04/27/2015
ColinM
516 Reviews
ColinM
1
Nostalgic gem
What a nice surprise. Oha opens with an extremely realistic, deep and invigorating sort of “bright floral chypre” appearance: juicy rose and bergamot notes on top, a really compelling and kind of old-styled herbal-woody accord, resins, a tremendously enjoyable iris note. Then patchouli, a mint breeze (geranium, maybe) and other flowers providing a really nice, and again, pleasantly “vintage” feel, that classic “bouquet of wet flowers” vibe. A really effortless composition which manages to appear as a modern, light and lively floral scent with a decided classic vibe. And above all, smelling terribly good – by this, I mean deep, radiant, realistic but also “polished” enough to smell perfectly crisp and sophisticated, with a hint of musky sexiness. Several classic feminine scents come to mind within the first minutes, mostly from the late 1980’s-mid 1990s, from Vendetta by Valentino to L’arte by Gucci; more as inspirations than actual similarities. I mean that Oha seems referring to them, but with a contemporary, “brighter” approach, and a couple of modern features – that “tea” note for instance, which if I identified it correctly, smells more like a generic (yet completely pleasant) touch of fruit. The evolution is equally nice, and it shows both the quality of the notes and the skillful composition: as minutes pass Oha slowly becomes fruitier and more resinous, that “tea” note emerges more clearly, a whiff of patchouli-licorice appears. Kind of “Lutensian” at this stage – flowers, resins and fruits. And basically so is the drydown, which sadly is a bit short. Know what? I’m impressed. Understated, maybe uncreative and maybe a bit too short-lived, but a really nice little gem with solid materials and an utterly enjoyable evolution exploring several nuances of flowers, resins and herbs.
7,5-8/10
7,5-8/10