Phool

After the initial shock (strongly bitter petitgrain with slightly rancid jasmine), it freshens up and eventually sweeten into a familiar & pleasant scent that's more akin to orange blossom than their own Orange Blossom lol

TLDR: -1st 30 mins is very urine-like/ammonia pissy jasmine, NOT indolic jasmine -dries down similar to L’Artisan Parfumeur Seville a l’Aube, potentially good replacement for those who can’t get SALA -vintage vibe that gradually goes away/gets more modern as the scent develops -fantastic airy sillage, never STRONG but you can always smell it, if you know what I mean. Also the sillage never gets that pissy note that is there for the first 30 mins when you sniff it up close/directly -definitely and recognizably jasmine yet somehow blends together with the other ingredients to create the illusion of orange blossom and neroli, even though you can still distinguish it as jasmine, especially up close. Really cool and interesting how this perfume manages to achieve such olfactory trickery -very natural smelling like SALA, not synthetic at all -sweetness level exactly like SALA, in other words mild to mild-moderate Full review: Got a sample of this and trying for the first time and my experience is pretty much exactly the same as the reviewer below me. A lot of reviews were saying that despite the notes, this is actually an orange blossom/honeyed orange blossom and petitgrain scent a la Seville a l’aube which I love. Well, the sillage kind of is, and I can see the appeal there and how it may smell good on someone else because of that, but unfortunately up-close the orange blossom illusion falls apart and instead I get pissy jasmine. Jasmine is a very love/hate hit-or-miss note for me because it can either be lush and voluptuous and glorious, I don’t even mind indolic, BUT it can also be screechy-synthetic/too clean in a nauseating dryer sheet way OR a straight up pissy urine-like natural yet still screechy jasmine. This falls into this last category. It’s tough because it really does have a gorgeous sillage like Seville a l’aube with maybe just the tiniest touch of SL fleur d’oranger which entices you closer, but then when you do sniff closer, it punishes you for doing so with pissy diapers and dated, even turned, urinous jasmine perfume. I’ve had this same issue with one of Creed’s jasmines, Jasmal maybe, and a certain Guerlain aqua allegoria (sorry I forgot the name of this too but it’s also similar to the Creed). It’s not indolic like SL a la nuit or lush lust. If that were the case I’d probably love it, or at least not mind. This is specifically urine. It’s just unfortunate that this ruins the gorgeous sillage that this scent has. I’m not surprised that the reviews are so mixed, with reviews of people absolutely hating this contrasted with reports of compliments on this. It makes perfect sense. This is beautiful only from a distance. I would’ve thought that my bottle had started to turn if not for the many other reviews pointing out the same thing. Perhaps this pissy stage won’t last long and leave behind a beautiful drydown, but I don’t see this being a bottle I will buy. I guess it’s about time I hit a dud after a tremendous success steak with blind buys, and thankfully this was only a sample, so really no harm done and I’m glad to have tried it. But I’ll definitely be sticking to Seville a l’aube to satisfy my craving for this type of scent. It’s very similar but so much better! Then again, if you loved Seville a l’aube but can’t find/aren’t willing to hunt it down and pay rather exorbitant prices for it, then you may well find this a worthy replacement. Btw, 30 minutes in and the pissy accord is indeed fading, mercifully. Some scents you just know you won’t be able to simply scrub off and this is definitely one of them lol, so I didn’t even bother and I’m glad it’s mostly evolved past the pissy stage because it’s much more enjoyable and even more like Seville now, I’m getting primarily petitgrain, beeswax, and a jasmine disguised as orange blossom. I seem to sense some neroli as well but I’m not sure if that’s just the petitgrain and/or maybe the tarragon and orange somehow creating the illusion of neroli. I still don’t think this is something I’d buy. Like another reviewer said, this does indeed have something very old fashioned about it, almost like mothballs. Seville doesn’t have this feel to it, but Phool definitely does. It feels like something from a bygone era. Personally I’m not too fond of old fashioned smelling white florals, and while I can appreciate the vintage feel of it, it’s not really for me. If that’s something you like though, then you may love this, and probably Illuminum in general. I got the same effect from their Moroccan Tuberose, but I can tolerate it there because I really love a high quality naturalistic tuberose. As for phool, the way it’s smelling right now I wouldn’t be mad if I got it as a gift, but I don’t think I’d spend the money on it unless it continues to get better and grows on me over time, which is very possible.

There is an immediate zingy aromatic start with the petitgrain, tarragon and lots of jasmine. My skin tends to amp up any musk and it has done so here. I guess this orange is in there somewhere but I cant detect it. Its a pretty linear fragrance and personally not my cup of tea. This is not a pleasant combination of notes.

Testing phool for the first time and I'm going to have to wash it off! The opening is interesting, quite unisex and almost masculine, fresh with the petitgrain coming through strongly with a hint of tarragon. Quite nice and different. However then the jasmine came in and the combination smells like Jasmine with wet nappies, that ammonia stink, not pleasant at all! I absolutely love Jasmine in perfume (and the Jasmine in Illuminum's Tomato Leaf is gorgeous) but in this combination it just smells off and just doesn't work on my skin at all! I can imagine it being lovely on someone with different skin chemistry to me but it's a massive dislike on me!

