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alex2012men – :
If you have ever smelled pure coke… 😉 it smells exactly like this perfume, it’s uncanny. Someone mentioned bleached wood below and that’s exactly what I get. Ozonic, very interesting composition. Not something I’d reach for but great for studying notes.
Богдан Марчук – :
The “white” in China White is also a reference to the white florals that are used. It has an opulent vintage feel, with a modern cushioning of the notes to give it wearability. You must like woody jasmine and powder. I imagine this would be amazing on a young woman, but aging on an older woman. As for men wearing this? It’s nice and unique enough for a small sample for private wearings.
The bottle is amazing. The cap is actually made to look like china plating with cracking lacquer. The bottle I tried had darkish brown liquid, which also looked gorgeous.
Don_BASS – :
Male 26 yrs old, I would wear it, this one really cemented my respect for this perfumer. Black afgano perfect on one side, China white also perfect and completely did scent but ~ inverse opposite. only slightly feminine and the specific qualities of this one add to the ambiguity + mysterious-ness
sps1 – :
Holy cow Nasomatto fragrances have done it when it comes to the purpose/artistic vision for these fragrances. China white as well as black afgano could not have been better it just blows my mind. I never thought someone could come this close , with the full on scent/ emotion/memory stirring details
dyrtip – :
evocative and sentimental,a “different” scent, a beautiful musk rests on woods and floral notes. Delicate, the perfect perfume for fragile and nostalgic souls… a timid rose appears after time, what is very evident is the wood and the moss that I really like here. I love this perfume and I think I never leave it…! ❤
Sillage: 7./10
Longevity: 10./10
Scent: 9./10
Overall: 9./10
spid105 – :
This is a bit like Chanel No. 19 EDP amped up to the max! Although China White is not named after booze and drugs, unlike most perfumes from the Nasomatto line, the opening is very green and fizzy, like an aromatic alcoholic beverage. After a while, it becomes more floral and musky, whilst retaining this nice boozy-bubbly quality. It’s crazy strong and long-lasting – definitely not for the faint-hearted!
EDIT:
Guess what, looks like it WAS actually named after booze and drugs – apparently its name is a slang for heroin. Whatever. I don’t get any druggie associations when I sniff this beauty, although it surely is addictive!
soldat3499 – :
This is my first wearing and I am in love. It opened with a blast of synthetic powder, then morphed into a stark, modern, minimalist bleached wood. It reminds me of blonde wood interiors in modern Scandinavian homes. It’s also a very dry wood, which immediately made me think of the opening scene in Luis Bunuel’s “Belle du Jour” where they are riding a carriage through the woods in autumn and all the leaves are a beige/blonde. Then, as the story unfolds we find out that Severine, the main character, is driven by her fantasies to become a prostitute to escape the boredom of being a housewife.
This perfume feels exactly like that movie. You would normally think this type of fragrance would be another boring “housewife” feminine floral woody musk, but it’s so much more. The musk is ethereal and light, but also animalic. The flowers are beautiful, but abstract. The wood is dry, but has a thread of smokey incense. I love this!
zle667speagoessenda – :
‘China White’ is an elegant dry amber. The main effect strikes me as a cross between L’Artisan’s “Bois Farine” and “Potion Royal Black” by DSquared.
It’s predominately powdery, clean musk, with an almond-like sweetness, but in the background sits a dusty potpourri rose, dry wood and a touch of incense smoke. The texture is soft and the sillage gentle, but persistent.
I think it’s quite sexy. Not sure if it smells like an opium den -regrettably I’ve never been inside one- but I think it certainly conveys the image of fragile white porcelain. There’s a stark purity to it, but a little sensuality there as well. Intriguing and totally unisex.
pc-20a – :
Don’t let the name fool you, Nasomatto is actually from the Netherlands, that also explains the fascination of the house with all kind of drugs.
interboi7 – :
I’ve had a sample of this for a few years and worn it here and there, but never really understood it. I’m a guy and always thought it smelled really “church lady”-ish. Really reminds me of an older lady in church when I was a kid.
Actually, it’s pretty nice. Definitely floral and powdery, but occupies the same space as Helmut Lang edp (a favorite of mine), though it definitely leans more feminine. I could grow to like this on myself in the right context. I wish I could figure out what context that was.
no_ice – :
I really love it. For me this is no musk but one of the best incenses around. Like a second skin, one of the best Nasomatto. Persistent although soft. This incense note stays longer then many others which claim to have it or to BE it . The musk base comes to me only after many ( five-six) hours , then it becomes also just a little powdery. Before THAT I enjoy a sophisticated aromatic incense vibe.
