Shanghai

[Vega]

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

Sniffed: Green tea and lemony verbena. Quite similar to Ehecatl.

On skin: A straightforward, no-beating-about-the-bush scent. Clear, transparent green tea, touched with lemon verbena, and a breath of sweet floral that must be honeysuckle (it is the weakest note). A light, refreshing, transparent scent, and quite vanishing too. Shanghai really resembles Ehecatl -- both have green tea and a citrus note. But Shanghai is more pure and simple, while Ehecatl is "adulterated" with other notes and a bit more full-bodied and interesting. It also distantly resembles Holiday Moon, albeit less interesting. Colour impression is a clear, liquid yellow-green.

Verdict: Shanghai is a very pure green-tea blend, but since I already get my tea fix from Holiday Moon, I don't see any reason to keep it.

[rymorg2]

I LOVE this crisp clean scent.....

 

In bottle: exactly as the description says!

 

Wet on the skin: Still exactly as the description says, but it goes through a lemony amp that I LOVE...then settles into a nice blend of all the fragrances again.

 

Drydown: Same

 

This is one I reach for on a regular basis!!!

[ShannonElisabethJones]

This is a great, straightforward scent. Astringent green tea and bright lemon verbena. Tiny hint of something floral. This will be good when I don't feel like being bogged down by a heavier scent. Very nice.

[angburfield]

This is such a beautiful, bright summery scent: On me the green tea note ( ) is primary and the lemon verbena combnes with the honeysuckle for a sweet, citrus note that smells incredible innocent yet heady and enticing. Clean, crisp, bright, beautiful with a combination that you cannot stop smelling.

[ajansuz]

This was a frimp. In the imp and on, this smells almost identical to Embalming Fluid. A crisp tea note with citrusy lemon. The floral is so sweet and faint I wouldn't have known one was there without reading the notes here.

 

Very refreshing and a nice summer scent. Not something I'd bother with a bottle of, because like Embalming Fluid, it fades away within an hour or so.

[Maxinux]

So funny. I'm in my first-ever round of BPAL testing (just got a first shipment of imps), and I've gotten my two favorites of the ones I bought down to Sudha Segara and Shanghai. I put one on each arm, and it's no contest: Shanghai wins!

 

In the bottle: UHHHHMMMMM. I want to eat it. Sugary-sweet from the honeysuckle and biting sharp citrus. A perfect, perfect smell, I think. No green tea yet.

 

On application: The tea comes out if I try to pay attention to it, but just barely. On me, this is bright lemon from the verbena and the extraordinary sweetness of the honeysuckle. It smells like playful cool sunshine. The colors I get are brightly soft plant-green and sunlight orange-yellow. Very citrusy, and sweet white floral.

 

As the drydown goes, it's the honeysuckle that amps on me, followed closely by the lemon/orange. After awhile, softens to a gentle floral sweetness. It fades fast, within a few hours...hoping to get a bottle of this.

 

BPAL scents have vastly different personalities, don't they? I'm beginning to find that I like white florals, citrus, ginger and spice (and really don't like dark fruits or flowers, unfortunately, since this excludes so much...but good to know what I like!). Within this, though, I have Sudha Segara and Shanghai so far. Sudha Segara is a comforting, civilized and slightly spicy smell. It's grown-up and gentle. Shanghai is more youthful--brighter, sharper, sweeter, more obvious. And a little more outwardly pretty. From these descriptions, I would have thought I'd've liked Sudha better...but Shanghai smells on me like a breeze of lemon sunshine. Delicious. Spring is coming =)

[mxtine]

Playful, clean, refreshing sweet green tea and herbal lemon. It's not something I'd wear but it clears my senses.

[Gateau]

In the imp -- lemon tea

 

Wet -- more specifically, lemony green tea with a soft wood note

 

Dry down -- lemony with a sharper wood note, almost cedar. That must be the herbal quality of the verbena

 

Dry -- the wood recedes and it's nicely blended and green. I don't get much honeysuckle or sweetness, but it's probably there making this all blend nicely. Nice light dry lemony tea scent. Worth the imp, though I don't know how much I'll wear it. It's refreshing and unobtrusive, and like so many of these lighter scents doesn't last long on me.

[holborne]

I admit I was a little worried about this one, because lemony scents tend to smell like Lemon Pledge on me. But this one is lovely. When wet, it smells mostly like tea (can't quite tell whether it's green or white tea) with a bit of sugar and lemon added. It dries down to a mostly tea scent; the lemon doesn't linger.

 

Its only drawback, really, is that it fades very quickly on me. I could detect it after a couple of hours, but only very slightly. Rather subtle throw, as well.

[achromance]

In the vial: Fresh green tea with a touch of lemon.

 

On my wrist: The lab's tea notes, rooibos aside, never quite smell of dry tea leaves or the drink, but rather of crisp, fresh leaves. That's what I'm getting here as well, it's very poignant. Unfortunately Shanghai turns into detergent on me after a while.

[OctoberGwen]

I'm not a much of a wearer of "fresh" scents, except on very hot Summer days. Shanghai will be perfect for those days...it's absolutely lovely. The honeysuckle rounds out the green tea and lemon verbena (one of my favorite "fresh" smells) perfectly, and that's why this one has the edge over Embalming Fluid for me. I just wish this lasted longer! I find it bottle worthy for slathering's sake, for sure.

[Klolly]

In imp: This does smell just like Embalming Fluid in the imp. Lemony light green tea.

 

On wet: Still just like Embalming Fluid, only sharper with the lemon and not as musky at this point.

 

Dry: This is so similar to EF still but I like it better for some reason. It's a little brighter and the name doesn't creep me out. This is a very nice fresh scent. Pretty faint though.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Subdued honeysuckle and gentle green tea

 

Drydown: Green tea with a hint of lemon and a soft, almost powdery floral note. It's light but somehow deep.