This is so disgusting on my skin! It smells like wet used towels and rotten flowers. Too bad it lasts forever.

Having received a small selection of Illuminum samples, I was rather excited, albeit in a muted, niche appreciative kind of way, expectations ran high for I had heard, through the grapevine (the grapes told me), that Kate Middleton had favoured Illuminum White Gardenia Petals for her wedding fragrance. I began the journey with Phool. I have to tell you, I have, so far, got no further. Love has taken hold of me, the kind of love which, is, of course, the best kind. Not a new love, whose foibles and irritating ways you have yet to learn, but the reappearance of an old, abiding love who has been lost for decades, who you happen to meet, and lo, the sparks fly again. - a rare thing indeed. In 1976, I happened upon a place in Newcastle called The Handyside Arcade, a Victorian Building or iron and glass and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe style streetlamps which was stuffed with shops which can only be described as a Hippy/At Lovers Paradise. One of those shops was called, aptly, The Little Shop, and it nestled in the corner of the arcade, it’s arse-end backing into the arcade, overspilling with club chairs, and bits of stripped oak furniture which groaned beneath the weight of the many layers of lavender beeswax polish which John, the owner massaged with infinite patience into the grain. The front of the shop looked out onto Leazes Lane, but no one ever really approached it that way anyhow. Inside the shop, the fragrance of polish, dusty sofas upon which the molecules of decades of perfumes still steadfastly clung, mysore jasmine and sandalwood soaps, Spiritual sky scented oils in glass fronted cabinets jostling with the tangy, metallic scent of Indian silver jewellery, slightly musty vintage clothing from waistcoats and granddad shirts to Victorian nighties, Indian imported clothing with the Phool label, smelling of Mitti Attar and vegetable dyes mixed with the soft tinkling of bells and the sound of the owner’s music du jour to create an atmosphere of discovery and comfort, the like of which I never experienced again. Till now..... From the notes, I rather expected a fragrance with some top end bitterness and a clean sweep of citrus. What I got was complete dusty, musky, all enveloping softness, with an underlying scent, totally reminiscent of mothballs! Yes, mothballs, but only a very slight, sweet hint because, perhaps, in the Little Shop of wonders, many of the textiles had been, at some point, within striking distance of a mothball at some point in their lives. The white flowers, generally my nemesis, are gentle, clean and as fluffy as a pile of new towels. The nasty old indolic quality of jasmine, which normally repels me, has been stripped bare of people repellent and tailored instead to leave only the night flowering, enticing romance of moth and night pollinating insect attractant vaguely present by distant memory. There it is, allurement with a vague hint of repellent, which after all, is the staple of many a bygone love affair/ Please don’t let this put you off. It’s not horrible. It’s beautiful. Tarragon and Petitgrain lock fingers in a hand hold which holds the whole body of the perfume together. This is the fragrance of two dancers under the sun, two dancers in the dark, two dancers in the morning light, tired and hungry but too loved up to leave the bed. This is the fragrance which lingers in old lace, in starched collars, in the pockets of Chinese satin jackets, in the glass cabinet where you keep your knickers and jewellery because what’s the point in having them if you hide them in a drawer? I am, when all’s said and done, a vintage kinda gal, old enough to have a closet full of memories which come tumbling off the top shelves whenever I open the doors, and this fragrance is one of them, all over me as I thrash about semi concussed on the floor wondering what just hit me. Everything is cyclical. Some things cannot be erased, not even by time.

I don’t know what to say about this... People either adore it or they run away in disgust. I have had people around asking where this earth shattering gorgeousness is blooming from and when I ask if it is this Phool they scream YES! This also shows how strong the projection is. It is very long lasting, up to three days on fabric. However, many people find it annoying as well like some sort of insect repellent. Some find it disturbing like industrial chemicals or pungent food or grocery stores. The sillage and longevity are ubiquitously gigantic and monstrously excellent. The most prominent note is definitely the petitgrain and there is this rice vapor aroma that is consistent throughout its life. The first few seconds are fresh and floral. The upfront florals take a backseat and what you get is an un-flowery floral, if that makes sense or maybe a salty floral or a savory floral. No sweetness found here. I neither love it nor hate it, but I do find the scent quite serious and excellent for formal events and special social occasions, nothing intimate or romantic. This is unisex and is best suited for winter. if you mix pure oud oil with it, you would elevate it to a more celebratory mysterious fragrance.

At first this smelled like indolic jasmine and liquorice, must be the tarragon and petit grain mixed that reminds me of that. Then the liquorice thing fades and it’s just jasmine. The whole thing has an old vintage vibe in my opinion. Almost mothball-ish but that’s my type of thing. Strong indolic old fashioned. So far this and Trumpet Flower are both loud white florals and I’m loving it.