Delicate

(This review is for Eau de Perfume) I am in love with DELICATE! I always admired the tender spring beauty of bluebell woods with cool shades of blue, lavender, green and purple. DELICATE expresses this beauty so well. It is green and fresh like a gentle breeze bringing the waves of beautiful spring flowers mixed with the green new leaves and warm sunshine. I can imagine a beautiful young girl from Jane Austin’s novel walking through the sunlit bluebell woods when I smell this fragrance. DELICATE is absolutely gorgeous! DELICATE opens with a gentle green and fresh scent that reminds me a lot of spring daffodils. The waves of hyacinth slowly waltz in and mingle with very green and absolutely gorgeous galbanum. The galbanum presence is quite strong right from the beginning. The heart notes bring fragrant lily, hyacinth and a bit green rose. The rose becomes rosier and less green towards the dry down. The dry down is very subtle rose with spicy galbanum on my skin. DELICATE is elegant, feminine and classy but at the same time very natural and green. It is very harmonious and delightful to wear. One of the best spring fragrances I have ever tried. On my wish list for sure. The longevity and sillage are decent.

Let me paint you a picture what "Delicate" smells like to me. Imagine yourself lying in a long grass near woods, it is one of those first really warm spring days and the wild flowers are in their bloom, the ground is hot and you can feel how the warmness flows trough your body, you feel the dirty, warm soil and the sweet flowers surrounding you and you feel happy, because finally spring has really arrived. "Delicate" made me feel really good. It is not a delicate perfume, it is rather sharp and green, and very, VERY oldschool, but nevertheless it is breathtakingly beautiful. It is extremely warm and comforting, only after 6 hours or so it gets slightly colder. I think that only the crowd who loves classic powerbombs with narcissus/oakmoss overload will enjoy "Delicate". I really enjoyed it.

What an oddity. At first it smelled like dirt, like patchouli with some powdered flowers. It quickly became something else, like a crispy, crunchy, spicy, bitter herb, maybe like arugula in a way, mixed with a massive green moss note. This perfume is what I would reach for if I wanted to smell exactly like I walked into an antique shop and found an ordinary bath soap from the 60's. I can imagine the paper it is wrapped in, a faded picture of a blond-haired maiden with curls in her hair, wearing an apron, with a wooden wash tub at her feet and blue birds flying about. Think Cinderella from the Midwestern USA. On the other hand, I can also imagine a field full of fragile, bell-shaped flowers dangling wildly in a summer breeze. It certainly mellows out over time. The sharpness and bitterness become a lot more approachable and soft. We go from the scent of dusty brown dirt to a relatively clean smelling drydown, which is a tad sweet and fairly pleasant. If I had to choose a perfume that Delicate reminds me of, I'd say Cristalle due to the sharp moss and the soapy drydown...but they are far from the same perfume; just the same style. For me this is a love/hate relationship. I appreciate it. I think it is artistic and beautiful. If I were collecting purely for the sake of collecting I would buy it. But I don't think I would ever reach for it if I owned it. And, oddly, I think it would smell exquisite on the right person.

I bought a bottle of Delicate in a blind buy despite some seriously negative reviews because I am intrigued by Boadicea after having gone thought the hoops to get a full bottle of Valiant, which is a BEAUTY! Delicate was too great a bargain to resist, so I went for it. The first sniff had me almost reeling - nothing delicate about this frag, I agree! Then in the drydown I started smelling something oddly comforting, albeit bitter...very green, no flowers. Very mysterious, not my typical bottle of fragrance, I thought. So I let it sit and wait... Today I went to a big nursery to buy some potted mums for my garden since fall is round the corner. As I was walking along the isles with gorgeous mums of different colors I suddenly thought of my Delicate. Yes, this is it! No bluebells, no forest flowers, no roses, no no no... but a beautiful fall fragrance, with notes of fallen leaves, wet grass and austere blooms of autumn. I know I will enjoy wearing it in the coming months. No regrets!

I found this initially very masculine - recalling vintage leaning shaving foams - a barbershop quality and it’s thick and dense before revealing haylike, lighter green, ferny and floral touches - a less honeyed take on Amouage Myths Woman. It’s interesting. It was first wear post shipping and it is late winter in a rather cool patch. So I’ll leave it a month and revisit September as we move into spring. Will edit once I’ve done that. Very promising - it’s definitely rather strong and lasts well.