 

Dry: Light and clean with a vague hint of lemon. Quite a throw on this one.

 

 

Hmm, this is one of those light & clean floral scents that are nice but don't suite my personality. This would be right up the alley of several of my friends so I think I'll gift it to one of them.

 

6 out of 10 bones

Edited June 21, 2013 by BoneBone24

[yuniper]

LOVE this

 

Gentle creamy tea scent with refreshing citrus in the foreground. My favourite "fresh" BPAL scent so far. I *love* citrussy blends but unfortunately they fade very quickly on me. Slathering it is

[brilliantcat]

In the bottle: Herbally lemon.

 

Immediately after application: It smells like lemonade!

 

Warming up: Slightly lemony.

 

Fading: Lemony.

 

Faded: Slight throw, short wear.

 

Overall: It smelled really pretty but faded SO fast. Which is unfortunate because I'd like to smell like lemonade in the summer.

 

Rating: 2/5.

[lolcat]

This smells great-- I adore lemon verbena, I like green tea. Green tea with lemon, so. It's a bitter lemon, with a lot of zest, but I like it, especially as a summer scent. A tiny bit like Gucci's Envy (which I heard doesn't exist any longer, alas).

 

Shanghai works very nicely on me for about 90 minutes and then it's gone *POOF*! I like it fine but I don't love it enough to buy a big bottle. Because it smells so refreshing but doesn't have a lot of staying power, I think it would make a fantastic body spray.

[whitsunweddings]

In the imp: Whoa, scent memory. This is just like the Elizabeth Arden Green Tea perfume that my mother wore when I was little. I was always fond of that, so yay! Green tea and verbena.

Wet: Quite a bit more lemony once on my skin.

Dry: A sweet and gentle green tea and citrus scent. It might be the associations I have with it, but I think it's absolutely lovely.

20 minutes later: Alas, it's gone all sour and ick on me

[lucycat]

In the imp: Green tea and flowers.

 

Wet: Lipton's lemon iced tea, the kind that's made from powdered mix.

 

Dry: Mostly green tea. The lemon verbena is present but not strong, and the honeysuckle adds a faint sweetness. This is almost exactly like Embalming Fluid on me, but sweeter. I think I prefer Shanghai. It's also cooling, making it perfect for hot, sticky summer days.

[shirohane]

Wet: Green Tea

Dry down: Green tea at first. Eventually the sweet honeysuckle start popping up.

An hour later: Sweet florals with the green tea with a subtle hint of lemon

 

Fades quickly (2 hours)... This seems to be a floral version of Kumiho sans ginger.

 

Edit: I find that Embalming Fluid's Green Tea note to be more prominent than Shanghai's where I find that both the honeysuckle and green tea seem to be well-meshed together. On my skin, EF's citrus note tends to pop out more often than Shanghai's as well.

 

While I love all three "sister" scents, I am really hoping that I can find a way to get Shanghai to last longer on my skin since it's my favourite out of all of them.

Edited November 5, 2013 by shirohane

[Deliciousness]

In the imp: A gingery floral

Wet on skin: Gingery tea, the floral dissipates.

Drydown: Green tea with a nice backdrop of freshly grated ginger and a touch of citrus - lemon, I think.

 

Overall, this is a wonderfully light scent. I would buy a bottle if it weren't for the fact that this scent fades incredible fast on my skin. If it had more staying power, I'd say this were a great spring and summer scent as it's crisp and refreshing for those hot sultry days.

[Magycmyste]

Well, generally I prefer my green tea completely unadulterated by things like acids or sweeteners (although acid is definitely preferable to sweet), but my tastes in foody perfume don't always match up to what I like to eat and drink.

 

In the imp: Tart, tart, lemon verbena with a mingling of tea and a hint of honeysuckle.

 

Wet on skin: This is really pretty, actually. The honeysuckle adds the perfect floral touch to this blend.

 

Dried down: This hasn't morphed, and I'm glad of it. I was afraid the honeysuckle would go a little sweet on me. Then again, I seem to like sweet scents, but Ithink it would be a little disjointed here.

 

Throw: It has a little bit, but I'm not getting much unless I sniff my skin.

 

Verdict: ***** This is a different scent for me, and one I think I should get a bottle of as soon as possible. I'm just not entirely sure when I would reach for it over sweeter scents, but I kind of want to have it for when that mood arises.

[Monster]

Shanghai is all sweet tea and lemon verbena on my skin. How is it possible I haven't tried this yet? This is a mildly floral tea and lemon, perfect for spring and summer. Love!

[inhumation]

very clean and crisp-smelling. smells just like green tea and lemon verbena. it is nice but very faint on the skin.

[JuliskaMarie]

In the imp: As described! This is really light & delicate & gives the impression of a cool breeze on a warm spring day.

Wet on skin: Almost exactly the same as in the imp! Very pretty!

Dry on skin: The honeysuckle has faded noticeably (still there though), but otherwise about the same. Very dainty & fresh!

After a few hours: About the same as dry, maybe the tiniest hint of soapiness. Sweet, clean & subtle, yet refreshing!

Verdict: Just lovely! Perfect for when I want a pretty, yet mild scent!

[hammy]

In the imp - This actually came in a cracked imp which broke when I tried to open it, so I guess I’ll have to test it. Lots of green tea.

 

Wet - This is sweet, but a little too “clean” for me. Along the lines of Okiya.

 

Drydown - Actually, this is a lot like the Okiya atmo. Same green tea note from that blend, although this one is a touch more sweet.

 

Verdict - Perfectly nice for someone who likes this kind of thing.