A 1.5 ml sample of White Tea Del Mar. Enough for several proper wearings, which is what it takes to know whether you want the bottle.
White Tea Del Mar is the one to reach for in warm weather. White tea, citrus and salt air, without going soapy.
It opens on citrus and flowers over green undertones. Cool rather than sweet.
The heart is jasmine and lavender with a sea breeze note running through it. That salt edge is what stops it becoming an ordinary floral.
Wood, musk and an earthy depth close it. The finish is warmer than the opening, which is what makes it wearable past the afternoon.
The salt edge, and the moss under it
A marine note is not sea water. Nothing useful is extracted from the sea, so the effect is constructed to suggest air coming off it: cool, slightly mineral, a little green. Done badly it is the most dated smell in perfumery. Done carefully it reads as space around the flowers.
Underneath sits oakmoss, Evernia prunastri, which is on the ingredient list and is doing more work than its position suggests. It is the earthy, faintly bitter thing that keeps a bright floral from being only bright, and it is heavily restricted in how much of it a formula may contain, so it has to earn its place rather than be poured in.
Wearing it
Heat suits it, which is unusual. Most fragrances get louder and coarser as the temperature rises; the cool materials here hold their shape, and the wood and musk arriving later keep it from evaporating into nothing.
In winter it reads thin. That is not a fault of the fragrance, it is what cold air does to this kind of composition.
Wear it for a full day and pay attention at hour six. That is the part you will live with.
Composed and bottled by hand in Denmark.
