The Chinese Dance

[Mountaingrrl00]

THE CHINESE DANCE
Green and black tea, King mandarin, violet, blackcurrant, and wormwood.

First impressions: citrus, clean, green, fresh, sparkly, gender-neutral. No particular note dominates. The teas are definitely present but they balance each other out, so the black tea isn't too astringent and the green tea isn't too powdery. In some ways this smells light and summery, but there's also a deeper scent underneath that's herbal and earthy.

Wet on skin: there's more sweetness from the mandarin and violet now, and at the same time the sharpness of the tea comes forward. I still have a strong "fresh, sparkly" impression.

Dry on skin: I love that the slight bit of fruitiness is still lingering. I think that may be the wormwood as well as or instead of the king mandarin. It's both citrusy and green, in the way litsea cubeba is. The green tea is soft. There's a slightly bitter earthiness that blends in with everything else in a way I like.

It lingers as an earthy tea for a long time. Some of the complexity fades, but not the refreshing quality.

[angelicruin]

I get citrus and tea notes as strongest on me. The violet note emerges as it dries while the mandarin note begins to fade into the background.

[cuervosueno]

Where is my citrus? Where is my tea? I smell the tea in the bottle, but on me? Violet. This quickly becomes a generic floral, very "perfumy." Utterly uninspiring on me.

[meatcake]

Sigh. I really wanted to like this one, but sadly it smells very soapy on me and then fades to nothing in just a few hours. Maybe it'll age nicely with time...?

[zankoku_zen]

I smell tea, a hint of violet and the wormwood. It's very interesting and very Asian in feel, but I'm not a violet fan.

 

This is clean, mysterious and exotic.

[blktauna]

I get a VIOLET tea with a minty background.

Good staying power but it's a very sweet, almost violet pastille like, violet.

 

I was hoping for tea and citrus. No luck there.

[Little Bird]

I get a burst of citrus and smooth green tea at first, which is really energetic and clean smelling, but the drydown of this is all powdery violet on my skin. This is nice enough that I'll probably keep my decant, but won't really need more of this one. I wish that the tea stuck around for longer and that the mandarin was a stronger note, but I do like the violet. I actually can't pick out any wormwood, which is okay with me, because wormwood does bitter, strange things on my skin.

[whisperstilled]

In Imp: Sweet candied orange and something darker - the tea, I believe, and the wormwood. A little violet, maybe a little blakcurrant mingling with that orange topnote, but mostly orange, at least right now.

 

Wet: The orange is a little less cloying now, and the tea and wormwood are coming out a lot stronger. The blackcurrant is coming into its own as well, and the scent is becoming much more complex, thankfully. I like this more the more it dries. It's starting to smell like a really good, well-blended tea.

 

Dry: At the start I didn't have high hopes for this one, but the orange has died back and is now more of a citrus compliment to the other notes. The blackcurrant has come up strong, giving it a darker fruit feel, and the tea really grounds the scent out. I'm very glad this didn't end up being a one note scent, even if it is a little too fruity for my tastes. 3/5

[filigree_shadow]

Soft, sweet tea with citrus. The violet comes out more when it's dry, and I like violet so that's good. It's mostly sweet and fresh-smelling.

 

Surprisingly, I think this one is my favorite of the "Dance" blends. Probably the one I consider most wearable from day to day. It's the sort of scent I don't have to be in any particular mood for, it's the kind of thing I enjoy all the time.

[Iceblink]

Bright, clean tea that's almost candylike with the addition of the blackcurrant and mandarin. Really fresh and light--this smells like it would fit in well with the Shunga series, actually. There's a medicinal/bitter note underneath the tea that's a bit off, though--I'm guessing that's the wormwood? But this is quite nice overall--I'll try it again for sure!

[cinnamonster]

I had been looking forward to this for ages. It's fresh and pretty in a clean kind of way. I have trouble with this picking out individual notes. Mandarin perhaps dominates the first few minutes, but it soon becomes a well mixed fruit-ish but not sickly fruit perfume with a hint of violet. I wish I could be more verbose about this, as I love it a lot.

 

Worth a try if you like Lucretia, Mag Mell.

 

I really really like this and can see my self wearing it a lot.

