Shanghai

[Victory]

The crisp, clean scent of green tea touched with lemon verbena and honeysuckle.

I don't drink any tea at all, much less green tea, but this is how I imagine green tea would smell and taste. It's very crisp and green, and when I think about it, there is some similarity to Tamamo-no-Mae, which I think has white tea leaf. (Aha! That is the tea smell!) I don't smell the honeysuckle or lemon verbena specifically, but I imagine that they are enhancing the tea. This is a really nice scent for the summer and I'll enjoy using up my imp.

ETA: the scent description. Edited June 26, 2009 by Victory

[topazphoenix]

This is lovely, so light and green. Fresh tea with a squirt of lemon and a dollop of honey. This is actually incredibly similar to Embalming Fluid except no musk, and I like Shanghai better. The only problem is it has no throw whatsoever. sigh.

[Suu4LC]

Very pretty in the imp-light lemony green tea with just a hint of sweetness from the honeysuckle! Lovely and refreshing!

 

Exactly the same on my skin! Oh, this is so pretty-I don't think I have anything else that smells like this!

 

Yep, there are quite a few light bpal tea scents, but this one is just spectacularly pretty. Not too lemony, it never gets that weird lemon cleansery scent. Honeysuckle can also go a bit wonky on me, but here it is just the right amount of sweetness. A gorgeous refreshing summer green tea blend!

[comearoundruby]

in the bottle: green tea gone cold, there's just enough of a lemon hint to make this very crisp and cool.

 

wet on skin: amazingly, precisely like the bottle!

 

dry: the lemon comes out quite a bit more, but never approaches the cleansing agent stage. this begins to smell more like a lemonade than a green tea, but it hardly matters because it's still absolutely gorgeous.

 

over all, this is a wonderful "clean" scent, there is a crispness here that is balanced by the tiniest hint of floral. it's crisp but still soft.

[HKB]

The lemon, green tea, and honeysuckle all morph together into one sweet lemony tea smell. No note overpowers the others. Doesn't smell like cleaner but smells clean. Floral but not powdery. Sweet but not too sweet. I love this.

Edited August 11, 2009 by HKB

[biocarolyn]

On me this is all tea. I actually wish that the honeysuckle & lemon came out a bit more, because this is really astringent and actually not all that pleasant on me.

[TheIceMaiden]

Shanghai is my favourite green tea scent from BPAL. The tea is the dominant note with dry honeysuckle petals and just a bit of lemon mixed in. Unfortunately, its very light and doesn't last long.

[loubric]

THIS IS MY SCENT ...

 

After probably testing maybe 10 IMPS I came across this one that my friend had ordered and fell in LOVE

 

In the bottle - I sniff and close my eyes as the clean and fresh smell intoxicates me. The lemon is strong in a very good way and I feel like I’m surrounded by sweet smelling, dew-laden plants.

 

On my skin – The lemon is getting stronger and I feel liked I’ve been whisked away and am standing in a meadow of flowers. I feel like a hot summer’s day. I have hints of the green tea coming through.

 

10 minutes later – The lemon has subdued a bit and I can smell the sweet honey suckle coming through. The sugary green tea is surfacing more.

 

This is my all time favorite scent (so far) it feels as if it was made just for me. I can’t wait to buy a big bottle!!!

 

[tartchef]

WOW. I'm trying to figure out why I never tried this Clearly, I am insane, because this is delicious. A dead ringer for 4C's iced green tea mix, which we drink by the buckets during the summer Once it dries down, there's a hint of old fashioned honeysuckle - my gran had bath cubes that smelled like this...

 

Lovely & innocent & just delightful!

Edited September 23, 2009 by tartchef

[muteddragon]

This is my scent. Fades quickly. Lemon sweetness, clean and saved from being cleaner solution with the addition of green tea.

[EdenIris]

This is so lovely at first, fresh and clean. Nothing but tea in the imp, with the lemon verbena coming in shortly after application and the honeysuckle sweetening things up a bit during drydown.

 

Sadly, this turns sharp and soapy about midday. I had the same problem with Kumiho; I think my skin is inimical to light tea scents.

 

If you get along well with Kumiho and Baobhan Sith, then Shanghai is for you. As for me, I will have to decide whether to swap this imp to a better home or make liquid hand soap out of it.

 

 

[hkhm]

imp: sugary green tea.

 

wet: the lemon verbena jumps out when this is applied, the tea is certainly the backdrop.

 

dry: this dries down to a very faint lemon vebena scent with only a tiny whiff of tea. a very reserved, clean scent.

[Invidiana]

I usually hate--and I mean hate--lemon verbena as a dominant note, and it looks like one of the dominant notes on the list here, but strangely I didn't get any at all I sniffed this without looking at the note list, and I got a sense of plum and/or cherry blossom that dries down to a hazier and very slightly spicy version of itself as time wears on, like a road in the red light district of Shanghai lined with blooming plum and cherry trees. Guaranteed it's my skin that worked this unique magic, so no one take my exact word for it unless you have the same DNA, because I see it came out as a lemony floral on most people. In my case, I'm pleasantly surprised!