Heinous – :
This is a half-dry and spiced white musk that seems to move around the edge of the clean-floral concept but from an exotic or avant-garde perspective.
The development oscillate between the clean and the aesthetic.
In some aspects, I get the dry-spicy aura of Antaeus, in others .. the soapy violet vibe of prada amber pour homme.
A strange work, hardly classifiable that suggests to me the analogy of a flower moon.
You have to try this!
chainufandins – :
Avevo comprato questo profumo ma non ho ancora capito perchè.
Lo avrò usato una volta,un odore dolce e insistente,che non riesco a catalogare.
Non dico che sia male,solo che mi sembra troppo di tutto.
Pendolf88 – :
A mediocre scent with a luxury price tag and repulsive marketing. Blurb in the shop said it was inspired by “high grade horse.” Yeah, because overdosing on heroin has such a highly desirable image and makes you smell really great.
File under “trying too hard.” Pass.
Beeklymaymnlwkwp – :
China White wasn’t even a radar blip on the olfactory sonar-screen of my mind when I finally got around to testing all of the Nasomattos. Somehow all of the fragrances I was excited about never really “clicked” to me, there was something rubbing me wrong about each fragrance. Then I got to china white and I was instantly intrigued.
The overall impression i got when wearing it all day was that of a strange, gasoline treated suede-couch clean-musk fragrance that was extremely modern yet pleasantly subversive. The florals just sweeten and powder up the whole thing, like dusting finely ground dried flowers overtop some sort of hypermodern Scandinavian furniture in a powder room. It’s certainly not an easy fragrance to imagine but wearing it was an absolute pleasure. The longevity was fantastic and the sillage was just right to not become cloying (as powdery frags can, on occasion, fill my lungs with a cloying cloud of powdered chalk dust). I think this might me my favorite of the lot.
anat_54 – :
(Sampling from a TPC sample)
China White opens with what I perceive as a vintage powdery wave, soon drying to a (more feminine) leathery scent with an abstract and very soft sweetness beneath. Raised a brow as I thought it might try to go into styrax-leather territory (I hate styrax) but it never did, yay.
The 1st time I sampled it it seemed to go through about 3 phases, but after wearing it a time or 2 more it just strikes me as a gentle leathery-to-suede scent. Nothing incendiary about it other than the name 😉
There is a certain chemical tone to it but it’s very gentle and in the background, nothing out of the realm of leather dyes/conditioners and even the whiff of it I got was fleeting. No, it doesn’t smell like flowers or woods to me. At all. What I have gotten hints of with various wearings were green suedey tones (oakmoss?), soft incense, and talcum powder as others have mentioned. I also get a sweet vanilla amber crystalline feel far in the drydown once it’s all but gone from my skin.
>>>>>TLDR: semi-sweet powder-brushed seude/feminine leather, and an occasionally perceivable bit of oakmoss or smoky naunces. Close to skin but decent longevity, which for me is anything over 4hrs so probably 6+ on everyone else.
ckol11 – :
Only with a rested nose and a rich experience you can enjoy this olfactory creation. Now, after I’ve discovered her soul facets I can say that I met a masterpiece which mirrors the architect’s vision about the most delicate creature on Earth: the new woman.
The journey in discovering her begins with a look and a short break. The debut is wrapped in masculinity. Curiosity is flooding my thoughts determining to ask myself. Who is she? Does she have humor? What story whispers her soul? Like in everyday life each human being is wearing armor. In this creation the new women’s armor is represented by citruses. And I’m not the only perfume lover who feels these notes. They have the mission to keep the distance but in the same time attract me to discover her.
The first minutes emotion is cooling down a little bit and how else can feminine delicacy can be displayed than through flowers. There, in her heart, many delicate flowers are dwelling. A shy rose makes his appearance. This is a sign that somewhere in her complexity I’m recapturing her wholeheartedness.
As time goes by I find out that she went through many difficult moments in her life. The soft smoky woody notes are delicate. I associate this finish with woman’s tumult which loves the man but through her kindness she forgives him for the mistakes he did. Close to the finish line she unveils her joy. This is a sign that she passed over all and her soul is laughing again.
The olfactory design has a modern construction, minimalistic I can say. Each note is put with care, giving birth to a well done blend. Longevity is above average. Projection is average. You don’t have to be loud when you say something.
My journey with this perfume is like a treasure whose richness I find in the power of feminine sensibility.
