Desirade

I found a 100mL bottle for a steal, and after doing a quick read of reviews here, I purchased. My first thought when deboxing was that the cap had cracked, but it was just the cap design. The whole bottle is unsightly to me. It's so tall and top heavy. It towers over my other perfumes and for some reason looks like Dorothy from Golden Girls to me-- taller than everybody else, broad imposing shoulders, stately and rigid. I like Golden Girls, but not in this context. I immediately ordered a vintage style glass atomizer so I can decant it out. I sprayed on a card and wasn't impressed. On the card it was very musky, and a bit floral, but nothing too exciting. I finally sprayed it on skin. It is just so beautiful! I couldn't place the primary note (I'm still new at this fragrance-ing) and after some research decided it must be the osmanthus. It is just as described, apricoty and leathery, and just plain gorgeous. I went in search of an osmanthus absolute so I could get to understand it better, and it turns out it is about $20 a mL and a very precious ingredient. I agree with everyone else that it is worth a try. It is wildly affordable and so sensual and yummy. It is sweet, but a powdery sweet, so not syrupy. The musk is light enough to recommend to musk haters as a introduction to the genre. The ylangylang keeps it fun all the way through the dry down. But it's the osmanthus that shines. Moderate sillage, and lasted about 5 hours on my skin before becoming a ylang, patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla skin scent.

A gorgeous, 80's style floriental which does indeed share some notes with Boucheron. But on my skin, the long and LOVELY drydown smells similar to a Sweeter, more cloying Ysatis. I should also add that it lasts considerably longer, with killer sillage. And in this case, I mean 'cloying' in the nicest way possible, as tribute to the very richest and most dense ylang ylang and floriental goodness! As if anything could smell precisely like Ysatis... But. Considering that nearly all of the classics have been reformulated to thinness recently, I highly suggest Ysatis lovers get their hands on a bottle of this budget beauty. It's got that same dirty-honey accord that makes Ysatis so devastating. Yes, dated. But can you imagine being lucky enough to come upon a current creation so decadent?! If so, I would buy it at once, without thought of era or age category. Gorgeousness does NOT require apology. Update - I am impressed by Kvan's assurances that Desirade smells quite similar to Revlon's Scoundrel, as advertized by that marvelous 80's icon, Joan Collins. This would indeed be suitable for her character of Alexi, but perhaps also Joan in real life.... Hard not to be impressed by a fragrance with such personality. Scoundrels this appealing narrow down the competition considerably! Summary - Lush and Heady Stupendous sillage Excellent longevity Seduction in a bottle!

This is an exceptionally good buy! Beautiful, sweet slightly incensy vintage fragrance. This is the kind of fragrance, for me, that you must wear for awhile to thoroughly enjoy and appreciate. It's all in the dry down. When this fragrance heats up with your skin it is marvelous. It is not a loud powerhouse fragrance bomb for me, it sits close to my skin but I can smell it and that's the way I like my fragrances. My family has positively commented on this fragrance as well. Nice bottle but the cheap plastic cap is just awful, a minor thing when you consider how wonderfully this fragrance performs....it's really good! February 2021 The more that I wear Desirade the more that I LOVE it! Really one of the most beautiful, best performing fragrances in my ever growing collection. A true sleeper in the fragrance community in my humble opinion. Inexpensive and well worth a blind buy if you like vintage type fragrances!

Another blind buy to bulk up an order. Holy moly what a stunner! I don't have anything that smells similar, on me this is a gorgeous woody oriental with a bit of powder which is my favourite part, I assume that's the Sandalwood. The Ylang-Ylang and raspberry are also quite noticeable in the background. Longevity is great at around 8 hours and sillage is quite heavy. This is a real winner for me. I can't believe I've had more enjoyment from these inexpensive labels than I have from the designer frags. This is really a superb power house, a true performer and I am in love with Desirade.

One day I went bananas at Ross going through their multitude of celebrity and less expensive fragrances (LITERALLY over a hundred different bottles!). I rushed to the car with my haul and spritzed this one on first and fell head over heels! Seems like the majority of my fragrances are floral or oriental floral. Anywho, I went back in to get ANOTHER bottle of this because a 100ml bottle was $8 *blink* I got 4 compliments making that run. For an very inexpensive fragrance, this is one of my favorites!

Beautiful - so glad I tried this. 100 ml bottles are going for a song right now on Amazon, so after reading the reviews here I decided to give it a try - it is absolutely gorgeous, with a classic perfume ambiance from the aldehyde you'd expect to find in a scent formulated 60+ years ago, yet the fruity/spicy/floral softens it and makes it feel more modern. I'm so pleased with this and recommend giving this a try if you like classic, sexy. grown-up scents.

I love this. It smells almost exactly like Revlon Scoundrel, and possibly even stronger, if that's possible. It's a very very warm spicy, musky pineapple/osmanthus, tuberose and ylang ylang. It's a spritz and walk-through scent, for sure, but then of course it will be all over your carpet and you'll smell it there forever too! I find this very special, very loud and tropical, and very 1980's.

