Jil Sander: Olfactory Chapter I First Impressions

I've never really heard of this brand's perfumes - all released last year, they finally hit the stores and I ambled my way over to give these a sniff. I was surprised at how much I did enjoy these (although I was let down by the one I wanted to try the most), yet, I really admire how this has a very niche profile and an experimental yet tamed and pared down quality on these scents. Jil Sander perfumes make strange notes wearable for the office, and I think this is an interesting artistic endeavor considering the tendencies for brands to go for classic fragrance profiles. I didn't pick any of these up, but here are my first impressions. 

• Leaf (2025): Fresh green Tomato Leaf, sparkling Citruses, sparkling Aldehydes.

This is the stand out of the collection for me! I've heard a lot of wishes for a super fresh realistic take on the tomato leaf, and I'm pleased to announce that this is definitely the pinnacle of green snapped tomato stems. I was surprised at how photorealistic this green was given the general aversion of most perfume houses to go super atmospheric but this was lovely. 

• Coffea (2025): Orris Root, roasted Coffee, Peru Balsam.

This was an interesting scent - it definitely has that coffee note, yet also balanced with the orris, it's surprisingly light and clean. One of the interesting things about the whole collection is the surprising wearability of the collection that never feels too cloying, heavy or heady, it's coffee, yet a photorealistic coffee if you wanted it to be office friendly and clean. It's not how I like my coffee scents, but I enjoy the interesting turns that this collection spins on niche/foodie notes.  

• Black Tea (2025): Sweet black tea leaves, smoky Woods, cozy fruity accents.

At this scent, I've tried a huge swathe of black tea scents, yet, this one was surprising to me, yet oddly pleasing. This isn't quite the photorealistic tea that I expected from the notes, nor was it the heady tannic take, but almost takes on a spiced almost chai liek quality to it. While the dry down leans a little more tea like, but this is an interestingly fresh and cozy take on a black tea scent, and it's also surprisingly sweet and refreshing. I don't think I would have named this black tea, maybe tea time, but it's nice for what it is. 

• Earth (2025): Earthy accords, Rose, Mushroomy chypre notes.

I was actually surprised by how savoury and lovely the mushroom accord in this was - surprisingly it opens up with this dualistic quality between the sweet rose and the savoury quality of the earthy mushroom - I didn't really get any patchouli from this one, but I think this one is the definite stand out and must try from the collection due to how interesting and fun this is. 

• Miel (2025): Animalic Honey, syrupy and sweet notes.

Very much a sweet, creamed honey scent - the note of 'animalic' honey here is interesting, it reminds me a little of the sort of rich honey that you only really get in perfume, and I'm often very hit and miss with honey notes. I think this can be a bit of a more approachable take on a honey note, but there's something in this that tips it from, interestingly sweet and tasty, to, almost too much, almost regurgitated territory. 

• Smoke (2025): Elemi Resin, Spanish Cade oil, Cedarwood, Sage oil.

I was oddly enamored with this one - it's not a type of scent I'd usually go for, despite having briefly been vaguely interested in Imaginary Author's Memoirs of a Trespasser, but this is sort of a sister scent to that one and has a sort of Diptyque-an quality in the lovely grounded woody note - it's got the lightest touch of sweet, ever so slightly smoked wood on top of a more cotton floral note, but it's surprisingly clean for a smoke based scent.