Beverly Hills

I love this perfume. It's civet and clove mainly, but there are also lots of other floral notes to give this complexity and make it seem very opulent. It's a dark and rich perfume. There is a lot of civet in the opening, and clove and ylang and ylang, but there is also another note, that is relatively very loud, that I cannot place. It drives me crazy. It's somewhat familiar and I think, is this a candy that I've had before? Maybe one of those Good N' Plenty candies or a Smartee? It's something distinctive, and something I've smelled before, but something I smell very infrequently. So every time I wear this perfume the mystery note drives me crazy and I search online for a clue. Well, there is a clue: on basenotes and on many reviews, there is a reviewer (fuzzybutt59) who says he worked for Gale Hayman perfumes, who write this about the perfume: "the top notes are very jasmine,also drier notes of bluebell.however,after the dry down,there is a lot of ginger and dry woods.a lovely fragrance,very under-rated" Bluebell? Is that the mystery note? I pulled out Bluebell and White Tea by Love2Love and compared arm to arm. Yes! Compared this way, they are exactly the same! Now, when I smell Beverly Hills by Gale Hayman I can't smell anything but bluebell. Ha ha, I'm not sure I like it as much anymore because bluebell doesn't have the same cache as "civet, clove, ylang ylang and other rich floral notes". Who knows what bluebell actually smells like? Usually we just use other perfumes as reference. I would love if someone could confirm whether or not they would agree that the note in Beverly Hills is bluebell (if so, it is a very strong note, it's not subtle whatsoever). Or perhaps that is just the power of suggestion or my desperation to identify the mystery note!

I got a mini of this in a sample swap from a friend I have made here. I had never heard of this perfume before but then again, I am very new to the fragrance game. The liquid is a very dark brown color. It looks like the deepest darkest maple syrup. When I first applied this immediately my thought was consumed by the smell of simmering spiced wine and as I let my imagination travel further, I could see a Christmas party in a lavish home. I got this deep cinnamon and clove spiced red wine smell; a red wine that has been made not only w/ the finest red wine grapes but roses as well. Possibly from their own reserved collection and a secret recipe for mulled wine filled the air of this beautiful home. As the fragrance goes along it becomes more floral w/ ylang and gardenia and jasmine coming through. My thoughts went to the beautifully dressed and perfumed women attending the party. Their various vintage perfumes mingled in the air creating an air of posh sophistication. As it dries down, I get a lot of sandalwood which smells like Mysore sandalwood, and I get that vintage Jean Patou feel. It reminds me of the sandalwood note in my bottle of L'Heure Attendue. I get civet here as well, but it isn't really the star for me in the dry down not like the sandalwood is. This is a beautiful perfume that would really shine in the holiday season. It has all the elements of a fun Christmas party or gathering. Spices, wine, cognac, beautiful flowers on the table, the coziness of wood on the fire. The warm feeling of happiness and revelry w/ cherished family and friends.

I recieved the vintage parfume with the stopper that you apply this with in a swap. I am totally in love with this fragrance. The civet smells so good! I never thought I would actually get to smell real civet in any perfume I own. I have Shalimar but it’s not vintage so I’m not sure if it’s synthetic or not. So anyway I’ve wanted to smell it. When I swapped for this I had no idea about this perfume but I’m so happy I have it now because I love it! It’s one of the most interesting scents I have ever sniffed. I mostly get Tonka, civet, sandalwood, floral I think Gardenia I don’t notice the tuberose much at all. This I did not in all honesty think would smell good but I’m a sucker for parfum and I love old school,scents so I wanted this but it turns out I actually love it, it’s so unique. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever sniffed. Even my sig other liked it and I wasn’t expecting him to appreciate this. I don’t get the Shalimar similarity except for the band aid note which I now attribute to the civet. But that’s the only thing I get that’s remotely similar. This is a sexy, animalistic perfume and I finally get what they mean when someone says a perfume is animalistic.:) I adore it and the fact that it’s let me smell things I never thought I could makes me happy. ;)

Gorgeous ! Just gorgeous, cinnamon goodness ! A potent melange of unlit incense and opulent spices, with sweet, heady nuances of creeeeamy gardenia and other narcotic flowers. Its drydown is "buttery", custard-like (but non gourmand), redolent of bourbon vanilla, and chock-full of high quality sandalwood. Powdery, and very boozy. (As if one had steeped jasmine petals, ginger root, cloves, and cinnamon sticks, for months, in aged cognac.) Extravagant, decadent... glorious !! I personally prefer this to the current incarnation of Opium. (they murdered that fragrance years ago 😢) I have the Edp in the original formula, circa 1989. This version, though richly animalic, is not the civet bomb (tons of cheap civetone) that others are describing, the drydown is more Shalimar than Tabu. I have not sampled the most recent formulation of Beverly Hills, but I doubt that the amount of resins, and other quality materials that were used to compose the late 80s vintage, are still being utilized in the more current, and relatively inexpensive "cologne" version. So get the earlier Edp or parfum formulation if you can, and keep in mind, this stuff ain't for the faint of heart. Enjoy !

Absolutely lovely!! So warm and spicy, with a big ylang ylang note, this perfume makes me want to bathe in it. The clove notes make this a perfect holiday scent, the spice is warm and sweet without medicinal sharpness. The spicy notes remind of Youth Dew, the flowery ylang ylang recall Ysatis. Both are personal favorites, and BH is joining their ranks. Someone mentioned a similarity to Krizia's Teatro - also a beloved fave. Despite similar notes BH is a unique creation, different in lovely ways. I'm so glad to have these wonderful scents in my collection - thank you to the reviewer who mentioned cloves! Love those pretty little nails!! The pretty bottle with the kitty cat topper deserves a mention, too. It recalls old Hollywood design, elegant and opulent in equal measures. I'm delighted to find this perfume has several flankers!