Padonok436 – :
I’m almost scared to add my humble review, but this stuff deserves some boasting celebration.
It’s a powder powerhouse, strong and decisive, but not overwhelming or choking. On the contrary, it turns out to be perfectly wearable.
The notes list is probably misleading, the flowers are really abstract in here and what’s very noticeable is the cedar note and a distinghuishable incense accent that makes it a spiritual journey.
Yes, the name, albeit tacky and excessively provocative, is quite well guessed: China Rain, this unlawful white powder, is addictive and intoxicating, it revs emotions and stirs energies, it’s a masterpiece.
Scroll down to Colin Maillard’s excellent review for a better and clearer understanding of this fragrance
Valeriyam1106 – :
Cidar, powdery notes, citruses, and some flowers to break the seal. it reminds me so much of Traversèe Cèdre d`Ifrane by L`Arc but lighter, calmer, and a bit rosy and powdery. the kind of flowers here is the vanillalized happy flowers. joyful, cooling and charming to be specific. the citrus plays the part to add the wet sourness to the cedar but the flowerss slaps that gently and says sorry!!
at the end i felt something soapy as well and it’s dominating slowly. this fragrance plays a huge game and distracts me in each sniff!
i just smelled the above description in just one sniff! damn he blend it well!
actually this one charmed me so well, and i’m quite surprised that it did!
edit (10th Jan 2014) now i found out why i got charmed up, when it calmed down it went full throttle to Black Gemstone by Stephane 777. it took me a while till i figured it out as mom helped me so!
cahar10 – :
Really nice fragrance! Has modern-minimalist feel to it. Really well blended and non descriptive but on the end – delicate, soft floral-woody-musk composition. Not too sweet, not too floral, a bit dry, feels abstract, will work for warmer weather. Modern but feminine at the same time. It’s a type of a fragrance that just gives you that “never in your face” aromatic aura. I like well done “different” fragrances and this is it! Really enjoyed it!
Yervand-Galstyan555 – :
The opening is a nice musk with some rose leaves, since it’s so green. Then it changes dramatically. I like the dry down, actually–I noticed that oud is not mentioned anywhere but all what I get is a strong oud note, blended nicely with some powdery notes.
evilken13 – :
i found this one an interesting example of scent development. it starts off quite pleasant and interesting, and then the (what i thought was) vetiver, green notes and general FUNK kicks in. it became unpleasant for mine, and i probably wouldn’t want to wear it again. it was just too intense for me. but having said that, even though i don’t like the smell, the development (the journey, if you will) was amazing and the beginning is quite different from the end…
aleks1206091 – :
Heroiiiinnee be the death of me. Its my wife and its my life. Man I wish I knew Lou reed RIP dear brother.
If this house that I’m just now learning about(sue me
I’ve got a kid. He takes up allll my time, happily) wants to get my attention by a name then game on. This hizz better be an addictive numbing euphoric if I take the time to hunt down a hit or two. Bravo for marketing.
Virpinek – :
A sharp, spicy rosewood-incense note up top, cuddly dryer sheets below, and miles and miles of empty space between them. Unbalanced and unfinished-seeming, but also weirdly appealing.
gameplru – :
China White. Such an AWESOME name for a fragrance. You clearly miss the point if you are ‘offended’. YSL Opium? Opium is the crude processed pungent, floral sap from the poppy…this… is the higher-grade extraction of raw opium, created in a lab. ‘Heroin’ was an actual brand-name created by Bayer corporation for marketing their new wonder-drug, not a street name. Fragrances are narcotic, addictive and create all sorts of effects. I think China White smells like fresh laundry being folded by a cigarette smoker then placed in a chest-of-drawers in a room where Japanese wood temple incense are being burned.
Hompoivamix – :
I got a sample today and though i am not a scent expert i’d say it’s quite a distinctive perfume which dries down so wonderfully musky to my skin. It doesn’t remind me of any other perfume i’ve smelt having mentioned i do not possess an ‘experienced’ nose!
Not irritably sweet, sugary or flowery but pleasantly little bit of all. It ‘ll definitely be a purchase shortly.
Helaystitte – :
It smells similar to Bath and Bodyworks, Cherry Blossoms! Its okay if you want to layer it also buy the Cherry Blossoms form BW and it will last for hours.
loban777 – :
Right!!! So for the authentic effect, I decanted some onto a bent spoon and burned it a little before injecting and let me tell you it smelled awful!
