New York Gardenia

✨ Have you ever had a fragrance slip through your fingers? For me, the one that got away was Bond’s Saks Fifth Avenue for Her—a voluptuous bouquet of satiny gardenia and spicy tuberose over a blanket of creamy vanilla. It was a gorgeous scent evocative of humid Southern nights, with the air so damp and sweet you could drink it like nectar. So imagine my joy when I stopped at a Bond No 9 counter a few weeks ago and was told that my most coveted floral had been reissued as New York Gardenia... Some things are meant to be, after all. Now, this is a big, pillowy gardenia, creamy and damp. I usually struggle with gardenia’s mushroomy aspect, but in New York Gardenia, the intriguing fungal facet is framed by the spicy tuberose and lavish, near-gourmand peonies that smooth the mushroomy aspect to a sensual, satiny-soft aroma with a piquant earthy touch. It smells lively and fleshly, with the subtlest hint of cool champignons and a soft lemony twist. To me, this is gardenia in the glory of full bloom, one that luxuriates in the cool, dusky air, perfuming it with the kind of powerful yet sensual scent that can make one lovesick.

Damn, discovered the broken tester in my purse while sitting in my faithless lover’s apartment. He said “what is that, smells so good,” so I wore it for the rest of the spring/summer 2024 while I ran around, drunk and yearning. Tester after tester from Bloomingdale's until they probably put me on a list to never give me any more. Then I would just stride through the store and spray myself on the way to whatever event, wanting to trigger the memory of hot, selfish, immature sex. Many men commented on it. Frag for attracting boys with an aching sweet tooth... My delicious butter flower—the butter note is the weird hook it needs. It’s the butter melting on the toast I would have made us for breakfast if he stayed, and the pink trembling flesh.

If there ever was femininity in a bottle it would be this perfume. Imagine walking through the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory at the New York Botanical Gardens in the summertime when the gardenia are in full bloom. The heady creamy scent is thick in the air, so sweet and perfect. It is delicate without being overpowering like many gardenia and white floral scents are. This perfume clings to your skin in the best possible way and other people ask what you have on and compliment continuously because you smell divine. Yes, it is pricey. But it is worth every penny.

Beautiful Jasmine, Gardenia, Tuberose, I smell it in that order. The Jasmine REALLY makes this amazing! I have a LOT of White Flower/Gardenia Perfumes & I think I just found the best one ever created. Before that, or, running close is Creed's Gardenia & believe it or not, Elizabeth Taylor's. I bought a backup. I'm using this everyday, even if I do use something else too. I have not smelled Saks 5th Ave for her, now y'all have me curious.

Similar to Saks for Her but less cloying and less sweet which is a huge matter for me with summer heat. I detect a bit more vetiver that keeps the whole composition from going over to bubblegum territory. I have full sized bottles of both and have worn them side by side several times. Not a fly by night review based on a strip of paper or a squirt done at a store. Definitely taking this one with me during travel this summer.