L'Artisan released Thé Pour Un Été in 1996. The fragrance was created by Olivia Giacobetti, and has notes of peppermint, lemon, jasmine, and green tea. Like Ananas Fizz, this was originally released as a summer limited edition, but proved to be such a popular scent that it was added to the regular L'Artisan line.
Marlen, one of the moderators from the basenotes forum, is joining me, and for once, we agree!
He says: My first sniff of Bvlgari's Thé Vert left me a little disappointed. I was hoping for dreamy, soft and green, and instead, I got herbal, sharp and "where the heck did it go?" My prayers were quickly answered, however, with L'Artisan's Summer Tea, a melange of jasmine and green tea with a hint of mint and citrus.
On my skin, the jasmine takes center stage, and I don't mind in the least. I love the scent of this small white blossom but usually find most jasmine scents to be a bit much for me. The opening releases a lemon/bergamot/jasmine combination — instant heaven — giving way to a smoother jasmine note paired with a leafy green tea note in the base. The mint note is present throughout and that's about the whole story.
Not too complex, and I like it that way! It is comforting, cooling, refreshing, and it actually lasts on my skin.
I am thrilled to have found a jasmine scent that I can "pull off" and a green tea scent that lasts more than an hour. For me, this quenches two thirsts with one spray!
She says: Marlen's review is so perfectly on target that there is little I can add. Thé Pour Un Été is simple without being banal, and a perfect example of Olivia Giacobetti's minimalist approach. It smells very much like the Yin Hao jasmine tea I drink almost daily, with its faint impression of smoke in the tea leaves.
I wear it all summer long, and it never overwhelms. While I wouldn't mind slightly better lasting power, it is so perfect in every other way that I hate to quibble.
For buying information, see the listing for L'Artisan under Perfume Houses.
Great review! I love this and as you write R – it never overwhelms me. I also wish it would last longer.
It is yet another very pretty OG creation.
Have a great day!
xoxo
Thank you N, and glad to find another scent we have in common
Lovely review! I forgot how much I love this summer scent, but was pleasantly reminded at the L'Artisan shop on Saturday. I purchased the shower gel, to compliment the scent I already own. It's very refreshing and helps to extend the life of the scent.
Hi K! I have heard their shower gels are great, and glad you made it on Saturday — hope you didn't “blow the bank”, LOL!
Coincidentally, I am wearing this scent today. It's been one of my staples for a decade now. Pretty, light, citrussy, slightly sweet, and incredibly long-lasting on me. Perhaps it's my idiosyncratic nose, but I have never gotten any mint from Thé.
I have never thought much of Thé Pour Un Été until I received a bottle as a gift, and felt obligated to wear it everynow and then. It is actually a very refreshing summery fragrance. I also wish it lasted longer, but my favourite summer scents do not tend to.
This is one of the thickest shower gels I've ever used! Nicely scented, and feels great when you wash with it. A little goes a long way, as it should for $40!!!
K, that is really tempting! But then I would have to have the La Chasse gel too, LOL…luckily they don't yet make matching gels for every single scent!
E, Nobody else seems to find it smoky, but I do. High quality tea leaves are often smoky, and I can never decide if that is what I am picking up on, or if it is the really something about the mint — which I don't seem otherwise to notice much either.
R, try Alba Botanica Midnight Tuberose shower gel, which is a perfect match for La Chasse. It also has an added allure of being rather inexpensive.
Thanks V! I use some other AB products and will look for that.
This was my favorite L'artisan when I first discovered the line years ago, but I could not bring myself to purchase it due to its very poor lasting power (30 minutes on my skin). I recently retried it out of curiosity, and lo and behold, it lasted several hours! The citrus and green tea notes are quite refreshing and beautiful on me, and the jasmine is not too heavy and animalistic. It's tropical in a refreshing, non-heady way. It's my favorite Olivia Giacobetti fragrance, and exemplifies her style–airy, transparent, impressionistic. I love it.
L, I had the same reaction to my first sample — it is one of those scents that has even worse lasting power when you dab on a bit from a vial. They ought to issue it in spray samples only.
Yet another L'artisan I've yet to test but one I will no dobut fall in love with!
S, try to get a spray sample or decant if you can (see the comments above). It really is a great summer scent.
OK, this article and some other comments about tea-notes got me curious about tea fragrances enough that I went and sniffed L'Artisan The Pour Un Ete and Bulgari The Vert. Despite frequent comparisons between the two, they are *nothing* alike! I can't smell any tea in the Bulgari, if there's any tea used, they must have waved it over the bottle and that's the extent of it. L'Artisan is wonderful, though, I kept on sniffing my arm for hours. The despair is that it doesn't last.
No, it does not last, but in the summer, a bit in your hair or on your clothes will help extend the live to 2-3 hours. Agree that the Bvlgari is nothing like…less tea, more sugar.
i just tried this one…wow, so refreshing…
its very nice and summery without too much fruity notes! hehehe…
how do you compare this to L'occitane Jasmine Green Tea, R?
theyre quite similar to my nose…but L'occitane has a better lasting power still
To me, the L'Artisan is a better fragrance in general, not as “fresh” or sweet as the L'Occitane, and a better jasmine note. But agree the L'Occitane lasts longer, and hey, it's a lot cheaper!
just got this scent and i love it. my first perfume ever was the l’ete en douce which i adore and this is also very fresh but also warm. i love this perfume house, and got the mimosa on sale so a late christmas gift will be arriving soon! i feel like the tea scent is quite strong and am happy with how it lasts, a scent will change through the day, it can’t stay brand new all day, and overpowering scents are not what i want. i agree with spraying a bit in the hair, even on your scarf, which is what i do to save myself on the bus.