Voyage à Granada

I remember my boyfriend (now husband) buying this for me 10-15 years ago and me hating it immediately. My nose was still fairly untrained, though, and I wisely put it at the back of my perfume cupboard for a decade or so while it (and I) matured. After picking up the bottle again in 2024, I have to admit, I'm kind of intrigued now. The opening notes are shocking. Tolu balsam and woody, peppery, spicy spikenard (green nard) jolts the nose with a medicinal blast. I can see why I hated this long ago because it's interesting but it smells less like perfume than a poultice. All of this fades quickly then leaving jasmine, orange blossom, vanilla, and a bit of green from the spikenard to linger. The sweet and herbal mixture gives a light bubblegum/Dr. Pepper vibe, blended with green and citrus (from the orange blossom, I suppose?). It stays this way for a while, as the notes all settles and then....then it gets ORANGE. Citrus notes aren't listed but on the website it says: "The Florascent Eau de toilette Voyage a Granada natural scent is reminiscent of Spain at night time with a light, natural aroma of flourishing orange trees." So I guess orange is supposed to be the endgame here. So peppery and medicinal spikenard poultice to Dr Pepper/bubblegum vanilla to oranges and orange trees in Spain. Welll, it's nice. Kind of a weird journey, but nice.