The power of green tea in perfume and beauty

By Alexandra Donaldson

At The Whale & The Rose we focus on fragrance, but generally speaking, we are lovers of beauty and wellness. Often we find that trends in fragrance notes point to a larger trend within the beauty industry—which is why we’ve decided to broaden our conversation about specific perfumes notes today and speak to the broader beauty picture with this story.

Let’s talk green tea. One of the biggest perfume trends of the first half of 2015 was tea notes. Guerlain, Maison Margiela and The Body Shop all embraced this feel-good note with super-smelling results. We even included The Body Shop’s Fuji Green Tea as our green pick in our Summer Fragrance Buying Guide.

The beauty world at large has also been taking time for tea—and for more reasons than just its lovely scent. Green tea has many properties that make it an ideal ingredient for use in skincare.

LEARN MORE ABOUT GREEN TEA SCENTED PERFUMES.

One of the foremost champions of green tea in skin care is Korean brand AmorePacific. The company harvests and handpicks its own green tea leaves; tea leaves, by the way, contain polyphenol EGCG—the world’s most potent anti-oxidant.

Nathalie Paiva, director of marketing & PR for the brand says, “Amore Pacific utilizes its unique and patented EGCG technology to stabilize green tea and infuse it into their products which benefits the deepest layers of the skin.” In other words, tea delivers superior anti-aging results on the surface, epidermis and dermis of the skin. That amounts to restored firmness and suppleness, not to mention the appearance of a reduction of fine lines. And tea helps moisturize and nourish too. This ingredient doesn’t just smell good—it works hard. You can feel it when you use AmorePacific’s Cushion Compact—the original cushion foundation compact of the beauty world.

Although many of Amore Pacific products include green tea, having your foundation work hard to protect (broad spectrum SPF) and nourish (EGCG) your skin is a great way to make sure all of your beauty bases are covered.

Dry green tea leaves can also be used as an exfoliator. Toronto-based company Province Apothecary’s Regenerating and Stimulating Exfoliator includes green tea leaves as a main ingredient. Because green tea leaves are high in antioxidants, they work to reduce inflammation and redness to leave your skin soft and smooth. Province Apothecary, with its commitment to local, organic and wild-crafted ingredients, sources its green tea leaves from local dispensaries that work closely with green tea fields in China.

Some of our favourite perfumes use the tea note for its earthy and green, or warm, comforting character, and echoes of that can be sniffed in these green tea boasting beauty products.

One of our favourites green tea scents launched recently is Annick Goutal’s L’Ile Au The. The green tea used in that perfume is harvested from the same island (Jeju Island) as AmorePacific’s EGCG. The scent of the fragrance captures the scene of the island that inspired it—a warm volcano in the distance, citrusy sweetness on the air, and lush green fields of earthy tea.

However you’ll be enjoying green tea—in a cup, on your face, or in a spritz—we can safely assume it will be a nourishing experience.

AmorePacific Cushion Compact SPF 50, $60 (30 ml), www.sephora.com
Province Apothecary Regenerating + Stimulating Exfoliator, $38 (120 ml), www.provinceapothecary.com
Annick Goutal L’Ile Au The, $143 (100 ml), www.thebay.com

PHOTO: AmorePacific