I see a bunch of reviews comparing this to Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds. I see to extent what you mean but I don't get an old lady vibe from it. I get more of an incense, fruity, woody, vanilla, earthy, potpourri vibe from it. Besides its more sophisticated, and has a much better bottle. I see this as a clone of boucheron smell wise.

reminds me of Rumba Passion; lots of ylang but a little herbal bitter in the top from osmanthus, aldehydes, tuberose, sandalwood, some violet powder and coriander but the ylang is the star; best blind buy in ages and a cheap powerhouse knockout; 15.5 hours later, my hand still smells like ylang oil with only one or two squirts. Amazing.

Ohh, I have emptyed a lot of bottles of Desirade in the 90ths, and was so sad when it left the shops, but now I'm the lucky owner of a new 100ml, thanks =))

I'm not really a fan of the opening. But the dry down is addicting to me. It's bright, fresh, sweet, lovely, and very long lasting.

This is in the same vein as Vicky Tiel Siren and Regine’s. It’s like powdery root beer.

I just received a Bottle of DAHLIA NOIR by Givenchy and I find it incredibly similar.

Desirade is quite a strange case. While it's clearly an oriental, it's like it comes from an orient entirely of its own, for it's very unusual and it doesn't remind me of anything else. Not of a perfume at least. What it actually reminds me of, is Nag Champa incense sticks. It has a wetness which is so intense that's almost tactile. It's overly sweet, cloying even, but instead of running away from it, I found myself going closer. I guess this is what "hypnotic" means in olfactory terms. Not being able to run away from something seemingly undesired. And this is Desirade's secret power in the form of an enthralling spell. I don't know whether it has anything to do with the French overseas island of La Desirade in the Lesser Antilles, unless it was named after it to evoke a sence of exoticness. If this was the case behind its christening, then congratulations Aubusson, you've absolutely nailed it! This is exactly how I imagine the lush, strange flowers of the Caribbees would smell like. Never mind that it has the most impractical cap ever, cause that aside, the bottle is very beautiful; like a bubble of gas slowly escaping the ocean floor, or a spearhed driven into the ground, if the direction is reversed. Actually, it's an accident waiting to happen, as it scores a perfect ten in knockoverability [sic], but I really wouldn't mind my house smelling that captivating for a couple of months. And since it can be purchased for a song, the only adjective I'd use for this kind of an accident would be "happy".

I only have the body mist of Desirade and have not tried the edp, so I have no idea if the mist is a weaker version or if the formula is different. Anyway, performance is excellent for a body spray and the scent is very nice indeed. I LOVE the opening, but had some funny assosciations once it dries down. Desirade heart smells exactly like bar soaps that were popular here in Norway when I was growing up (namely Dr. Grevens & Lano). To me this is the cleanest smelling scent ever. I do imagine it could come across as very dated to many though, so I think you'd have to be into vintage scents to enjoy it. Such a nostalgic fun experience to wear this. Squiky clean 90s nostalgia!

Just sprayed it on, and it's lovely! Definitely one of those hidden, forgotten gems from the early-90's, floriental genre. It reminds me of Emeraude in the base with its slight prominence of benzoin (not listed as a note above), but it's far "creamier" in effect... a little like White Diamonds in sections (but not as complex), a little like Oscar de la Renta, and Boucheron with the creamy, lactonic note bonded with the sweetly-soft musks. If you like creamy-sweet white florientals for the cooler months, you deserve to check it out... bottles are really plentiful and reasonable (right now). Strong like... 4/5.

Osmanthus, ylang, and opoponax are the main attraction in this scent. The aldehydes, tuberose, and pineapple are present, but they're comfortably in the background, lending a very gentle floral and sweet scent. There's a warmth to this scent that's very nostalgic and familiar, I could imagine my grandmother wearing this and it lingering comfortably on my nose. It's thick and syrupy in a decadent, lush, 'perfumey' way. It does not get sickeningly cloying. I am surprised that there's no peach in this, I get a distinctly velvety peach effect. I recommend, it's very affordable, so give it a go.

This was another T.J.Maxx $7 find--and what I have is the "My Desire" Desirade in the red box as well. I am pretty sure that this is a reformulation-the box says packaged in Palm Beach FLA--but I don't really hate it. It is not magical, by any means, but it strikes me as a lighter version of Tresor, fruity floral oriental and if the osmanthus note is suppossed to be noticable, you could have fooled me. I get roses, peaches and light powder. Inoffensive, but no big deal. Oh well!

This is a very pretty scent, but it is so strong it verges on cloying. It's either a mist and walk through, or a one spray number. If I ever wore this fragrance again it would be on only one wrist or maybe do the trick of spraying it behind my knees. I really think it is so pretty, but I just wish they had lightened up the formula.a bit. I'm not a fan of huge fragrances like this anyway, so this is going to have to be a pass. As it is I'm happy I didn't spend much on it.

Desirade is a very sensual and intoxicating gem. It's a soapy, woody, and balsamic floral with aldehydes, rich sandalwood, sweet opoponax, tuberose, and exotic ylang ylang. It reminds me a lot of Joop Femme and is also similar to Boucheron and Ysatis as others have said. If you like any of these fragrances, you'll surely like Desirade too. It's quite inexpensive and so worth a try. Splendid!