Elizabeth Arden's Green Teas:
I will try to make a bit different if i already posted a review of one of these on the directory, as to add to my review or in some way try to complete it.
Green tea (original)
Ok so this one has notes of Lemon, orange, rhubarb, bergamote,peppermint, green tea, jasmine, celery seed, carnation, oakmoss, musk, white amber, caraway and fennel.
First we have to look at what is green tea: it is a real tea (as opposed to any other herbal infusion) that has been processed differently from the “regular” or black tea, thus giving it the green quality. There are many, many types of green teas and most of them have a different smell, most varieties come from china, japan and other areas. I won’t go any further with this.
Now onto the fragrance itself: There weren’t too many fresh, true green tea scents at the time and most of them were either custom-made or discontinued or just plain difficult to find (niche or other), Bvlgari’s was a little too perfumey and it had many other ingredients and it seemed like a clone of other fresh scents that were heavy on the technological aspects and a rather dull tea note, not a bad scent, but it needed work (wich we got in 2000 with its updated formula).
Now, this Green Tea was launched when there was a need, if I may say so,for new things and close to the turn of a century and it would start yet another wide variety of clones and even its own offspring with the later GT formulas.
On this original GT, the top is marked by a good balance of a non-acid variety of lemon and a lightly sweet orange, with a blast of peppermint that combined, create a soothing and instantly calming sensation, the rhubarb is almost non existent as far as I’m concerned.
The green tea used here seems and reminds me more of the Matcha green tea used in the Tea ceremony in Japan , now the Matcha tea is of very high quality but this one falls a bit flat in comparison so that’s why I’m saying it
reminds me of it ,but it never gets there, the thing is, it’s a very nice tea note, it’s at the same time delicate and it will remain with you until the end of the drydown. The jasmine and the carnation give it a more feminine touch (that up until that moment was a bit unisex) and it becomes more interesting, like a mix of seasons, first you get the fall then the summer, so the flowers give the whole composition a flash of light. There seems to be oakmoss there, but I can’t be sure if it’s the real thing or a really good chemical imitation of it, in any case, the white musk and the fennel are the notes that really stand out on the basenotes, and this fennel smells more like a fennel seed and the green part of it than the strongly scented bulb, and I like it that way.
Iced Green tea
This Green Tea scent is more about the ice than about the green tea, and it shows at first spritz.
I get from this fragrance lemons, wich are not too bitter, loads of menthol, that I find ,of all things a little waxy, and I could swear I feel my nose becoming clearer as I spray it on; eucalyptus wich gives it a very calming effect after all the menthol. Of this eucalyptus I get the leaves and a bit of bark as well.
The green tea note here feel like it’s into a heavy fight to be noticed from the others. There’s also some dry , earthy moss and a soft, white musk. It all reminds me of tundra climates. (wich I love)
That’s about it, it’s intense at the top but this intensity fades away rapidly, so it has lesss longevity compared to a “similarly composed” (IMHO) scent such as Guerlain’s Vetvier Eau Glacée. (sans the vetiver of course)
Spiced Green Tea
So this one is very different from the rest of the line, including the ones released later on. This is more related to the black oolong tea or even a red variety of it, than it’s about green tea, this tea is not delicate, it’s strong and that’s ok because it has to compete for attention when it’s in the proximity of ginger, white florals like jasmine, and some oranges (the less sweet variety of blood orange I think). Another tea I find here it seems earl grey tea, with added bergamot. I’m not saying that all of this is actually in here but it’s what I get, this one has lots of spices like coriander, cumin (soft), curry, cardamon, red pepper, ginger, even star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg and some other notes, wich make it very spicy, so the name of the fragrance is very fitting.
I get more spices on the topnotes than on the rest, and the whole feeling of it is that it’s a hot scent without ever being too warm, feels sharp enough and fresh enough that you can also wear it in the summer.
This one, I think, is the one that falls more into the unisex category when compared with the rest of the line. The base is musky and still spicy.