Okay what’s with everyone going on about the name? If you think about it most china (ceramic) is white and paint hues are named ‘China White’ without any intended drug references to street names for smack! Where do you think that came from anyway?
What would people rather it be called….’Snow White’? Which would have ridiculous fairytale and still further drug connotations! RANT OVER!
As for the smell of this it’s BIG and BOLD!
Nasomatto don’t know how to do anything else.
Even with a scent like this which is powdery and floral it’s an industrial Iron fist in a velvet glove.
I get lots of animalistic musk from this which under normal circumstances I wouldn’t like especially in a floral scent but this is intriguing to me.
I have to say I quite like china white not for me to wear but I can definitely appreciate it. It has a unique edge and I can’t think of many scents like it.
krt – :
Oh my goodness I smelled this juice and HAD to write a review.
Now, I know I am not crazy here. This stuff is a more intense dead-on copy of the scent used in CAREFREE PANTYLINERS! My hand to God.
That being said, I have always liked that scent. It was a kind of surreal experience to have that scent on my wrist for hours. Turns out I like it in smaller doses and that I find it a little overpowering to wear as a perfume (I need less powder and more fruit).
In summary, you guys have to try this. It’s hysterical (anyone catch that joke?) and comforting and clean. I give the quality, the juice, and the amazing packaging a 10/10. What a beast man. I LOVE it!
dok395speagoessenda – :
Just had to add to this that the unfortunate name does not imply to cocaine , china white is street slang for a white colored form of heroin..
ant578 – :
China White,very unfortunate name,street slang for Heroin!!
elona191189 – :
Despite its awkward chosen name, this fragrance is to me a beautiful, calming and gentle fragrance. On my skin it starts with fresh cut wood, like a just manufactured chest in a carpenters workshop. Actually I can smell the whole workshop and fresh wood lying around. After a while a gentle smell of flowers comes through the open windows and step by step covers the room. It can also be a brand new wooden chest full of flowers….. Anyway, a gorgeous scent, and I purchased the whole bottle 🙂
adrian_cernei – :
I’m not sure why leather is not part of the notes, but I smell two things: Leather being the strongest and Cocaine, that’s all, and I’m not sure if that’s the best combination, at least not for me.
kpab – :
Amazing how differently people perceive this. I got only a moderate indeterminate flower in the top and then a slightly animalic musk in the middle and base, with a bit of wood. Gasoline, sweet, honey, herbal, bitter, vetiver, citrusy spice, vanilla, incense? Not a whiff. Maybe we are all getting different samples. Strange. Oh wait, maybe a bit of incense! Yes, I did get some rather nice mild incense in the trail, mixed in with the musk. I like China White but I doubt I will pony up for a bottle.
traveler – :
This is a wonderful, long-lasting, potent incense blend–probably in the top 5 of all the incense perfumes I have tested over the years. Too bad the drug-related name “china white”(slang for heroin) and expensive price point are major turn-offs.
bf005 – :
This fragrance is a dream…
The young girl rests her focus on the maroon carpeting on the commuter
ferry to Governor’s Island. Her eyes are relaxed far away.
/
In Hell’s Kitchen, the 53 year old petite Hispanic babysitter wears a lavender silk blouse with black polka dots, and a grown out pixie haircut. The young girl embraces her, feeling her bony shoulder blades through the sheer fabric. The girl exhales and her tangled ponytail becomes a still life.
/
She’s somewhere in Georgia during Spring, climbing up onto an enormous
mound of sandy earth. There’s a workshop with tires hanging on the walls, particles of dust float in the shaft of light from the doorway, and on the upholstered wicker bench on the enclosed porch, there is a light blue plastic Pegasus with pink and yellow fairy wings, because even though she doesn’t know her age, it’s her birthday.
/
Each time she visits this brownstone off Central Park, it is both worn and exquisite: a red carpet on a severely warped staircase… A square shaped Chinese grandmother insists that she eat a warm, skinless pear covered in herbal medicine. The girl promises to eat it, then hides the bowl under the sink in the bathroom. They are both sure of themselves. They go for a walk to the park at sunset so the girl can jump over and over onto her own shadow.
/
She is now staring out the window of an empty flat in Istanbul in late afternoon in June. The window is open. It feels perfect to be truly alone.
