BLV

There are many fantastic fragrances that I love, enjoy and can’t live without, but there are only a few that I admire wholeheartedly. Bvlgari BLV pour femme is one of my signature favourites. I encountered it seventeen years ago as a teenager with a poor command of aromatics. My aunt was offered it as a gift during her business trip. I can recall my first impression after so many years. This was devastatingly amazing to me as a young boy. I couldn’t gather my thoughts and stay composed. This enigmatic potion was hidden in a cornflower bottle. The bottle, the box, as well as their colour, heralded the sophistication and elegance this scent is famous for. I sniffed it each and every time I visited my aunt. From time to time I stole a drop of it, which resulted in a complete disaster because I couldn’t hide this secret. I’ve heard it is no longer produced. Lucky me, now that I am adult I have stocked up on this perfume - 4 x 75ml bottles :) - in case it disappears forever from the market like the other scents I used to enjoy and miss a lot. It must stay with me till the end of my days. The longer, the better :) This is another situation in which an aromatic piece of art is taken away from us and nothing interesting is offered to replace it. It is so sad. Respect to His Excellency - Mr Alberto Morillas. If I were a king, or at least a prince, I would definitely choose it for the greatest royal ceremonies. It’s heavy, vivid, unique, mysterious and long-lasting. It’s unisex from the very beginning till the very end. Ginger, wisteria and vanilla definitely dominate here. It’s really interesting that some of you describe it as fresh. It's one of the heaviest, most powdery and sweetest fragrances I have ever encountered. This only shows how different we are as people, which is fantastic. BLV leaves an incredible trail behind me. It lasts for 6 hours, which is really, really long when it comes to my skin. This is the love of my life. Wearing it, I feel dignified and mysterious like a secret agent. It requires the appropriate situation, attire and people to let it be appreciated, but it requires nothing to enjoy it.

I do love this one. It seems to be getting rarer in perfume shops, I do not know why. I do love ginger scent and that is what this one smells of, very very soapy, of a cheap plain kind of soap, like the one which used to be sold in long bars and cut according to the customer's demand, unscented soap, and I do love it, although I did not ascertain yet exactly how much. Sometimes I think it has got sort of an unpleasant edge and that is why I am not sure about it. Its soapiness is totally different from the aldehyds and these days I do like ginger soapiness better, maybe because I got a bit tired of aldehyds and because in the end the smell of ginger is more natural or actually it is natural, while aldehyds scent is not and maybe for that reason their psychological effect is not as deep, I think, it is shallower.It is a pity that lasting power and projection are not better. That is a minus, but the scent itself is a big plus. For me it is by far the best amongst bylgari scents. Totally unisex as well, although from women's viewpoint, that is probably not a good thing. And I do not find it aquatic at all. Alberto Morillas is really a great perfumer, probably the best or at least one of the best. Even when they are not really my type of scent, which many of them are, I do think his perfumes are really well constructed.

After the initial and overpowering blast of the lemony bergamot, it settles down to a nice, feminine powdery floral. I'm not sure why I get a whole lot of rose (the yellow "tea rose") in the middle, as rose is not even listed, but I do not mind it at all. I love tea roses, so I wish this lasted longer, but it does not. I do not get a lot of ginger, or pepper, or anything drastically sharp. I do get, especially in the drydown, a nice dose of wisteria, acacia which, to me, smells like honey, and flax. There is a hint of vanilla as well but just a hint, not overdose. So, touch of flowers, touch of honey, very easy on the ginger, touch of musk - beautifully warm and inviting, nicely blended, wearable whenever and wherever. Although classified as for women, I think, Blv could be quite unisex. It does have a touch of aftershave smell in the beginning (bergamot and sandal?) but, very quickly, it becomes this mellow, almost soothing fragrance that could be well worn by the girl-next-door as well as her boy-next-door neighbor. This is a third, after Prada Infusion d'Iris and Bvlgari Eau Parfumee au The Blanc, perfume that my hubby said he likes on me, so I'll be wearing Blv often. Sillage: initially, 2-3 inches, but settles close to skin pretty quickly. Longevity: 4 - 6 hours (on me).

So, this was a blind buy from groupon (yes, i am a groupon fiend but only becauase these things are sooo cheap) based on general reviews of the fragrance, and wow what a good buy it was. I have never in my whole life wanted to eat my arm because of a perfume. Maybe it's because I'd just gotten home from a trip and hadn't eaten anything substantial since the night before, but wow did this perfume smell.... edible. And not in a saccharine, gourmandy kind of way like the original Omnia either. This perfume is more like a cool drink by the pool at the hottest part of the most humid summer. On first spray I definitely got ginger, but I also got a but of citrus and some flower (wisteria I guess - I am unfamiliar with wisteria as a scent). The first spray is sharp because of the ginger, but after a while softens into a fresh, clean, beautiful fragrance that stays all day long. Towards the end of the day I remember why I wanted to eat my arm. There's this drink called Geisha at a place here in DC called Coco Sala that I absolutely adore. It's ginger based and tastes extremely similar to the way this smells (which seems like it should be gross, but is actually fantastic!) So yes, fantastic blind buy. Thank you Fragrantica contributing to my perfume edification. <3

I can still remember the first day I purchased this in 2004 in the West Edmonton Mall. I was trying to do retail therapy after a broken engagement and was in Alberta t get away from everything. I was walking around with my cousin & her friend and of course it was a “let’s go to the perfume counter” suggestion where I discovered what became my signature scent. It’s the perfume I was wearing when I met my husband and to this day when I do wear it I still get compliments and those who know the scent will comment and say your wearing Bvlgari BLV. To say I’m deeply saddened that this true beauty has been discontinued, I thankfully still have 1 full 75ml and 1/2 of another one that the sprayer broke off from. If hindsight were foresight though I would’ve bought several more to store. I really wish Bvlgari would bring this one back in all its original glory (no reformulations). Truly unique scent that still, more than 20 years later you can never tire of.