FloraMilena

What a radiantly beautiful, fresh, clean, dewy-green, orange blossom floral! This lovely flanker opens with a splash of dewdrop-fresh citric greens embraced by a warmly lush heart of neroli, clean jasmine, and headily smooth creamy orange blossoms. The tenderly soft base of clean, light woods and benzoin envelops everything in a tenderly soft cocoon of warm elegance and subtle sweetness. This is a delicately intoxicating haze of clean, white seduction. Feminine in extremis. I am enchanted.

Initial spray was delightful. I enjoyed the soft opening wafts of citrus and black current, then the rose, lily, and peony swirling up in a lovely accord of tender florals. Then....horror. Something awful happened in the drydown. The drydown on me, for me, was literally sickening. Something in this formulation turned so unbelievably foul it actually started to make me nauseous and I had to go wash it off after 20 minutes and stop evaluating it. It was like Jeckyl and Hyde on me. The difference between the opening and the drydown was so extreme. Bizarre. I was sad since I liked the opening so much.

I absolutely adore this scent. I’ve already gone through one 50ml bottle and am halfway through the 100ml. I was entranced from the very first initial spritz. This lovely EDT opened on my skin as a joyous rush of dewy green rosebuds and freshly ripened mandarins. A very delicate and intriguing thread of spicy ginger lilies swirled up through a richer layer of fully blooming roses. The drydown of soft white woods and subdued musks is serene, even meditatively comforting. It’s like a dreamy stroll through a cool, misty zen garden having a mossy stone water basin with a bamboo spout steadily dripping in the early spring morning…. blooming flowers all around. It’s so smoothly blended that I detect no harsh edges despite the great freshness and clarity of this work. This scent develops beautifully and does not turn sour, soapy, powdery, or flat from initial spritz through a 6 hour drydown on me. The barest hint of rose-lily-orange derived sweetness never wilts into cloying musty staleness and provides the perfect, subtle, womanly flourish. The only thing that is pronounced here is sheer understated elegance and just a touch of cool, aristocratic, asian hauteur. This remarkable creation is enchantment in a bottle.

The nuclear bomb of violets has been dropped to earth and detonated. This unapologetically magnificent Queen-B of violets has swept in and decimated everything in her wake. The fantastic sillage leaves all the Poisons, Aliens, Opiums, Angels, and even Giorgio in the dust. The usual shy, shrinking violet has shown her true colors. And that color is a blinding neon-amethyst-supernova-implosion-plasma-PURPLE! Hurrah!!! The spiral construction of this scent really is amazing. This intriguing mix of fruits, florals, spices, and woods weaves in on itself over and over again so that the whole composition shines forth splendidly for the entire duration of its endless longevity. The top and middle notes maintain their fearless purple power even as the whole distinctly Guerlain base fully unfolds, resulting in a fascinatingly complex scent that is at once bewitchingly heady yet intriguingly deep. Tonka bean imparts just a tad more spicy complexity to the base and a less cloying sweetness than simple vanilla. Earthy iris and elegant sandalwood anchor the base with a regal depth.

I happen to adore violets, berries, iris, rose, orange blossom, and sandalwood. I cannot rejoice enough that there has finally been created a fresh, opulent, powerhouse woody-violet floral scent that is of low sweetness, but luxuriantly rich and complex, yet still with no need for animalics, patchouli, citrics, or vanilla.

It’s remarkable really. On my skin, this is a lushly shadowed grove of violets standing proudly in the damp evening earth, their petals dripping with the crystalline drops of a recent refreshing rain, amplifying the flowers’ scent in the early evening, wafting purple enchantment through the mossy ancient forest …..little animals and mysterious night creatures are starting to stir in the lingering mist. Dreamy, mesmerizing, takes me to another world. I just love this one. Standing ovation for Guerlain here. This IS a masterpiece.

Sophisticated, Smoothly Elegant, Clean, Cool, Hyperfeminine, Intimately Sexy, Sensual Skin Scent. A delicate fruity floral opening with the exotic freshness of waterlilly meshed seamlessly with citrus, succulent guava, and violet expands into the heady intoxication of a gorgeously clean white floral melange. Orange blossom, jasmine, and tuberose dominate magnificently here, without the tuberose ever going sour (which is unusual for me). Mimosa just barely softens the mix but thankfully not enough to descend into a sneezebomb of powder or sickening sweetness. Amber and cedar finish the clean and elegant base with a complex intimacy in feeling that keeps the scent wearing close to the skin. Like rolling naked with a lover on clean bedsheets right after a deliciously soapy shower together. Another gem for my dresser. This one is a keeper. Thank you Coach. --winks--