Sweet William

I’m not going to lie, I bought blindly Sweet William when I’ve had found it for a good deal online. Today is the first time I am wearing it! What a pleasant surprise this fragrance turned out to be!! When I’ve bought Sweet William, months ago, I did it for two completely different reasons. Firstly, because it features heavily ylang ylang, possibly my favourite tropical flower at the moment and I want it in everything. Everything with ylang ylang prominently should be in my collection to brighten up my days. Smelling this tropical flower makes my soul happy... Secondly, because it has notes like fringed pink flower, galanga wood, tobacco blossom and ambrarome, which I have hardly, if ever, encountered in any of my perfumes. And to be honest, it’s unlike anything else in my collection! Smells very warm, sweet and exotic, powdery and balsamic, dense and intense, soft spicy and fresh. It’s a very different and unique perfume compared to all my other ylang ylang focused perfumes and I love it for that. It’s very versatile and easy to reach for most occasions, even though might seem busy or complicated having so many unusual notes. There’s nothing challenging in the way it smells like... More suitable for spring and fall season, the base notes are too heavy and warm for summer, hot and humid weather! Moderate to long lasting performance and moderate sillage. If anyone is looking for a unique take on ylang ylang (or a unique fragrance overall) in 2025, Sweet William is IT. It can’t get more different than this without being straight up unwearable! This scent smells like niche, but in a beautiful, floral way! And Carner Barcelona deserves more recognition/hype for creating such distinctive perfumes compared to most of the brands on the market, but still approachable for most people! And I mean approachable scent and price wise, top notch products!!!

This perfume is so unique - I have never smelled anything like Sweet William! The cinnamon note is very prevalent, and is the most prominent note throughout the opening and drydown. The carnation adds a very light, powdery sweetness, and the black pepper adds to the spiciness of the cinnamon. It's a tiny bit earthy with the iris. All in all, a primarily sweet-spicy fragrance, totally unique to my collection. This smells very comforting to me. Though I don't see it as an easy-going or everyday scent, I think it's so unique and cool. If you love cinnamon and want to smell like it but in a refined and cool way, this is the fragrance for you.

I grow sweet Williams most years as they dont just look great but also smell fab. This is a weak version of their scent. Nice but disappointing. I was expecting something more robust. I can see they have included plenty of notes to create the sweet william accord but strangely missed out the clove. If you like a spicy, woody almost resinous scent that's very unlikely to offend anyone then this would fit the bill. It has warmth but little sweetness. It's cosy and doesn't have a powerhouse sillage like for example Opium. It has moderate longevity and sillage at very best.

I get a nice spicy and fun carnation, with a touch of vanilla. It's warm, sweet but not as in sugary, sweet as comforting. There is a hint of powdery maybe from the iris and the pistachio. Does not project a lot, but it hovers densely close to the skin. I wish there was a little green but that's because I want it to smell like a carnation soliflore and it's more of a carnation perfume. Its sweet and intimate and a little old fashioned.

A dedication to gallant times (think Tudor and Holbein) when gentleman bachelors would sit to have a portrait painted. A red carnation would be featured in the painting to hint at the intentions of the model. Sweet William is a spicy woody perfume. Pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and tobacco are mixed with a few drops of rosewater, orris butter and a pinch of vanilla.