I've written before about my deep and abiding love for tea perfumes. One of the floral notes I enjoy most in perfumes is osmanthus, or tea olive, a scent that is often described as "apricots and suede"--Hermes Osmanthe Yunnan is one of my favorites, though I only wear it sparingly due to the price (and my short attention span when it comes to fragrances).
The flower is often combined with green or oolong tea, both in real life and in perfume.
I recently noticed the description of Providence Perfume Company's Osmanthus Oolong and the notes seemed tailor-made for me--three different kinds of tea! smoke! leather! osmanthus! citrus!--so I requested and received a free sample with a Beautyhabit purchase and tested it out with high hopes.
Providence Perfume Co. is an all-natural perfumer based in Providence, RI, and owner Charna Ethier, the child of "devout hippies," was named 2012 Natural Perfumer of the Year by CaFleureBon. Their scent Moss Gown was also nominated for a 2013 FiFi (Fragrance Foundation) award in the indie perfumes category. (As an aside, I'm honestly not entirely sure of which perfume companies are categorized as "niche" and which are "indie," but I decided to write about this one here anyway!)
Price: $30 for a 7.5 mL travel atomizer or $125 for a 1-ounce atomizer; eau de parfum concentration.
Samples: Available as part of a coffret of 10 EDP deluxe sample sprays for $68 or via their Etsy site as a single 1.5 mL spray sample for $11. As I mentioned, I received my sample from Beautyhabit, who carry many niche/indie fragrances and will attempt to fulfill requests for specific samples with orders.
Shipping: $3 for a sample within the US; shipping on full bottles appears to be $9 for USPS Priority Shipping within the US, with free shipping on orders of $150 or above. Contact the company for rates for shipping elsewhere in the world.
Description from the website: "Green, red and black teas blended with sparkling citrus scented aglaia blossoms, and golden Japanese osmanthus flower with its heady peach jasmine aroma. Tart and fruity middle notes give way to a sueded apricot base with a touch of leather. Lauded for its stunning aroma and sillage, Osmanthus Oolong is a must-try for tea lovers."
My thoughts:
This perfume has a fruity and strangely soapy-medicinal-powdery opening, an "old lady" smell I find oddly similar to Guerlain's classic Shalimar and that I got from the black musk in BPAL's Playful Wooden Mallets as well. Not a promising beginning at all. (I admit I'm not that fond of Shalimar--heresy!) This powderiness is overlaid with boozy overripe peach.
Thankfully, as it dries, a very smoky, leathery black tea note starts snaking its way up. It bridges the way between dusting powder and black birch tar smokiness, and is finally lightened by a smear of the floral apricot sweetness of osmanthus blossom.
The black tea seems more smoky Lapsang Souchong than oolong to me. I don't get green tea from this, and the red tea and aglaia may have blended into the fruitiness of the osmanthus in my mind.
I enjoy this drydown, mellowed-out and comfortably incense-smoky, far more than the wet stage, but it's fairly bitter and still retains a bit of that unpleasant (to my nose) dressing-room powdery aspect; something oddly biological, but not in a sexy way. Your mileage may vary, of course, since the aforementioned other scents it reminds me of are cult classics and much beloved.
It smells better to me when worn lightly, as the osmanthus-floral aspect of the scent seems to come out a bit more this way. I dabbed it lightly on one wrist, heavily on the other, and Wrist A smells noticeably and qualitatively better--it's not that Wrist B is overpoweringly strong, I still need to bring it up to my face to smell it, but the smoke-and-booze aspects of it are stronger, while the other wrist smells more like a pleasant, soft fruity floral.
The scent continues to soften and sweeten as it wears on, so if you're not happy with how it smells at first, give it an hour or two. After a while, it ends up smelling a bit like snuffed-out, slightly fruity beeswax candles--smooth waxy base, smoke, apricots. I like it more and more the longer it's been on my skin; conversely, I'd never wear this in a scent locket or on my hair, where it might sit forever in the earlier stages of the perfume.
So, final verdict: while the list of notes seemed perfect, this just didn't grab me. I walked into testing this half-expecting a new holy grail tea perfume, but for better or for worse, my quest continues. This is nice enough, and I think I'll hold onto and use the sample, but ultimately, it's not something I feel compelled to obtain more of. I thought it was interesting enough that I will probably check out some more of Providence's perfumes in the future: Cocoa Tuberose sounds interesting and delicious, as does the "green, creamy floral" of Moss Gown.
Happy New Year, readers, and I hope 2014 brings you many wonderful and wonderful-smelling things!
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