Flamant Rose The Merchant Of Venice 2021

My first contact was this summer, we had visitors and us girls decided to sniff around at Luwig Beck. I really wanted to test Red Potion and Imperial Emerald. However, both were not that interesting at first sniff. Flamant Rose had not been on my radar until then, as the individual fragrance notes are not really my type. But the packaging was so beautiful that I just had to try it on a test strip. And WOW! What a scent. A massive fragrance cloud enveloped me. Dense, sweet, strong, floral, and above all with a sugary sweet apricot. I could have bathed in it. I inhaled the scent so deeply that my head almost exploded. I didn't take it home back then, but I knew I wanted it.
Recently, I received a gift voucher that I wanted to turn into a fragrance, so I looked at offers and compared prices. Unfortunately, Flamant Rose was not available in the shop of the voucher provider, but it kept popping up in my online searches. The longing for it was rekindled, especially since this strong, sweet scent might suit cold weather even better? I then simply bought it as well and felt like a little child when my package arrived.

The packaging is beautiful. The golden box is adorned with flamingos, orchids, and palm leaves, reminiscent of an expensive wallpaper in a villa in the south. The box opens by pulling or sliding the sides, revealing the flacon in the middle.
This is, like most flacons from The Merchant of Venice, solidly and heavily crafted in a vase shape with a golden knob lid. The glass is in a deep, dark but bright rose-red, with a small apricot-colored feather dangling from the neck. A combination I have always liked.

Filled with anticipation, I used the fragrance right away and was initially startled. It smelled beautifully sweet like in summer for a brief moment, but then changed quickly. I smell cool neroli and zesty mandarin. The geranium stings a bit in the nose. It keeps changing the notes, often reminding me of the room scent in the toilet at the Italian restaurant. But then it gets tonka in the base and invites you to dream. It becomes incredibly beautiful and soft-creamy, then again clean like eau de Charlotte, only to scratch again with mandarin and neroli. It is zesty, fresh, and clean, so lovely to wear, and then suddenly it smells like glass cleaner. Shortly after, it also reminds me of Vincenzo Barony - Caribbean Coconut. No, I am not a fan of citrus and flowers; I steer clear of clean scents, and fresh is something I generally avoid.
Inhaling this substance deeply gives me a headache, yet I can't stop. It's like a drug; I want to smell more and more of it. I already have the scented tissue stuck to my nose and breathe deeply. The scent is simply wonderful. It is also one of the few fragrances that develops even more beautifully on my skin than on a cloth.
If I have a picture in my head of this scent, it reminds me of a hot day at the swimming pool, in the areas where parts made of cold stone provide shelter from the heat, where showers, shops, and changing rooms are, and cool air follows hot air. It smells like freshly showered, clean skin, sunscreen, cold water, hot air, and dry ground. Maybe occasionally also like a glucose-apricot in a flower bed. Yet it is as light as a chiffon scarf. It smells so delicate that I want to spray it again and again and miss it even though it is actually still there. I want to hold onto it, but it drifts away from my skin after a short rest.

Unfortunately, the longevity is under 8 hours. For an EdP from The Merchant of Venice, that is really subpar. Nevertheless, I am excited to enjoy it now and also look forward to next summer. I am curious what the flamingo has in store for me then.