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.

The notes are: Top: Ginger, Pink Pepper, Violet Leaves, Tasmanian Myrtle, Water Hyacinth. Middle: Gardenia Petals, Flowershop Accord, Petrichor and Ylang Ylang. Base: Tasmanian Boronia Leaves, Immortelle, Oakmoss, French Mimosa. Radiantly beautiful fragrance and I am not a lover of Big White Florals generally. I do get the subtle ginger note and the 'mushroom' sense during the evolution but it is all blended so well to read to me as a beautiful gardenia. Not animalic to me at all. Good sillage for the first hour and gradually softens to skin scent after about 4 hours on me.

Saskia is a meticulously crisp, green and creamy white floral... and kind of hard to unpack. It’s so much more than just a gardenia scent ... it’s fizzy and joyous. The opening packs the narcotic punch I find in Serge Lutens florals like Tubereuse Criminelle and A La Nuit. But Saskia is nowhere near as dark. It’s airy and bright. Update in July : My gardenia bushes are blooming and the accuracy to a freshly bloomed bud is so spot on. This has quickly risen to a top 5 scent for me. As others have stated and as a gardenia lover... I couldn’t ask for more.

Got a bottle for my mum after I gave her a sample vial that I thought was too floral for me, she does 2 sprays in the morning and I smell her when she walks past all day, 10 hours at least. On paper and from the bottle I feel like I can smell every note. In the morning air, it smells of violet leaves and rain, by night she still smells floral and fresh, like she's always carrying a bouquet, amazing performance. Currently autumn, can't wait to smell it in spring.

Have you ever heard of the 60s band Silver Apples? Well, this starts off as Silver Gardenias. "Oscillations, oscillations Electronic evocations of sound's reality Spinning, magnetic fluctuations Waves of wave configurations" This opens in quite a peculiar manner, equal measures metallic, lactonic, and butyric. Sharp, milky, and almost rancid. But then it begins to materialize into a gardenia sweating in a hothouse, with the shakes, growing more indolic as it progresses. There is a watery element, but I hate to say, it reminds me of standing water, the kind one finds in a vase or a birdbath: not very fresh. It is only when this very challenging opening subsides that a far more attractive stage develops. There is a humid green that emerges, stemmy qualities move forward, the gardenia shapes up and softens, and the water clears up, as if by reverse osmosis. A sigh of relief: aaaaaahhh, there is beauty here. Christophe Laudumiel has not in fact failed us, but what a strange path to traverse to get here. I then pick up a thicker, polleny quality, a mimosa absolute, and something like beta-ionone (boronia?). I am also reminded of the kewdra (pandanus) and it penetrating qualities. I can't say that I am entirely sold on this, but its definitely far from boring—quite intriguing and complicated, actually!

Saskia opens with a glorious, shining white floral, which quickly goes rich and buttery with a honeyed touch. There’s a very faintly earthy-humid aura underneath the flowers, but mostly this is just pale-gold, dense, dreamy hothouse blooms. Perfumer Christophe Laudamiel is usually known for experimental, futuristic scents that are more unusual than conventionally beautiful. But here he’s playing it straight: a gorgeous white floral, which (according to Luca Turin; I wouldn’t know) smells more like a real gardenia than any other perfume. Saskia is *very* buttery and dense, to the point of almost reminding me of salty buttered popcorn, which isn’t my absolute favorite facet of white florals, and is probably outright aversive to the same people who are grossed out by buttery Chardonnay. But the overall floral scent is shimmery, nuanced, and quite beautiful.

This is a really lovely floral scent. I was a bit apprehensive given the amount of notes listed but it’s complex + layered in a really sophisticated way. It really does feel like walking through a florists shop and smelling bouquets as you go. On the opening, I get a lot of violet, which is lightly spiced/powdery, in the vintage violet style. As it progresses, it then moves to a green, watery white floral scent dominated by gardenia. And then in the dry down it’s a yellow floral for me, with prominent ylang ylang and mimosa notes. A true journey! Impressive longevity and projection. I’d consider a full bottle except I don’t really like yellow florals (just personal taste), so the dry down puts me off a bit.

maybe i haven’t sniffed enough different florals to be able to pick out the nuances of the notes but i am SO perplexed by the reviews saying this smells like mushroom soup. i get straight up flower shop. moist and cool like you’re putting a fresh bouquet in water. doesn’t project far but it’s a pleasant scent!

