Saskia

There are a lot of strong notes listed here that I am honestly not picking up on in my sample (ginger, pepper, oakmoss), but I really like this fragrance for what it smells like to me: a photorealistic humid white floral. It doesn't smell like a florist shop, per se, I don't think there are enough unique or discernible floral notes for that. It's not just "gardenia", though: there is absolutely some beautiful subtlety and nuance going on in the background, but I can't seem to pick up on any of the specific notes. It's just one beautiful mosaic. To me, this smells like walking from a thunderstorm into a greenhouse full of white flowers where everything has just been misted in the summer. It's not cloying or sweet or like bubblegum at all, just fresh flowers and humid air. Wish there were some green notes in there for a real florist shop fragrance, but it's beautiful as is. It's sure to be polarizing for people who don't love white florals or strong scents, but within the genre, it's a stunner. 9.5/10.

I picked up the Grandiflora discovery set today and I'm currently working through all of them. This is such a beautiful scent! Saskia has said that this scent was supposed to smell like walking into her flower shop. I've never visited hers, but she and the perfumer have absolutely nailed the smell and the sensation. It paints a very clear picture of freshly cut flowers that have recently been misted. But it's also a humid spring day; walking to the shops or to the bus stop and admiring everyone's gardens along the way. It's floral, aquatic and green but not very sweet; it's very realistic in that regard. At 220 AUD for 50mL this is definitely getting up there in price, but when it's as beautiful and unique as this, it is absolutely worth it. I'll be picking up a bottle at some point because I would wear the heck out of this.

This is a huge achievement that is up there with the likes of realistic gardenias such as "Velvet Gardenia." This truly has everything a gardenia lover could want--some green stems, the combined mentholated and mushroomy off notes of the creamy white blossoms hovering in the air just in the background of the pure, indolic, sweet floral core. This is like inhaling a gardenia bush at night that has some buds about to burst, some in full bloom, and some flowers already yellowed and fading. The juxtaposition of the creaminess, greenness, animalic edge, warmth, coolness...it really does capture all of the oxymoronic complexities of the true flower. This has definitely become my favorite gardenia.

This is really beautiful and more than gardenia but gardenia is the most notable floral after the early stages. The early phase is a sweet melange of exotic florals and I can smell a hint of immortelle in there. It's lightly spicy and earthy, almost autumnal or late summer vibe. As it wears, I find it becomes less sweet and the white florals come through. Not overly heady and somewhat humid. Earthy, but not too mushroomy. Very wearable. I have to add that I have scent glue skin and this becomes a skin scent fairly quickly on me and doesn'tlast more than like 3 or 4 hours- not sure how spraying would change this.

Saskia is a very photo-realistic gardenia to my nose. It also instantly made me think of vintage Diorissimo. They share a tone, a striking yet plaintive beautiful tone that stops you, forcing you to drink in that mesmerizing balance of white/green and fresh/earthy with just a bit of spice (ginger/rosemary). They both share boronia, ylang ylang, white blossoms accord and a green leaves accord. And maybe since LOTV is an accord and this fragrance is meant to smell like ‘Saskia’s Floral Shop’ the similarity is gentle enough. Mostly it’s the personality and tone. I just love them both so much.