Bouquet de Hongrie

This is absolutely beautiful. I smelled the fruits first, sweet without smelling sugary or artificial. To me, the fruit notes in this present as slivers of fruit flesh as they would be presented in fine dining--not the experience of eating the fruit whole. This is fruit without the syrup, peel, and seeds, simple slivers of flesh left to rest on the tongue. The florals come next, so beautifully balanced between the jasmine and rose that I couldn't distinguish between the two. I don't particularly care for rose (sacrilege, I know), but I love jasmine and I genuinely don't mind not being able to separate the two here. It feels authentic to a spring breeze that carries too many flowers to name. The musk steps in politely, making itself known but overwhelming nothing. It is at the service of the fruity floral star. The cedar note here is uniquely fresh as is the amber. I'm not familiar with lorenox, but everything resinous here is fresh and light and tender as a spring day. The fruit flavor stayed in my mouth and on my lips throughout the development of the other notes. I literally tasted it on my lips and felt like I could transfer this perfume best with a kiss. The notes and overall fragrance were gentleness itself. I felt like no amount of overspray could make it anything but gentle. This has all the beauty of a perfect early spring day with the promise of summer fruit. This is a Chopin spring. Unfortunately, it is also as brief as a perfect spring day. I don't know that it could possibly have lasted as long as I would want such beauty to last, I could snort this straight from the bottle and still want more. As a metaphor for spring, its brevity is apt, but as a perfume its brevity is just a shame. Twelve hours after dabbing, I can find this by pressing my nose to my skin, but I want so much more. I would not mind reapplying this if I could--I would decant into a small mister and spray myself every hour without complaining, it's so lovely. Unfortunately, while the price is probably appropriate to the quality, it is not appropriate to my current budget, so I will have to wait to purchase a full bottle. Fortunately, BDK offers this as a hair perfume on their website at a more achievable price. I've seen the comparisons to Chance Tender, which I have never smelled and can't speak to. I can only say that the choice of fruits is different, and strawberry and pear seem especially significant to me as highly emblematic of summer and fall respectfully where I live, and are especially meaningful in terms of promising future seasons. They are also two of my favorite smells in the world, so my biases are in play. I am surprised that more voters don't see this as an equally day- and night-appropriate fragrance, as it is so romantic. It doesn't have the skank power I love in an aggressive sex bomb scent, but it expresses a different more vulnerable side that is more difficult for me to access. I feel soft, sweet, and beautiful, and in love with love. Is there such a thing as an emotional gourmand?

I sprayed on Chanel Chance Eau Tendre (EDP) today morning for work, came home to a sample of this received free with other perfume purchases, and lo and behold, upon spraying this on my skin - I was instantly transported back to my morning perfume application. What a coincidence. Literally, Chance Eau Tendre (EDP). I didn't like Eau Tendre at first - found it too simple, too girly, boring, too feminine. But the EDP on my skin is just so versatile, so inoffensive, so easy-to-wear for work that I ended up purchasing it anyway. I feel the same way about this - a bit strange to have essentially a more expensive dupe for Eau Tendre. Bouquet de Hongrie has a BIT more "roundness" and "sweetness" about 5 minutes into its wear (which is when the strawberry starts to come out), I find it slightly less strong than Eau Tendre EDP (but that is VERY strong on my skin). Overall, very pleasant. 9.5/10, but not very niche.

This is a funny old scent. I blind bought it as I LOVE Creme De Cuir and Gris Charnel. At first smell of Bouquet de Hongrie I was like - nah, it's a bit plain, smelled it before, generic designer smell. I let the post-it I sprayed just sit on the desk. Every so often I would get this lovely waft of soft musky rose. Then I started to want to smell it at random times days later, and I realised I had fallen in a little bit of love! A simple, feminine, soft and lovely fresh floral - added hints of musk and fruit. It actually smells a touch sea salty fresh to me as well. Price point is a little pitchy but if you like it, you will love that the longevity is EPIC!

A very jammy fruity floral (more fruity than floral to my nose) The ultimate clean girl perfume. It smells similar to Chanel Chance Eau Tendre, and even though they don't share the same fruit notes, I pick up on a grapefruit, but it is probably the tart strawberry i'm detecting. I decluttered Chance Eau Tendre a few years ago as it seemed basic and I was looking for foodie gourmands at the time, but I missed this profile. Chanel is a little more pricey and hard to find, so I took a chance on this version. This is exactly what I remember, but better with that strawberry note. Yum! Another successful blind buy.

This is a beautiful soft, floral, sophisticated fragrance. It was love at first sniff when I tried it the first time. After sampling it from a 8 ml decant I decided to buy the full bottle. It’s gorgeous, lasts 5-6 hours on skin but even though longevity is moderate it’s worth having in my collection. It’s floral, sweet and happy. A perfect pick-me up scent for any day. I love using it during spring and summer but I use as well during the colder months when I want something fresh and feminine. I can highly recommend trying it in store or a decant.