Shabby Chic

Oh my...this is a gorgeous pink peony based perfume! It smells delicious but in a floral way, it has a base of soft fluffy white musk, various lactonic accords plus strong creamy woods and a special "dirty" touch that is almost imperceptible. It is much floral and musky, creamy and powdery but not chalky at all...the powderiness is very breathable. It is an hevenly scent...celestial is the word! It is soft and truly feminine, also romantic to an extreme...full of grace, delicacy and candor. And full of love too!! This is how I imagine a princess would smell like...a young princess wearing taffeta dresses, with a demure yet flirtatious character! It smells like a baby too, probably thanks to the mesured lactonic bits in it and the jasmine and honey facet of the rose (this time the lactonic note is a bit dirtied, nothing proper animalic or stinky, but dirtier). Many peopole suggested it to me and I see why it is so well loved. It made me recive many compliments as per usual with the Giardini di Toscana perfumes. It is modern while still using very classic flowers as its core, I don't find it "old" or antiqued at all. Colonia Nobile and Shabby Chic are my favorites at the moment, the latter has a type of femininity I feel comfortable with. If you are intrested in some more in depth observations here is what I noticed about Shabby Chic: the opening is all about a pink peony that smells young and crisp like a morning bloom. Actually it's more then crisp...it's crunchy, as if filled with vital lymph! Full of life as if just blossomed, it has dew and morning brew on it, but while watery, there is nothing truly aquatic about it, it's more as if the petals are dewy/pearly and almost translucent. Like a crystal peony, that is what describes it best! The petals smell both fragile and resilient, a contrast that I like a lot. It is so beautiful, rarely I find a singular flower note so enjoyable! A fresh facet is present too, together with a bit of the greenness of the stem. In the middle I can still feel the peony, at this stage it is not yet properly replaced by the bulgarian rose, I could say the central spot is divided between the two with the rose being a tad oily, sweet as if honeyed but also powdery. There is no citrusy or lemony facet to be found in the peony or in the rose and neither fruitiness which is a welcomed absence since the florals results more pure. On the market there are thousands of peony/rose based fragrances but I like them the most when the florals are tender and candid, true to their nature. The white florals note is but a touch to my nose and it smells a little green, probably present just for armony and richness; if I go deep and try to understand it I can detect some jasmine in it, it smells delicate but also a bit dirty-sweetish (but not proper animalic or fully indolic), this throws just a touch of dirtyness in the mix, probably there is some lilly of the valley too (or some similar molecule). As for the base of the scent, the flowers dance around some lactonic accords. This lactonic quality is pretty much embuded in the dna of the brand but fortunately here this accord is well dosed. It doesn't weight down on the flowers, like it does in Celeste or Borabora from the same brand. You can already feel it in the opening but it gets more strong in the mid and in the dry down. Also, here there is no vanilla or sugary note so the result is suave. I much prefer when the lactonic parts are tamed like in here. The musk is clearly of the white kind, warm and clean but also very creamy and whipped. I like to refer to it as cloudy musk or kitten musk.... remainds me of a soft kitten fur! It could be the same musk that has lactonic properties, or maybe they used a proper lactonic molecule like in their other perfumes. Dry down is woody, and sandalwood too is lactonic; the brand said they used javanol and Virginian cedar, what I can say is that the sandalwood is much creamy, it smells like a sweet humid wood and so does the cedar, very mellow woods with nothing dry or scratchy about them (also no pencil shaving smell from the cedar). Surprisingly, from time to time, in the dry down you can still smell the beautiful peony. One thing I noticed specially in the dry down is that the lactonic bits result more dirty here then their usual in Giardini di Toscana, maybe a result of the interaction with the jasmine or of the honey like rose, but there is nothing stinky about it, just a touch of something gently carnal/animalic, almost imperceptible. Performance was less in line with their other offerings, lasted on me for about 6 hours and projected only for the first 3, others from the line behave better but I would still consider it a good performance, specially on my dry/perfume eating skin. Dry down is extremely enduring, still perceptible until night to me and everyone coming close, and lasting until the day after. Overspraying helps and contrary to others from the same line you can do it without ill effects. The scent fits quite well the shabby chic aesthetic from which it takes its name, when you smell it you could easily think of vintage victorian decor, floral motifs, lace and feligree....and surely beige, greige and pastel colors! But personally if it weren't for the name I would be more remainded of the new romantics aesthetic...kinda like the vibe and atmosphere of John Galliano 2009/2010 fall/winter show, or that of Alexander McQueen's rain show, or of some of Biba's late years styles. First time I smelled it my mind was filled with the image of oddly beautiful feminine faces...think of the alien-esque beauty of models like Lilly Cole, Polly Fey, Gemma Ward or Sasha Pivovarova, with those big huge bamby eyes, very set apart from one another, porcelain/glass skin...very much otherwordly! I feel like the scent is almost too gracefull for me! For who doesn't follow fashion you could maybe think of the vibe of a Cocteau Twins song, such as Pearly-Dewdrops' Drop, or Elizabeth Fraser own voice! Maybe you remember her best in Teardrop from Massive Attack, it was a huge 98's hit. This scent has that kind of romanticism, I promise! I am wearing it everyday for about two weeks, I am a little obsessed!

The bad reviews on this saddens me but I understand everyone's taste in fragrance is different. This is a beautiful fresh rose peony musky scent. It's not a beast mode but it has an amazing light sillage and I get wafts of it pretty much all day. This is perfect for those days where I don't feel like wearing perfume but want to simply smell fresh and clean Edit: I went to a coffee stand to order a drink and both of the baristas complimented me on the scent. I was surprised that they could smell it because by that point I couldn't smell it too much. So it definitely has decent projection where others can smell you. I've been wearing this daily since I got it 💗

The comments saying its grandma mean nothing to me, i sprayed this delightful rose fragrance on one of my silk nighties (that is also very grandma) and it stayed on it for over a day. Its a very cozy and comforting smell that instantly calms me down, lovely to spray myself with when im at home and im unwinding for the evening unfortunately i cant waste this in the daytime because i work at a butcher shop and the smell of meat has overwhelmed every fragrance ive worn to work

I tested this the other night and walked out into the cold air. A most beautiful peony scent that was warm and enveloping surrounded me. I got an almost fruity sweetness, and I cannot imagine which note brought that out. I also do not get a red wine note, but if I did, I would want to drown in that! I smell elegant, and soft with that Giardini secret sauce, which is an almost imperceptible milky note. So lovely and elegant.

This is one of the most beautiful Clean Girl aesthetic fragrances I've ever smelled! This is what I wanted Glossier You to smell like! This is a fresh floral with a nice sexy musk and something slightly purple in the background. I'm really glad I gave this a chance because I typically don't like peony dominant scents but this is so good! Beats the iconic Bianco Latte by several miles for me!