Garden Lilies

At some point I was seriously contemplating of getting the entire set after I tested all on paper and Leather & Artemisia on skin. All seem to hold up some ground of their own despite being part of a limited collection. But let's face it: 30ml EDT type for $90 CAD? That's not cheap. So today was the day. I walked in the store, tested everything on skin and kept asking myself "Is it worth it? Is it really worth it?" The water lily accord shouldn't be unfamiliar for Jo Malone fans. This is the same note that appears in Dark Amber Ginger Lily. It's more green than sweet, and musky. At some point during the dry down it got a bit musty on me however the ylang and green note keeps this perfume smelling "kinda" fresh, from afar. This does dry down eventually to have more vanilla though. For those that are familiar with the discontinued Vanilla & Anise it's the same accord: unsweetened, a bit "milk-powder"-like, mixed with the water lily and grass. I didn't get a bottle yet, but I have to admit it is is intriguing and throughout the wear I kept going back to sniff it.

Garden Lilies by Jo Malone is a crisp green water lilly, a very subtle floral scent that is both light and natural smelling. The ylang-ylang compliments the vanilla adding a gentle sweetness to the fragrance. Light and inoffensive so it will be great to wear in tight quarters and office settings. For some reason this was not at all what I expected to smell from this fragrance. I perhaps was expecting a greener dewy white floral that is more Jo Malone’s style, but I still quite like it!

A great smelling floral but I couldn’t smell it directly after applying. It just disappeared right off of my skin. I could smell for about a minute. For some reason, I seem to have this issue with a lot of the Jo Malone frags. That’s why I’m afraid to pull the trigger on full-size bottles. The fragrances have beautiful scents and smell strongly in the decants, but once on my skin they just seem to disappear.

I see this is supposed to be a water lily rather than the usual type of lily, so if you find the latter a bit too full-on or funereal, you may like this. Me, I found it was pretty insubstantial. Inoffensive watery floral, but nothing special.