Among the many repercussions of severe fragrance addiction is that eventually, your critical eye (nose?) is cast upon everyday functional products you used to enjoy. I find this especially true with haircare products, which tend to be heavily, and often unfortunately, scented. The banana aroma of Joico's Intensive Moisture Treatment conditioner, which I don't think I used to even notice, now nauseates me, and the smell of another longtime favorite, L'Oreal Nature's Therapy Mega Moisture Nurturing Creme, became so unbearable I had to give it up entirely.
So back in December, when I was formatting the article on Perfume: The Best of 2007 and I saw that Kevin had included a jasmine shampoo by Oscar Blandi in his list of favorites, I sat up and took notice. At the time, I just so happened to have another browser window open on drugstore.com, and my cart was already so full that I'd qualified for free shipping. And, I just so happened to have $18 in "drugstore dollars" accrued from past purchases, and they just so happened to have a "La Jasminetta" set from Oscar Blandi featuring little 2-oz travel bottles of Shampoo di Jasmine Smoothing Shampoo, Balsamo di Jasmine Smoothing Conditioner and Proteine di Jasmine restyling aid. The set was $28, which seemed like an awful lot for 3 little travel bottles, but after deducting the "drugstore dollars" the set was so very nearly free that I would have been a fool not to buy it — right?
As it turns out, I couldn't be more pleased with the purchase. The shampoo and conditioner both have a wonderful jasmine-y floral aroma, juicy and bright, sweet but not too sweet. It isn't Serge Lutens A La Nuit, mind you, but then, I'm not sure I could take an A La Nuit shampoo first thing in the morning. A tiny bit of the fragrance lingers after I've blow-dried my hair — enough to smell nice, but not so much as to annoy me or compete with my perfume of the day.
As for the smoothing, yes, there is smoothing (and I have "bad" hair, so I notice). As with most smoothing products, the magic is worked largely by silicone derivatives. I already know from long experience that silicone-based smoothing products are going to leave my hair beautifully soft and smooth the first few times, after which they're going to build up on my hair and turn it to something like straw if I don't use a clarifying shampoo* every so often. And, although the Shampoo di Jasmine doesn't lather up a storm, it does contain sulfates. As I rotate hair products anyway, I can live with all of that just for the smell.
I can't say much about the Proteine di Jasmine "restyling aid"; I didn't really need a protein & silicone styling spray and I've only used it twice. I guess it is fine for its purpose, and the scent is about the same as the shampoo and conditioner. If you don't mind tons of silicone, there is also an Olio di Jasmine Hair Serum that gets high marks at MakeupAlley.
Oscar Blandi products can be found at drugstore.com or sephora; you can read more about the line at oscarblandi.
*I was very fond of Sebastian's Stark Naked for a clarifying shampoo, but I understand it's been discontinued. If anyone knows a great clarifying shampoo, do comment!