Edited November 20, 2009 by Invidiana

[mari4212]

For me this ends up very much being green tea, with perhaps a splash of lemon. I was really hoping the honeysuckle would play up a bit more on me than it did here.

 

That being said, it's a wonderfully light, fresh, and clean scent on me, and very cool and calming. Not something I'm looking for at this point of the year, as I need warm cozy scents to distract me from how frigid it's gotten, but perfect for summer.

[donnatron]

Imp: Green tea and lemon.

 

Wet: This is nice. Light and crisp. Green tea is the main note supported by honeysuckle and a surprisingly gentle lemon verbena.

 

Dry: Stays true to scent. Honeysuckle becomes a bit stronger but for the most part this is a very balance oil. Light, crisp and very clean. Summery, I guess.

 

Throw: Mild.

 

Overall: It works on my skin and I like it but will never need more than an imp. I can see myself reaching for this but not often.

Edited January 3, 2010 by paperrose

[imposterpockets]

In the bottle, this smelled very sweet and "perfumy" to me. Extreme lemon and honeysuckle

 

Wet I got the green tea and thought, "maybe this could work for me." (I received this as part of a many-imp fantastic holiday gift.) The green tea had an authentic dry, somewhat bitter aspect to it. This balanced out the flowers and lemons.

 

However, once the oil dried down, the tea was gone and the scent returned to its former perfumy flower state. If I take a really big sniff and concentrate on finding the tea, I can get a tiny bit, but not enough. The honeysuckle makes it smell like summer, which I suppose would make it a nice thing to wear on a gloomy, icy winter day when all the snow had turned to gray slush and you needed something, anything, to cheer you up. Too sweet for me.

[girasol]

I've found my first scent twin!

 

In the imp: Light floral sprinkled with citrus zest.

Wet: The citrus came through quite strongly when it hit my skin, like freshly grated lemon rind.

Dry: Once dry, this scent is a total doppelganger for Tommy Hilfiger "True Star" on me.

 

Pleasantly light and fresh, but the imp is enough for now.

[kunoichi]

In the vial, this is an interesting mix of sweetness and a lemony scent, the smell being a lot deeper than I was expecting from the description. On my skin it softens the darnkess, lightening it up and becoming much more refreshing - like a lemony sweetness with maybe a hint of green tea hiding behind them both, but it is very soft and fades very quickly. As it has very little throw, all that is left after a few hours is a very soft and very slight sweetness on my skin; lovely but hard to detect...

 

[reynardine]

The notes listed are a very straightforward description, but this scent is just what it says it will be. Green tea with lemon and honeysuckle. It’s a light and refreshing scent, really vibrant, which would work perfectly on hot summer days when you want coolness around you. Doesn’t morph a whole lot. Glad I got a bottle!

[patina]

Oh so slithery and sweet, perfect and refreshing.

I'm just sad because green tea and lemon are not noted for their longevity.

[moon_lemming]

I don't smell the green tea at all in the imp, but when Shanghai's dabbed on my skin, wow, that green tea pops. The lemon verbena is pretty THERE, too. And it's definitely not plain-old lemon: it's got that edge to it that differentiates lemon verbena from lemon to my nose. There is a sort of watery floral that comes out as it dries, making it smell more perfumey.

 

On me, Shanghai is a watery, bright, refreshing perfume. I like it.

[countessmouse]

In the imp: green tea with lemon

 

Wet on my skin: still a little green, but definitely going floral

 

Dry on my skin: clean floral that is quite lovely

 

I just wish it hadn't faded so quickly because I love this scent.

[heleng]

Wet-sweet citrus, like sugared freshly squeezed lemon juice

On skin- green tea with lemon

Dry- the lemon fades, green tea dominates.

Verdict- very pretty, light and refreshing summer scent. Very like Elizabeth Arden Green Tea but without the synthetic feel.

I love this and will wear it when the sun shines, a keeper.

[Greensleeves]

In the bottle: Cool sweet greenness

 

Wet: Fresh green tea with tart, sweet lemon.

 

Dry: More of the same. This is so mouthwatering and clean. This is what I wanted from Embalming Fluid, but didn't get because of the white musk. The honeysuckle is being remarkably well-behaved, and rather than being overblown and nauseating is instead quite soft and green and herbal.

 

After a few minutes: Oh, hi there HONEYSUCKLE, I guess I was a fool to think you would behave yourself. This blend still smells good, but there is something headache inducing now.

 

After first hour: The honeysuckle is cowed somewhat, and the green tea is pungent and fresh with lemon.

 

After two and a half hours: Soft refreshing citrus greenness.

 

After 5 hours: More of the same.

 

Final verdict: Very fresh and pleasant once the honeysuckle stops amping. I'd have almost considered this bottle worthy if I hadn't found Envy first.

[CitizenBree]

This is very fresh smelling. A little too fresh for me, though. The lemon comes through strongest but it was tinged with something -- my best guess was something aquatic....i guess i was part right...green tea IS water. haha. But now that i read that, it makes perfect sense. I actually dislike the smell of green tea. there is nothing about honeysuckle on me. it's nice for a summer scent but it's not something I feel strongly about.