All in all I, sadly didn’t make friends with it because the spices became too much with my skin, but my sister loved it…and I have met many women that have loved it as well.
Green Tea Summer
This one has officially (bnotes directory): lemon, tangerine, bergamote, water lily , cyclamen, rose, musk, crystalline moss, amber.
I get the cyclamen, some sort of wild rose the one that’s not really red not white (but the smaller kinds, faintly scented) and a bit of bitter passion fruit, some watermelon, the musk here seems to be a very light one like a white musk that has been used in other green teas, soft clear amber, watery-humid moss and that’s it I think.
It’s lighter than the rest and a bit sweeter, it seems like a more colorful version of the original GT, and the longevity seems fractured, the top reminds me of shalimar light because the bergamot is stronger here, and the watermelon seems to me the stronger middle note, along with soft flowery bits. Again, the green tea is very clear and very delicate, -if it’s present at all- almost like a very watered-down Basha, cooled green tea. So, for a scent called green tea, it’s lacking a great deal of it.
Green Tea Revitalize
So this one is one of my favorites, only because, the sweet blood oranges (the Tarocco I think), take front and center stage and yet it still smells like the original GT, I feel like I’m getting my Vitamine C daily intake with this one!, it also has mandarin, water mint (?
), bamboo –that’s a surprise note to me, lotus flower (a very soft, white creamy variety that’s not strong at all –not the blue one), green tea (the same as the original GT), white birch, white moss, and white musk, that make a very comfy drydown, that still smells like tea. Longevity and sillage is lacking, but I really don’t care, it’s effervescent and uplifting.
Green Tea Tropical
So this one is not out in all markets I think. This one has Lychee, Dominican Passion fruit, and I can tell you right away: there are basically, 3 types of passion fruits (ok, there are many more but I like to classify them this way): 2 yellow ones, one acid and bitter very slightly sweet with a wrinkled exterior, one sweet with a smooth shiny exterior and one purple, with either wrinkled or shiny exterior and it could be lightly sweet to sweet with hints of acidity. All taste and smell differently. Also, their exterior smells differently from the interior as well. The one used here seems the sweet variety –and the interior part of the fruit. It also has Dragon fruit a.k.a Pitaya, wich is midly sweet and there are many varietys as well; Marco Polo tea, wich could be green, black or red (all very aromatic) and it’s not scpecified wich one is it in the directory, but I’m inlcined to say it’s the black variety and not really the green one, maybe it’s a bit of both; Green tea, wich I guess it’s the same as used in the original GT, Chinese Magnolia (aromatic as well, it’ a big flower), musk, sea moss (don’t know what sea but it’s not a salty one LOL ) and drumroll please: Tropical blackberries: so when they say tropical I imagine it’s either in the tropic capricorn or the tropic of cancer and not really the “tropics” as we know them (between the equator) as they (the blackberries) are more difficult to harvest there –but not impossible- so they’re found in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and countless of other countries fall into either one of the tropics (Cancer, Capricorn), and I can say that the creator of the scent apparently comes from Mexico, therefore my conclusion is that they are sweet, dark, warmer mexican blackberries!. It all adds to the exotic part of it doesn’t it?
How many times have we heard about tropical scents: exciting, exotic, fun, free, fruity and so on? Here, they all seem to fit, sadly though, it seems that this tropical twist becomes the first fruity-floral that we dread so much without really being a real fruity-floral, and based on tea!
It’s not a bad scent, but to some, it can be boring.
For those scared that this is another “escada limited edition fruit bomb”: it’s not.
Elizabeth Arden can add another good green tea to their line.
That’s it! Hope you enjoyed it, and i hope it helps you into choosing what to test next...
Cheers!
St. Joe's Friday Night Fish Fry -- it smells like the sweet, vinegar-and-spice cole slaw and lemon wedges you add to your styrofoam tray. You have to know Wisconsin traditions to appreciate this experience. Notes: (T) Bergamot, Lemon, Orange, Petitgrain, Neroli; (M) Rosemary, Rose; (B)Musk, Woody Notes.
