to be Ramune instead... why I’ll explain below.

Roasted Green Tea was supposed to smell like Hoji-Cha, a lower-caffeine version of green tea with a roasted umami-like flavor.

Supposed to... because as soon as you apply the fragrance, a truly disgusting smell hits you, somewhat sour, milky, seaweedy. Almost like fermented milk, but not quite. Difficult to describe. But it’s not comparable to other seaweed scents like "Acqua di Sale" or "Bvlgari Aqva pour Homme." It’s likely what an encounter with Cthulhu or another deep-sea monster would smell like. Fortunately, this impression of the seaweed monster is short-lived, as the fragrance quickly transforms and becomes more pleasant. You start to perceive more unsweetened gourmand-like notes, of peanut and tea, peanut mochis, and also pastries. For me, this combination smells exactly like the interior of a bubble tea shop. Warm, humid air, the scent of countless types of tea, pastries, and cakes displayed in showcases that can be ordered alongside bubble tea.

However, Roasted Green Tea does not smell like Hojicha.

Conclusion: a special fragrance that can rival the disgusting top note of "Sécrétions Magnifiques," but reveals beautiful pleasant heart and base notes of tea and peanut mochis if you give it some time.

In my purchase of "Ramune / ラムネ (Eau de Parfum)" from the same brand, I fortunately received some samples, including Hanamizake.

Right off the bat, I am neither a connoisseur of Japanese sake nor of any other alcoholic beverages, but I will do my best to describe this fragrance.

Hanamizake stands for Hanami, the celebration of cherry blossoms in spring, and Zake, the Japanese pronunciation of sake.

As far as cherry blossoms and their scent are concerned, a fantasy accord is mostly used in the perfume world and also in food, as far as I know, since cherry blossoms hardly or only very weakly and subtly smell. However, having already tried several products (specifically Japanese ones) with cherry blossom scent, I believe I know which direction the fragrance should take. Generally floral, gentle, light, "cottony," without becoming too powdery, with a hint of fruity-sour notes. Very difficult to describe...phew.

Sake and perfume is also a tricky story, as sake only has a very subtle scent and is quite similar to regular ethanol in perfume. No wonder, since sake mainly consists of volatile ethanol and water. When drinking sake, among other places in an izakaya in Tokyo, I have found that it tastes relatively neutral, occasionally having sour-fruity nuances; in fact, I found the cheaper sakes to be tastier and more interesting in terms of flavor profile. In perfumes, I only know "Kira Kira / きら きら" as a reference.

I believe I have now recognized a similar sake note in both, which is particularly volatile and only detectable for a few moments after spraying, somehow smelling of sake and alcohol (perhaps the rice components in the sake), but definitely different from the ethanol in the perfume itself.
Shortly after this sake experience, the fragrance blooms like a bud on a tree, and the described cherry blossom scent characteristics emerge. Floral, gentle, cottony, lightly fruity-sour. As it develops, the fruity-sour nuances fade, and Hanamizake reminds me a bit of Japanese cosmetics and creams that have a subtly floral creamy scent. Occasionally, the sake flashes again, reminding one that this is a Hanami-zake and not a cherry blossom cream.

Conclusion: Hanamizake is a very special fragrance, something I haven't smelled before. One should enjoy floral scents as this forms the basis here. Longevity and sillage are rather okay to weak, which is quite normal for a Japanese market, as the saying goes "Less is sometimes more," and subtle fragrances are desired.

Thank you for reading ;) ♥