Velvet Desire

Velvet Desire really feels like a white-floral festival. Anyone who loves white florals would probably get excited just looking at the note list: Indian tuberose, gardenia, frangipani, orange blossom, jasmine—pretty much every white flower you can think of. But it isn’t an aggressive white floral. It doesn’t hit you with that dizzying intensity, and it’s not the overly powdery, syrupy kind either. The structure is very steady. Right after spraying, the gardenia is very prominent. It smells moist and full, like a freshly cut bouquet of gardenias held right up to your nose. It’s not airy or delicate—it’s dense and substantial, as if the air is suddenly filled with white flowers. You can already notice the frangipani at this stage as well, adding a slight sweetness and a creamy touch that softens the sharper edge of the gardenia. After a few minutes, the Indian tuberose starts to appear. Compared with the very sweet, almost piercing synthetic tuberose you sometimes encounter, the one here has a light creaminess and feels clean rather than oily. Together with the gardenia, it forms the main structure of the scent. Jasmine, orange blossom, and magnolia sit more in the background. None of them stand out sharply, but they make the overall scent feel softer and add a subtle impression similar to soap or skincare—not a harsh detergent smell, but the gentle scent of skin just after applying lotion. The fragrance doesn’t change dramatically; the structure stays quite stable. Later on, vanilla and resins slowly come through. The sweetness remains low, more like a soft warmth from a light vanilla base rather than anything sugary. Projection stays fairly close to the skin, with moderate diffusion. On clothes it lasts all day; on my skin, about five hours. The overall scent makes me think of Southern European cities and islands. The streets of Milan at noon, stone pavements heated by the sun, shallow shadows from the trees, and the smell of warm dust and old walls in the air. Hillsides in Corsica, where the wind carries heat and the scent of sun-dried plants. Flowers in Roussillon blooming under strong sunlight, their colors deep, their fragrance thickened by the heat, almost heavy—as if the whole air has been pressed down slightly by the scent. Personally, I think this fragrance works especially well in summer, particularly in strong heat and bright sunlight, when the density of the floral notes feels just right. I haven’t worn it in autumn or winter, so I’m not sure how it would behave in colder weather.

Quite possibly the most beautiful tuberose I've ever smelled in a perfume, with a bit of champaca. If it had any green notes, I would have said it is the closest to the real flower, but it doesn't have anything green. It is intoxicating, narcotic, rich and unctuous. Creamy and warm, elegant and feminine to the max. It was expensive, and a blind buy for me, now in 2025. I was afraid it would smell dated, since this was created 14 years ago, but no, it's simply timeless. I can see the similarities with Fracas, but this is much more refined, warm, smooth. It smells like gold, timeless, precious, expensive. The bottle is elegant and simple, very heavy glass, square, with red velvet on the gold cap. The box and overall presentation are superb too. The juice in the bottle is yellow, like a golden hue. Generally speaking prefer jasmine and lilies when it comes to white flowers, but this is a true stunner. For many years I wrote off tuberose in fragrances, as I've had many over the years, and none made me jump for joy. It is slightly camphorated in the beginning, but it becomes creamier as the time passes. In the dry down it is a little soapy, but not enough to bother me.I don't smell any cinnamon or oriental notes. It reminds me a bit of Tom Ford Champaca. Very pleased, also if you are looking for modern, this is not. It's a perfume for a classy lady, grown up, beautiful and confident in her femininity. Silage and lasting power are good too. For me, it's a love. I've had Fracas and multiple other tuberose centred scents, they don't hold a candle to this one.

Velvet Desire really reminds me of EL Tuberose and Gardenia so for those who are upset with the discontinuing of that perfume this is a great substitute. This would be redundant for my collection since I have so many tuberose perfumes in my collection. And it really reminds me of EL Tuberose and Gardenia which I own and own a couple of backups. Very creamy tuberose and gardenia dominant perfume with soft balsamic and woody base base and fresher/fresh spicy florals humming in the background just like EL Tuberose and Gardenia. In EL Tuberose and Gardenia it is lilac and carnation here it's magnolia and plumeria. If I didn't own so many EL Tuberose and Gardenia (which I'm glad I bought because I got them for a steal) I would buy D&G VD. If you loved EL Tuberose and Gardenia and can't get it now try D&G VD. There are samples on eBay, easy to get. I will enjoy wearing my sample but I don't need a FB. This Velvet line from D&G is gorgeous. I'm very happy I have Velvet Love, and Velvet Sicily. My husband has Velvet Blue Musk. I am thinking of blind buying Velvet Rose. I wear rose perfumes more often than my white floral perfumes because my husband is a rose fanatic. He's always disappointed when I wear a white floral for the day lol. Rose is his Queen. I love all floral perfumes so I am happy wearing any floral. Lol.

I love the scent of this perfume... though really it should be called Tropical "Desire" instead of "Velvet Desire." It's equally tuberose and frangipani to my nose. I don't smell any gardenia in this perfume though. But gardenia can be a tropical note, so I am guessing that that is lending itself to this perfume's tropical qualities? Dolce & Gabbana's Velvet Desire has moderate projection and moderate lasting power, but only just. It lasted 3 hours on my skin and this is the only part of this fragrance that I find at all disappointing. It also smells very similar to Radiant Tuberose by Jimmy Choo to me, thus making me wonder whether or not to repurchase this again at the Dolce & Gabbana boutique while I'm also buying their shoes and ready to wear. I'm glad to have found a perfume that I love from Dolce & Gabbana that's beautiful and feminine though, since everything else made by this primarily fashion house smells pretty bad to me, like The One, Light Blue, L'imperatrice, that mimosa scent of theirs, that perfume with the purple flower on it and that perfume with the yellow flower on it. As I said, I do love their ready to wear. So now I have a perfume I love as much as their clothes! 8/10

I was in NY at the Saks flagship location on 5th Ave. The fragrance associate asked me if I wanted to smell like the queen I am. Of course, I had to smell whatever that was. Lol! He directed me over to the D&G fragrances. I’m a niche fragrance collector and did not realize D&G had anything beyond the status quo scents at Sephora. From the moment this juice hit my wrist it was love at first sniff. The gardenia and rose are so beautifully balanced with hints of vanilla and cinnamon. The result is pure luxury and class beyond compare. I walked away because I knew I would buy that bottle right on the spot and then would have to guard it with my life on the plane ride home. The moment I landed I pulled up my beloved Nordstrom app and lo and behold there she was. The nectar of the goddess scent. This is what a queen would bathe in, and what a roman goddess must smell like when she enters the planet from above. I don’t care how long it lasts, because I guarantee whatever it is will never be long enough.