parfums*PARFUMS Series 1 Leaves: Tea (2000)
by Comme des Garçons

I classify this scent with L'Artisan's Dzing! (and by extension also with Santa Maria Novella Nostalgia, which I'm not really fond of at all, as fun as it is to play around with for a few applications). Dzing!, with its new car/leather/vinyl sweetness eventually drives off into its ho hum vanillaville sunset which leaves a jade like me most definitely wanting something more. Tea on the other hand is a well finished work of art. The tea accord itself develops into a very natural and very seductive green tea ice cream accord - this is a great improvement over poor overworked vanilla. And then there's the smoke!! <sigh!> How delicious, complete with that amusing but seriously gorgeous plastic/pleather/new car/leather mystery accord which thank heaven sticks around :)

I tested Dzing! again recently wondering if I'd find that the year or so since I last did would find me finding it bottleworthy. It hasn't. Recently I fell for Tea, perceived the connection and so: to anyone who likes Dzing!, (particularly anybody who has not yet purchased it) I urge y'all to try these two side by side Sondheim!!

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I hope I'll never ever be
*sans* Comme des Garcons Leaves Series 1: Tea !!!!

I'll tell ya somethin else there, silly
Ya better buy yourself some Lily!

6th March, 2011.

Ten minutes of lapsang souchong and rubbing alcohol followed by thirty minutes of nondescript sweet base notes. The rest is silence.

12nd December, 2009. (Last Edited: 30th March, 2011.)

I use to appreciate rubbery and tarry scents but this one is just too medicinal, chemical, industrial, with an added sickly sweet note. It bears only the faintest relation to a smoky black tea scent.

22nd November, 2009.

Well, I get the tea part but everything else is kinda... bad? It's very plasticky, like the smell of Saran wrap being stretched right out of the box. But man that tea note is nice. I just cannot get over the true synteticness and sterile facade of the whole thing.

29th October, 2009.

Hardcore, and like they say, not for the faint of heart.
Quite brutal, animalic opening is very impressive. Love at firts sniff, but the drydown is place where the magic actually happens : Wonderful blend of stiff tar, cedarwood, rose and shiny, hard plastic. Can be quite hard to handle, and I`m not suprised by the negative comments at all.
I love this very much though, but I don`t reach that bottle very often, and when I do, I cannot allow myself to use more than 3 sprays.

Amazing bottle with wonderful spray mechanism. High quality performance.

13rd September, 2008.

The initial whiff of Comme des Garcons Tea perfume conjured up thoughts of an ancient wooden tea chest, blackened over time and filled with rare, carefully packed Lapsang Souchong tea leaves. It had an earthy, smoky rich smell that would be gorgeous to wear on a crisp fall day and would also be an excellent layering scent. There was bit of soapiness in the basenote which appeared to be white musk. If you are a fan of tea by Mariage Freres or Hediard, be sure and try CdG's interpretation of Tea.

In the interests of giving a complete review, I feel I should point out that that Tea's luridly green bottle is cheap-looking and an unfortunate marketing choice for this well-crafted perfume.

Here are the notes, courtesy of Luckyscent: black tea, zest of bergamot, rose petals, cedar wood, absolute maté.

21st July, 2008.