In Nasomatto China White, there is a reflection that renders mirrors obsolete.
maksimsorokin – :
The delicate light beauty others got here missed me entirely. China White on my skin was a combination of chalk dust, sticky musk and fake vanilla. On my friend it was clear synthetic vanilla musk, cheap smelling and sharp. Another friend sniffed it and confirmed that it doesn’t remind her (or smell like, of course) in any way of its namesake, though I imagine it’s not actually supposed to smell ike cocaine so much as be a figurative representation of the IDEA of…whatever. Stupid gimmick as fuggerone says, and unfortuantely not a winner in the blend for me either. Glad some have found their happy space with this, but my chemistry had other ideas.
егор90091 – :
dabbling on drug slang, i hate this kind of gimmicks!
RorbAroli – :
meditative. This is sort of tranquil, concentrated matte white. Though it is powdery, it is so in crisp, minimalist way- sort of powder I crave.
I like the way it is composed- brief, clear, nothing unnecessary. Dzen state as perfection in eastern traditions. True class in style.
Bitter woodsy notes are those that actually make this white powder smell unique and worth its so descriptive name
pasha_10 – :
Wow, this one is different. After a nice beginning it started to spark memories of the bowling alley, I realized it was smelling like a mixture of smoke and disinfectant. Not good! Not my thing.
elortarixerie – :
first sniff…wow, could this be signature scent?
I have always been dreaming about a white, lacey, powdery scent…
unfortunately a few hours later it has turned annoying on my skin, like a bunch of white flowers that started rotting…could be the make of some indoles, not sure.
could be a business of skin chemistry.
Reminded me a little of Jesus Del Pozo In white and Perles from Lalique. If you like either of those, you might be crazy over this one.
faustyan – :
I freaking love China White! Citrusy spice on top, powder notes in between, and I think some slightly woodsy notes and more powder down low. I’m a horrible amateur at describing scents so I’m probably way off. This smells like summer in a laundromat with the door open, where a warm breeze picks up some hints of dryer sheets. Yes, dryer sheets, and I truly mean that in the most endearing way.
I find it odd that Fragrantica is calling this feminine, because in my opinion it’s got ‘unisex’ written all over it. If this wasn’t so expensive (or if I were in a higher tax bracket), I’d probably make China White my signature scent.
GrexpereJew – :
On my skin this one smells very similar to Sublime from Jean Patou, only Sublime is more complicated. China White for me is definitely not addictive. Actually non of the Nasomatto perfumes are. In my opinion they all are nice and of a high quality, but overpriced and overrated. China white is no exception.
Uterieraity – :
I’m always suspicious of any perfume that has the word “white” in the name because all too often they are full of lily-of-the-valley, a scent that I really do not like in perfume. Oh, it’s fine on flowers, but I don’t want to smell like the real version, let alone the synthetic version. Finally, here’s a “white” perfume that I can wear! It starts out with a big bouquet of colorful roses and some other unidentifiable flowers, and initially has the air of a classic perfume. But wait – how did they ever get the roses to exit so fast? Within a few minutes it dries out to a slightly powdery, clear scent that may contain some iris or violet, herbal things, dry woody plant stalks, and a slightly resinous note behind it all. There’s probably vetiver in it, and something bitter, maybe artemesia. All in all, this is a really beautiful, delicate fragrance. The sillage and longevity are moderate – it’s gone in about half a day, but a little hint of rose lingers on my clothing the next morning. Not my favorite Nasomatto, but it might be my favorite “white” scent.
ps10n1ck – :
Glad to hear that it works on you F_A, but on me this fragrance is pure evil in abottle. I will for the rest of my life stay as far away as possible from it. It smells like sorrow, bad memories and depression on me. Very acrid and at the same time dry. Like flowers covered with something that kills them slowly…
Skinchemistry is amazing. But I recommend brave people to try it tough it is quite uniqe.
Murloc – :
This is a very rich, I would say “vintage” fragrance, that brings you back in time to the old Hollywood – glamour on the red carpet, young Elizabeth Taylor and her amazing diamonds, Rolls Royces and men in suits smoking good cigars. A friend of mine said, the beginning of the fragrance reminded her of good old LB Venezia. For my nose, the top notes reminds me of Poeme – flowers soaked in honey, but with a drop of gasoline in it. After a while the smell changed – flowers disappeared, leaving the scent of an extremely sweet and spicy honey with the same wandering scent of gasoline. After some more time my skin had a smell of smokey sweet (but not too sweet) lovely flowers again! The scent of gasoline vanished. I understand why they say China white can be addictive – it has something in it, that attracts you, despite all other strange notes it has. I can even imagine a man wearing this fragrance. It’s one of the strangest and the most interesting perfumes I have ever tried and surely it’s not for everybody.