Emerald Green and Crop 2021 by THoO – royal green

The wonderful fragrance house The House of Oud – or THoO for short – has launched another fragrance, Emerald Green, which is once again already visually a feast for the eyes. I don’t know about you, but I am a fan of THoO’s bottles, which are so colorful and beautifully designed. In recent years I have already tested and reviewed several fragrances of the Italian brand of perfumers Andrea Casotti, Maurizio Cerizza and Cristian Calabrò and was always thrilled – of course not only by the bottles. So the expectations for Emerald Green are high.

And also Crop 2021, whose sample admittedly has been waiting patiently in my to-do box for the review for a few weeks already, finally gets its turn today. The latter is a limited edition that should be a very special olfactory treat. But more about that later.

Emerald Green – Royal Stones Collection

Emerald Green is part of the young Royal Stones Collection, with which the brand honors unique pieces of jewelry from the British royal family and, in turn, the history of the royals. Two fragrances belong to the aforementioned collection, Emerald Green and Sapphire Blue, which we do not yet have in our assortment at Aus Liebe zum Duft.

Emerald Green is dedicated to a set of special treasures, namely a tiara set with countless emeralds, together with matching earrings, brooch and necklace – known in the trade as a parure – which Prince Albert had made in the mid-19th century by the court jeweler Joseph Kitching for his beloved wife Queen Victoria. Prince Albert himself was responsible for the design of the jeweled jewelry, and his wife was delighted – one might even say thrilled – by the beauty of the parure and her husband’s good taste.

Perfumer Andrea Casotti took these emerald-studded gems as a source of inspiration and created the fragrance Emerald Green from the ingredients blood orange, mandarin, pink pepper, bergamot, jasmine, cardamom, ginger, white musk, patchouli and amber. What do I expect? A fragrance that exudes elegance and grace, paying homage to the color green.

The Queen’s Emeralds – Emerald Green

The prelude of Emerald Green is determined by a colorful mix of Hesperides. In particular, I perceive the tangy, tart notes of blood orange and tangerine, underpinned by an ethereal powderiness that gently and carefully shimmers in the background of the creation. Very subtle reveals a delicate pepper spiciness that is exceedingly dry.

Ginger and cardamom blend with the refreshingly tart nuances of the opening. The citrusiness gradually transforms towards bergamot, and the powdery background undertones become increasingly creamy. Summery and Mediterranean seems Emerald Green by THoO, very airy and light. In the base somewhat darker and woody-earthy, the eau de parfum finally fades out very gradually.

Admittedly, I had expected a somewhat different creation … Emerald Green is indeed a tart, fresh and creamy-powdery citric fragrance, but the color green I would have liked more pronounced and also the reference to the British royal family and the jewels of Queen Victoria I do not really see. However, this does not detract from the beauty of the creation. With a Mediterranean touch, Emerald Green is a perfect fragrance for the warm season and can be worn here in the office, in everyday life, for leisure or sports as well as for going out in the evening. In any case, THoO remains true to its line. This fragrance composition also bears the clear signature of the brand, is modern, elegant and timeless – an eau de parfum that will go directly into my daily-use box. 🙂 Absolute test recommendation!

Crop 2021 – New crop

The name of this Limited Edition is kept quite businesslike: Crop 2021 – meaning harvest 2021. In the store of Aus Liebe zum Duft so far the first fragrance of The Crop Collection, a series dedicated to the search for perfection and the agarwood. Since 2016, the Italian fragrance house has launched a limited edition crop fragrance each year, the size of each batch determined by the amount of oud available to be used in the creation.

While Crop 2016 combined agarwood with sandalwood and peppermint, the 2017 Limited was a blend of oud and licorice. In 2018, it became intensely incense-woody with palo santo and agarwood, while the precious agarwood was united with coconut in 2019. 2020 was paused and Crop 2021 is a blend of noble Oud Kalimantan from Borneo and the finest cocoa. The combinations of the individual Crop fragrances are sometimes quite daring, and I’m a bit sad that I missed out on the earlier colleagues from this line. In the meantime, these are of course all sold out.

Pure luxury – Crop 2021

987 bottles with Crop 2021 are on the market worldwide, some of them also at Aus Liebe zum Duft. But how does the combination of cocoa beans and agarwood smell? How much praline is in the creation? Or is the agarwood more dominant? We will see.

Discreetly acidic and tart-chocolatey, the prelude of Crop 2021 from the house of THoO seems and do I not perceive there also delicately boozy notes? The cocoa in this eau de parfum has little to do with the mass-produced milk chocolates you know from the supermarket. Here, the cocoa is more than tart; it is bitter, deep brown or almost black, while carrying unmistakable chocolate nuances. The agarwood gives the fragrance stability, provides intensity and depth. With its subtle smoky and balsamic wood notes, it goes perfectly with cocoa and enters into an extremely delicious and harmonious melange with it.

Crop 2021 is a gourmand woody fragrance with tart cocoa notes settling into a sea of the finest oud. Very coherent and finely balanced, the eau de parfum with its delicious notes fits perfectly for me in the cooler season. I don’t find the scent overly sweet, even though it does have a certain sweetness to it due to the boozy and balsamic accents. Rather a fragrance for the evening, for going out or for leisure, than for the office. A special and unusual composition that should delight not only cocoa fans 🙂