I met Yosh Han for the first time at the 2010 Sniffapalooza Spring Fling. It was the end of a long day of sniffing fragrance and frankly I thought my nose was about shot. That would change as I stood in front of Ms. Han in Henri Bendel and she previewed her new Eau de Parfums for me.

 

I had experienced these six fragrances as denser pure oil concentrations before and I liked them but they felt like a banked fire and they all smoldered on my skin without really catching fire, for me.

As we tried each new  Eau de Parfums  they felt like  fragrant fireworks on my skin. All of them felt more alive than their more concentrated counterpart. That day in Henri Bendel Ms. Han only had small testers and I only got to try a spritz of each. I was really looking forward to wearing all of these and especially in the warm-weather. Ms. Han was kind enough to send me samples of all six fragrances and I spent a week wearing all of them and found that my initial impression was accurate;  once I had the opportunity to wear these every one of these fragrances came alive in beautiful unexpected ways.

 

Sottile

Sottile is the simplest of the six fragrances but it is also the one that makes the biggest change from oil to eau de parfum. Sottile means “subtle” in Italian and Sottile is a subtle two note study of tea rose and lily of the valley. The eau de parfum version bursts off my skin in a green floral accord that also carries a bit of dewiness to it. Sottile EDP feels like finding tea rose and muguet at dawn in a garden as the morning begins to warm.

 

 

The difference between the EDP and oil here feels like the difference between finding these flowers alive and on the vine versus having them cut and in the vase. Both are beautiful but only one feels alive. If you are a fan of rose and lily of the valley this is a must try fragrance for you.

White Flowers

If Sottile is the simplest of these six fragrances White Flowers is the complete opposite. Ms. Han goes “The Full Monty” and uses almost every white flower known to fragrance as she combines gardenia, tuberose, freesia, lilac, sweet pea, jasmine, violet, muguet, and narcissus. For those who love their white flowers and glory in the idea of being in an indolic cloud the opening moments of White Flowers is night paradise.

 

 

I am one of those indole lovers and the slowly intensifying bouquet of white flowers allows this fragrance to feel as if Ms. Han is an olfactory florist adding sprigs of white flowers to an elegant vase. The intensity builds and builds throughout before turning beautifully green and woody in the final stages with the addition of petitgrain and fir which adds a clean frame to the floral arrangement. In the oil form this is almost too much of a good thing and is really only a fragrance for those who love their indoles. The EDP version here is much lighter and while the indoles are present they are much more subtle and in the end it seems to give them more impact, sort of like a whisper instead of a shout.

U4EAHH!

U4EAHH! Was the only Yosh oil I didn’t care for when I tried it. The fruity aloe top seemed to enclose me in a fragrant prison I couldn’t wait to break out of. The EDP version was the one that most surprised me on a strip and a spritz at Henri Bendel that spring day. It felt crisper and lighter and altogether more pleasant. This was going to be the most interesting to see how it wore when I sprayed it all over.

My initial impression held up and became stronger as the pomegranate, pear, and aloe felt refreshing and clean; cut with the watery freshness of cucumber and water lily the EDP version of U4EAHH! had me wanting to shout too, but “Eureka!” was my reaction.

Ginger Ciao

When I met Ms. Han and she spritzed Ginger Ciao on me, we began to get into a giggly fit because she related to me the name came from a heroine of a novella she has written. My fevered brain began to riff on “tough-as-nails San Fran PI Ginger Ciao” and we dissolved into loud laughter that garnered looks.

 

 

When I finally sniffed Ginger Ciao my laughter stopped but the smile remained. Ginger Ciao felt like a crime noir femme fatale in fragrant form. It has that exotic air that comes from the presence of coconut, tigerlily, and ylang ylang. Ms. Han adds in spicy notes of ginger and basil to remind you that Ginger Ciao still has some bite before allowing her feminine side to return in the drydown.  Ginger Ciao is the least changed in the transition from oil to EDP but the EDP form adds a little life to the composition. Perhaps it is the difference between Ginger Ciao in the daytime (EDP) and at night in seductive femme fatale (oil).

Stargazer

Stargazer and Sottile seem like fragrances that should be paired as they are both simple two note fragrant studies and Sottile seems to embody the potential of spring, Stargazer seems to speak to the transition from summer to fall. In Stargazer the lily is the stronger and greener note of Kenya Lily and here Ms. Han adds in a generous ginger which evokes an almost chilling edge to the floral green of the lily.

Stargazer feels like a September evening where a hot day has given way to a rapidly cooling evening with a clear sky of stars above. Everything seems sharper and more defined. Like Sottile before, the EDP version of Stargazer feels more sprightly and alive than the oil version.

Omniscent

Omniscent is the most masculine of Ms. Han’s fragrances and it was also the one I expected to not prefer the EDP version over the oil. The notes that make up Omniscent seemed to me that they would lose their impact upon being used in a lighter fashion. Instead Omniscent’s use of these notes in a lighter concentration makes it the fragrance that bears the least resemblance to its oil formulation. In the oil form the heart of fig and tuberose, gardenia, and opium take over from the start and while I could detect the other notes listed they felt far away in the distance. In the EDP version the opening stages are allowed to breathe and have a real presence and so geranium, basil, lilac, and violet all come to the fore in the early stages and slowly give themselves over to the heart notes which feel less overwhelming.

 

By the time the basenotes of sandalwood and vanilla bring Omniscent to a close it has been a wild spicy ride. Omniscent is a wonderful evening out fragrance and in the EDP form it is perfect for these warm-weather months.

All of these EDP’s have above average longevity and average sillage. They all last on my skin for a long time with the two lily fragrances being the shortest lived and the other four having about the same longevity.

 

 

Ms. Han has done an incredible job of reformulating her original six fragrant oils into something different and exciting and altogether beautiful. I think this shows a perfumer who really understands the architecture which underlies her fragrances and how to successfully alter it. Then again what else would I expect from a perfumer for whom the Chinese character for her name, 香的,Yosh, means fragrant. It is clear to me she has a deep connection to her fragrances.

These EDP formulations have just become available at Luckyscent and there is a sample set so you can take the same fragrant journey I did.

Disclosure: This review was based on preview samples supplied by Yosh.  

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor

Art Direction Michelyn Camen  EIC

Editor's Note:  June 9, 2010 Yosh Han will be appearing at Barney's in Beverly Hills. Stop by and  expeience these wonderful 'eaux de Yosh' for yourself.