Very often, when people think about perfume, they think of the great, classic perfumes: Chanel No. 5, Mitsouko, and Fracas, to name just a few. I love all those fragrances, but I also love the shift that some perfume houses have made toward a different type of perfumery. I think of it as a more pared-down sensibility that takes you from the office to the evening without a second thought. There’s room for every type of perfume in my collection, but there are times when I want my perfume to be like a second fragrant skin that I apply and forget about until someone remarks on how wonderful I smell.
Geisha O-cha, by aroma M
Earlier this year, niche perfume house aroma M released a perfume-oil roll-on of O-cha, the Eau de Parfum originally released in 1995. Slightly reformulated from the original, the notes are Japanese green tea, sweet orange, clary sage, bois de rose, and vanilla.
O-cha opens with a smooth, slightly sweet, green tea note. This is the green tea of Matcha, the finely ground tea used in a Japanese tea ceremony. The scent is elegant and restrained, with a hint of earthiness in the background, and dries down into a delicate floral that retains echoes of the green tea notes.
O-cha is very pretty smelling, but not in an overly floral, girlie way. It’s one of those perfumes that gets you tons of compliments on how good you smell rather than the “I love your perfume, what are you wearing?” compliments. I’ve been wearing O-cha for several months, and it’s become one of my go-to perfumes. I love its casual femininity and grace and the feel of the perfume oil rolling onto my wrist in the early morning.
O-cha is light enough to wear to the office and interesting enough to wear out for the evening afterward; it stays close to the body and has excellent lasting power. A couple of swipes of the rollerball and you’re set for the day. If you want to add just a touch more fragrance before going out for the evening, the rollerball makes that easy, too.
The rollerball contains a quarter ounce of eau de parfum, and comes wrapped in lovely Japanese Yuzen paper.
$44; available at Luckyscent and other retailers.
Interested in learning more about aroma M? Read my interview with Maria McElroy.