[Schmoozy]

Woah! Hello citrus, followed by tea mixed with violet. The blackcurrant is quietly sitting in the background and the wormwood isn't really prevalent on my skin. It's soft but bright, and really fresh and sweet.

[Dark Alice]

Fresh citrus and green tea! (I had a delicious tea that tasted like this once) And as usual...my skin eats the orange up and leaves a green tea/violet combination. And then poof...it just disappears. Stupid skin chemistry...it has eaten another potentially gorgeous scent.

[milo]

At first, a lovely, fresh tea with a bit of tart fruit. Dry, it becomes less fresh, and a bit ozoney, and I also get a touch of the violet now. The fresh tea is still there, but it is not as tart anymore. I usually like violets in a blend, but with the tea here, it's just an odd combination to me and really doesn't work. I do love the beginning stage though. I'll stick to my Embalming Fluid for tea and lemon.

[reynardine]

I wanted to try this one as tea scents are usually great on me and fruit usually does well. The only notes I was worried about were the violet (sometimes goes off, although is usually too light to matter) and the wormwood (absinthe), with which I have little experience. Getting mainly tea from this one, with a touch of fruit. It’s very pretty, light and probably more suited towards summer. Love it, but I already have a number of tea scents, so I’ll just make do with my decant.

[Mellifluous]

My experience is utterly identical to cuervo's. In the bottle i smell a nice tea and citrus perfume. on my skin however, all i get is a very perfumy violet. in the total dry down i get a bit of the other notes, but it still smells like a regular floral perfume.

[RhinestoneHousewife]

Unfortunately all I get is violet which doesn't work on me. *sigh* It's just kind of a tepid floral on me.

[thekittenkat]

Note: I was very unsure if I should try this or not. I love tea scents of many kinds, though, so I had to chance a decant.

 

In the decant: Tea scents, but something lurking in the depth, but not sure what.

 

Wet: Tea is the most obvious, but the sharpness of the mandarin is making itself known.

 

The dry-down: The black currant showed up and is making this feel kind of sticky, if that makes any sense. Not sticky in a physical sense, mind you. The violet note doesn't appear to be the typical one that is used by the Lab, which is nice, but it's the wormwood, combining with the currant, that has made this dark and not very sweet. Had there been some sort of resin or spice or incense, this could have been more compelling. As it is, the lovely tea notes have all but disappeared. Not bad, but nothing that I would reach for on any sort of a regular basis.

[tealeaves]

I was really excited to try this one as I love tea and light, citrus-y scents. It smelled nice in the bottle, airy and a little exotic, but once it was on my skin it turned horrible. At first it was a confused jumble of notes and after thirty seconds - straight-up BO. I kept sniffing at it and hoping it would mellow, but it just got worse. I smelled like a homeless person. After a few minutes I had to run to the bathroom and wash it off. I'm bummed because it really seemed like a scent I'd love but something with my skin chemistry made it go off in a terrible way.

[mistressfizz]

Sniff: a light citrus, very, very faint. almost not there!

 

Wet: still faint, but now I can smell violets and a tangy note, which I'm guessing are currant and/or mandarin. it has a light feel, not as bright or crisp as Embalming Fluid or Shanghai, but a similar freshness, stained with earthy tea.

 

Dry: this doesn't last long on my skin. it leaves a trace of floral tea, pleasant but quickly fading

[lilwhiterabbit]

Mmm... light, fresh tea with a zing of mandarin and a hint of violet. This is surprisingly delicious on me. I definitely get where someone else said that the fruit seemed "candied," because I am certainly getting that impression as well. Of all the dances, I wasn't really expecting much out of this one and was pleasantly surprised. I think I'll be keeping this decant. It will be something nice and refreshing to wear on a hot summer's day.

[Invidiana]

This one really isn't for me; I was hoping the blackcurrant and violet would amp but I mostly get green tea with a bit of mandarin. If you like green tea scents, though, I can defintiely recommend it from an objective point of view; it's definitely a more complex green tea.

[HerbGirl]

I guess it's finally time to write a review of this since it's one of my favorites and I've been wearing it since January...

 

I get everything I wanted to get out of this: black tea, green tea, violet, a touch of mandarin and a slight bitterness from the wormwood underneath. This is gorgeous...I bought too many bottles, so I used one to make a bath oil and it is divine!

 

9/10