At first whiff Saskia takes me back to humid spring day, walking down a street lined with gardenia bushes, in Brisbane, after the rain.... that's what it smells like! Humid, yet fresh, uplifting, green and covered in white spring flowers. It's a delightful fragrance! I get about 4hours wear. Just gorgeous.

This started out as a shy white floral scent but was soon overtaken by myrtle and mimosa. I barely managed to wash it off before bed and was surprised at how bold it became. This is a great fragrance if you are into very naturalistic floral scents - you will smell fresh from the flower shop, nothing synthetic going on in the background. However, I suspect that this fragrance would be polarizing to people in tropical or subtropical climates where the listed notes are frequently used in landscaping. To some it probably smells refreshing, comforting and earthy, but to others this probably smells like Springtime Allergies: The Fragrance. Unfortunately, I am in the latter camp - when I wear it, I just can't shake the feeling that I rolled through some bushes in my neighborhood. A quality perfume, but not for me. Update: Strong indole in this one! Was still catching whiffs of it in my shower after several days.

Other than it punching me in the face with caca and poo poo as an opening it took like 10 minutes to settle into a nice non-offensive green scent. Def get the rain and gardenia the most. It smells like spending the whole day rolling in the grass or if you took the leaves off every tree in the world and rubbed it on you.

I had high expectations for Saskia by Grandiflora, but it fell short in several areas. The gardenia note is overwhelmingly dominant, overshadowing the other elements and resulting in a less balanced scent. The inclusion of synthetic aquatic notes, such as rain and water hyacinth, detracts from the natural floral quality and gives it an artificial, plasticky feel. Additionally, the fragrance's complexity seems muddled, with too many notes competing for attention, creating a confusing profile. While it has a pleasant aspect reminiscent of some Estée Lauder fragrances, it doesn't justify its high price point and is difficult to find.

I am using a sample. To me this did not smell like gardenias, after comparing with real gardenias from my garden. To me, this smells like carbonara or creamy mushroom soup - and not in a good way. I get a hint of gardenia but it doesn’t compare to real gardenias. I was hoping I would like this, and my skin chemistry might contribute to what I’m smelling. But if you like it I’m happy for you, scent really is subjective!

I had bought this sample on my first ever sample haul from LuckyScent somewhere last year, and I remember vividly hating it upon first sniff because all I got was pizza + creamy mushroom soup. First spray was strong and spiced, mushroom-y and stripped off the floral qualities of white florals that I knew at the time. Back story, I’m from Malaysia, raised in a house that had no gardens or plants growing because I grew up in a terrace house lined with concrete and bricks. The closest I got was my grandmother’s garden which I seldom go to, but I remember it looked and smelled wonderful. Thus, I have yet to smell or see gardenias myself and I hope to see one soon. Despite this, I do have experience with gardenias in how they are used as a note in the perfume realm, thanks to my never ending obsession of uncovering the many perfumes that exist around the world which I thank my picky nose for. One of which is Melodie De L’Amour by Dusita, which has a strong gardenia opening similar to Saskia’s dry down. I love Melodie eventhough I can’t bring myself to full bottle due to the longevity and price but albeit the sample is one I cherish a lot. And I think through Melodie, I came to appreciate Saskia and it’s creamy mushroom soup-pizza extravaganza, and have approached the point where I start to have a push and pull reaction between fully liking and disliking it. I still can’t get past the realistic pizza/mushroom soup opening but the dry down pulls me ever closer, and I remember spraying this on my white shirt during the midst of autumn in Korea, and loved how it smelt that night. Comforting, creamy, and lush, and felt like a hug. I’ve been spraying this on my wrist to see how I feel about it for 4 days straight, and I can’t get to fully liking it and I don’t know if I ever will but I can certainly appreciate it the same way I did with Melodie.

Smells very similar to Melodie De La Amour. MDLA SMELLS LIKE you put your head in the gardenia bush while this smells like a gardenia bouquet in a vase. Very life like, realistic smelling florals from this company. Cheaper than MDLA but not when it’s discounted. I got mine half off. I think it’s redundant to have both but if you’re a super gardenia fan then maybe you might want both.

Actually to get an gardenia note perfumers use mushroom accord so that's why you guys get that smell from this perfume...😅 I never had a chance to smell this perfume but I would love to

Realistic, rich, and almost buttery gardenia. This is the most humid, luscious, elegant gardenia I've ever smelled. The most beautiful on skin. I can't get enough.

cream of mushroom soup...in all the right ways.