Eau Parfumée au Thé Blanc (2003)
by Bulgari

The perfume equivalent of Robert Rauschenberg's all white paintings. Even without having looked at the pyramid I smelled white musk, some pepper and tea. Soft and clean and very calming. Warning: it's put me to sleep while wearing it to work.

Ah, a bit better than Bulgari pour homme from nose Cavallier ... but not by much. Instead of the muted parched peppery musk of pour homme, what you get in au The Blanc (aTB) is a fragrance built around white tea with that discreet Bulgari touch.

Smoother, sweeter and less "leafy" than green tea, white tea is supposedly more nutritious and it's rendered well here. Preceeded by an extremely short lived, slightly sweet and herbal note of artemisia leaves rounded off by what seems like is a fleeting and juicy note of mandarin. Soon the fragrance settles down into the main accord of a musk and white tea accord ..it smells nice enough with that "office cologne" quality about it. At times the accord smells a bit plastic, as if you are smelling a pot of boiling tea covered with a cellophane tape. About 5-6 hours later, a light ambergris note makes an appearance but its just there for a bad after taste.

Try aTB for a decent exposition of a white tea note or if you want an "office cologne". But that bottle of au The Verte will look more enticing after you have had your fill of this demure yawn-inducing potion ..

Rating: 6.25/10.0

Reminds of CK One, but more refined. Comfortable to wear, especially if you need a break from powerhouses and have been OD-ing on your gourmands. The bottle also is stylish and the spray mechanism delivers a decent dose. Longevity is underwhelming, but I've had a compliment or two wearing this white tea, so I suspect sillage is OK.

Crushed stalks of dandelions + detergent. Not my favourite.

While spring cleaning I found an unused sample of Eau The' Blanc in my drawer. I love Bulgari fragrances and excitedly sampled this one. Sad to say it is very plain, in fact, generic "white tea". It reminds me of my husbands after shave balm. It also smells like the signature fragrance of the Westin hotels...I would like my suitcase to smell like this, but as for a personal adornment it is quite boring for me. The notes are subtle and wear close to the body. Fortunately this composition still emits an aire of quality and class.

This is almost a straight white tea and musk fragrance. Occasionally, one will detect fleeting hints of pepper, yet the overall experience is a simple white tea/white musk combo. I find the longevity to actually be decent on this one; more average in duration than is anticipated.

With such a simple and linear fragrance one would expect to be underwhelmed, yet the simplicity in this fresh fragrance manages to work, giving off a clean, carefree scent that's surprising with it's versatility.