Floriental

My oh my! This is stunning. I had a feeling I might like it but wow...I'm blown away by it. Started out beautifully enough with a strong plum note which even my girlfriend identified (I'm finally rubbing off on her...not a euphemism..) it's like aspects of my favourite perfumes rolled into one, then released by one of my favourite houses. Floriantal is a perfect storm if you like and it had to happen sooner or later. I'm giddy with excitement about this perfume...anyway as I was saying that lush plummy opening is mixed with the sweet spice of pink pepper and incense. I was thinking if this just has an Ambery warm dry down it will be great...but it's better than that folks. Now that this has dried down its pure Labdanum/myrrh and high quality sandalwood it smells very much like Aramani Myrrhe imperial...seriously. What a transition though because as great and incensy as the opening is I didn't think it would end up here? It's like a two (or more) for one! Really this is not just mindless hyperbole....I adore this fragrance!!!!! All this is a fragrance called floriental and it has almost nothing to do with flowers!!! Well actually no, the heart and top notes do have an exotic floral essence in there and this reimagining of a flower (reminiscent of some kind of blossom like plum Japonais) actually works really well. I'm going to say it...masterpiece. Pure and simple...I'm fairly easily pleased but don't take anything away from the high praise I'm giving this fragrance because it deserves it. It doesn't quite have the devestating power of Blue Santal but even has a little bit of the same feel throughout and performance is excellent...truly excellent. Please do yourselves a favour an check out this fragrance it's an ultra modern surprise package which I am more than happy with....as you can probably tell.

I just try Floriental from CdG when I pass through the shops, I like it because it is very close in DNA to CdG Wonderoud/wood. If you can't take the full throttle dry woods and spices of Wonderoud/wood, but appreciate that distinct cashmeran-sandalwood-peppery DNA, then you should definetely try Floriental. It comes in a metallic-red box as in other CdG line, and marketed as more feminine. However in my opinion this is as masculine as Wonderwood and Wonderoud, only more floral. Ofc charming on a woman as well. I think it's very underrated, perhaps in the shadow of other successful CdG fragrances. In my opinion this is the 3rd best after Wonderoud and Wonderwood. I like it because it's not so different than WW, but just a bit more powdery, balsamic and slightly floral version. I do not get the plum note distinctly. Maybe my nose is not trained for that. All I get is a very close floral variation of WW and WO. Top fragrance IMO. Update: Just doing a side by side comparison of Floriental with Wonderwood and Wonderoud. I was wrong by not getting the obvious plum note in my earlier tests in the shop. Now doing this in home environment, no other smell distractions, and I clearly get the difference of Floriental. The DNA is the same with WW and WO, however there's significant difference and Floriental smells more rosey powdery, could be the damascones, kind of dried plums/prune plus a powdery iris effect a la Prada frags, and it definitely has some pink pepper freshness whereas WW/WO has strong black pepper/vetiver notes. Vetiver seems to be toned down in Floriental, maybe a little in the opening.

Given the name I did not expect this to be of much interest to me - I'm not usually particularly keen on floral scents. The notes and reviews indicated otherwise, so I bought a sample. There is a scene in an episode of the Simpsons where a Yoko Ono-esque character orders a single plum, floating in perfume served in a man's hat. This is what I imagine when I smell this. I will echo the others who have mentioned Plum Japonais, I find Floriental very reminiscent but WAY less overbearing in the way TF Private Blend frags tend to be. I find this to be rather unlike most of CdG's offerings I've tried so far, and despite featuring incense, it does not exude the typical incense note I associate with this house. It might not be an entirely original scent, but it's certainly unique standing next to your average department store fare. Overall it's a really nice unisex fragrance, spicy and fruity (not fresh fruit, more like the Serge Lutens sort of heavy stewed fruits) with a woody base that comes through pretty strong (Sandalwood, I suppose). I don't pick up much Vetiver but I don't doubt its presence. Performance seems good from the sample I tried; good longevity (especially for a CdG) and projection seems appropriate for such a heavy fragrance (ie. it's there, but it shouldn't choke anyone sitting next to you). Price is mid-range, given the performance and quality of scent I think it's reasonable. Scent: 8/10 Sillage: 6/10 Longevity: 8/10 Price: 7/10 Overall: 7/10

Wow. I'm so glad I gave this a second shot. I fell backwards onto this fragrance trying to find a sweet spicy floral oriental fragrance, and on a whim I searched for 'Floriental' and added this decant to my list at Perfumed Court. The first time I tried it on skin, I was immediately put off because I had so many spicy fragrances that were far too masculine. You know that sharp spicy ozone of like Burberry men's cologne's? I kept getting that in a lot of my 'spicy' fragrances. And the opening of this fragrance is.... powerful. I almost immediately discounted it. But the drydown. OH but the DRYDOWN. Friends. Come to me. Sing the praises of the drydown of this fragrance. The sweetened spices and warm jammy plums... I just want to spray this on a wool jacket and sit by a fire outside next to some Christmas trees. This is... magic. Pink pepper with Sandalwood and incense gets you that warm sticky spice without being straight up cinnamon, which can read so badly sometimes. I LOVE cinnamon but it can read as almost sweat or BO, or get way too gourmand and remind you of pies... But this fragrance nails it. Sweet, spicy, dark. The opening is HARSH but it's what creates the longevity, and the drydown is where it lives. Don't get me wrong, it's in the same zipcode as the Burberry men's line (Brit, Mr. etc...) but the drydown takes a gorgeous left turn with a sweet plum. Loving it. I get the comparisons to PJ by TF but I like this better.

Like many of the Puig CdG's (the ones in those flat oval bottles), I find Floriental to be nothing overly earth shattering in a creative sense, but still very pleasant to wear and it certainly distinguishes itself enough from the mainstream to allow the wearer to feel a little unique and mysterious. The name may be a tad misleading (I know people have been surprised that it isn't at all floral), but that's another story. The scent itself to me is luscious and basenote heavy but also really lovely, with an extremely wearable plum note and wafts of labdanum, framed by that famous CdG incense, pepper and wood base. It reminds me a lot of Tom Ford's Plum Japonaise and also somewhat of Bond No9 Andy Warhol Silver Factory, but it's still different enough to be a viable alternative, especially to the Bond. It's 100% identifiable as a CdG scent, despite any subjective similarities to those other two. It develops quite well, revealing more of its incense and sandalwood heart as time passes. Longevity is quite good and I find its projection to be fairly subtle, which is perfect for what is a reasonably dense or 'heavy' scent. Overall I think it's an eminently likeable, unisex, all seasons (but leaning towards cooler weather), fragrance that whilst being only slightly left of centre in a designer world, is still daring enough to make you stand out amongst a lot of the beige nothings worn by many humans. And that's a good thing!