Osmanthus (2001)
by Different Company

Dry citric-floral and musky fragrance with a sinister shadowy temperament, a smooth woodsy dry down and a sort of sour kind of botanic vibe. The rose is notable along the first minutes together with bergamot and mandarin in a general angular, opaque, classic and floral atmosphere.  With time a really sophisticated osmanthus takes the scene placed on a bed of musk and exuding its typical  pungent, shadowy and citrusy, herbal and almost irony deep floral character. Some reviewers talk about the smell of camomile and i effectively smell at the beginning  that typical opaque  kind of odour that reminds a green smell of mimosa. The starring flower binds  itself perfectly with the woodsy smoothness of musk and moss in a general laundry and grey atmosphere. Going on the floral smell becomes smoother (less metallic) and more sweet and sophisticated but royal and severe. Unfortunately the lasting power is very faint.

18th December, 2011.

The Different Company OSMANTHUS is a fruity-floral fragrance, rare to be sniffed among niche offerings, but here it is. I believe that osmanthus itself is the fruitiest of florals, so it may bear within itself alone the potential to produce a fruity-floral perfume! This simple composition is nice and natural smelling, but not very exciting, truth be told.

A friendly, open-armed scent incapable of offending probably anyone who is not actually allergic to osmanthus, OSMANTHUS smells to me like a mélange of cherry blossom and perhaps apricot and peach. There's nothing to “get” here, no real depth or development. Just a cordial tip of the hat as someone walks by.

25th August, 2011.

A cool, dry, savoury osmanthus enlivened with mandarin and padded out with yellow rose. Lovely. The scent of the osmanthus shrub is so multifaceted, with aspects  of the soapy, citric, leathery, creamy, and floral, that its denomination in any one scent is probably a matter of emphasis. Here I think it's the soapy freshness that is showcased and intelligently paired with a castoreum note that plays up the creaminess of the osmanthus while preventing it from becoming stifling in its reassurance. If I were let loose with the recipe, I'd tone down the mandarin and amplify the castoreum to meet the osmanthus halfway, until it felt there was a genuine battle being waged for the fragrance's soul. It has a peachy-musk drydown of such healthfulness and charm, and that arrives so swiftly, I suspect it was Jean-Claude Ellena's overriding ambition when creating the piece.

3rd February, 2011.

My reaction to this fragrance is pretty much the same as Gerald’s, especially in that I find very little osmanthus in it. I get primarily rose in the opening. To my nose the citrus is quite subordinate to the rose, and there are definitely osmanthus, green, and bergamot in the opening—but the rose prevails on my skin. It is not a strong, heady rose note, it is soft and demure, but it is the prominent note in proportion to the complete movement of the fragrance. I don’t really get much castoreum, but the hay note begins to stand out about a half hour into the scent, and it forms that earthy accord with the rose, pretty much as in Rose Poivrée, just as Gerald said. This one is weaker than Rose Poivrée, as well as quite a bit less interesting. Unlike Rose Poivrée, its earthiness seems more like an afterthought than the planned intention. Osmanthus has a weak sillage and its longevity leaves much to be desired. This scent had a lot of potential in its choice of notes, but the proportion and progression just do not match the quality of ingredients as far as I’m concerned.

Originally submitted 06 April 2007

7th December, 2010.

Gone without a trace within five minutes, hence the thumbs down.

18th August, 2010.

I smell green tea and and soap. (Not the luminous clean sweet soapiness of Pleasures, but the waxy bitter clean soapiness of getting one's mouth washed out with soap.) I got the sample (from luckyscents.com, so I believe it's a relieable sample) after reading Luca Turin's review (dreamy peach) and boy!, am I confused. I don't smell fruit, neither peach, nor citrus as mentioned by other reviewers here. There's a transparency, and I agree with LT's "dreamy". It is an inoffensive scent and interesting, but I take no pleasure in it. I will revisit the sample again and try to smell more.

13rd December, 2009.