Laura Ashley No. 1

I was having an email conversation with my mother about perfumes recently, and I asked her what she had within reach... among some of the real 80's stinkers like Poison, Red Door, and Opium, she had the Laura Ashley No. 1. I told her that she should hold on to it tight because its discontinued and can cost $350-$800 for a 3.4oz on the secondary market! Well, she said she never uses it anymore, and it is an original from the 80's... so she's bringing it to me next summer when she comes to visit!! yay! I'm very excited. Especially since I have not had the chance to test it yet! I like florals when they are done well, and it seems as if this one fits that. I'll update next year when she brings me the precious potion! If I hate it, I'll be throwing it onto eBay and buying my long coveted: Guerlain Elixir Charnel Gourmand Coquin!!!!!! (I almost hope I detest the stuff) Edit: Aug 3 2012: Well my mom brought the bottle, it is 1/2" from being totally full. This bottle is beautiful, and so is the box it came in. This is the most lovely fragrance. Will have to keep it. :D I agree that this smells like a flower shop, or a garden of fresh flowers. The gardenia is front and center on this, but not in a cloying way that gardenias can be sometimes. Not as green as I was worried about either. I don't know what oak moss smells like, but if it smells like Laura Ashley No 1, then I need to explore this note more!! The daffodil is the next flower I can identify, and this is what makes this smell like late spring to me, along with that fragrant hyacinth! This is really, really lovely. THANKS MOM!!

Ahhh.... The sophisticated smell of the early 90s, when Laura Ashley clothing reached their Zenith of fabulousness, long cream tennis skirts, beautiful v neck tennis jumpers, a blue straw boating hat... Hints of Brides head Revisited... private schools.... Long summers spent in gorgeous village cottages... This shop ooooozed sophistication back then too. You could indulge the Victorian look everyday without a shred of guilt... They had lace/fine crocheted cobweb scarves in a multitude of colours, it was a cave of fabulousness...we all took it for granted, it was literally felt we'd never lose it... Sophisticted and sparkling ..... No. 1, the ORIGINAL juice. Trust me, the original is in a similar vain to Lubin's Eau Neuve, which was also doing the rounds in any discerning drug store in Paris at that time. A sophisticated lemon scent with a gorgeous soft sexy base that lasted. If you didn't know it was Laura Ashley you'd swear it was a Jean Claude Elena scent, it's THAT good. Like all good things, they took LA away... and left us with underwhelming clothing, permanent sales and ghost like pieces of interior design, it, was a very very sad thing. And of course, with it, went the perfume too. If I had infinite funds, I'd ressurect LA and the original clothing & permues, I bet everything would sell out in two weeks.

I'm sure I have the new version. IF I have ever gotten a whiff of the vintage, I don't remember. Reviews made me leery of a purchase, but then I had nothing to compare it to. I have no fondness for oak moss, leading me to believe I might prefer it more than the vintage? I find this to be a Victorian garden full of flowers. It has an old fashion charm, and truly elegant. My review must be short because as it can only be stereotypical. But I approve of this new reformulation, and will enjoy it MOST, during the spring/summer, even though I've marked all four seasons. When does a flower just not smell good? I enjoy this immensely, on this gray, cold, snowy morning but will save it for when the Robins sing. I smell a bit of lilac and lily of the valley which do not appear in the notes. I smell no vanilla which does. I agree most with the hyacinth. It's very apparent and I admire it in this perfume. I love that this is still packaged the same. I think the creamy background might display the vintage more appropriately. White, although not near as nice, might be more reflective of this pretty reformulation. I'm so very happy to have this, and received a compliment from a very young lady, and two compliments from women not fond of floral scents. This is on my love list.

I discovered this beauty in my perfume stash. I'd forgotten I had it. It really does remind one of early 1980's, when Laura Ashley clothes were in fashion. I may have put this away as it didnt suit me at the time. I was then into Body Shop fragrances & the oils sold from big glass jars with glass sticks. Frankinsence, Amber and all the heavy fragrances were the ones I wore. LA NO.1 was the total opposite of the fragrances I wore. No.1 is a beautiful fragrance. I love the scent of Hyacinth blooms so this is a perfect, "bright" floral. Strangely, I sprayed no.1 on one arm and Avon "Today" on the other arm. They complemented each other beautifully. No.1 is so well blended that I could only make out the hyacinth but not the other individual floral notes. I couldn't smell any fruits. The drydown is beautiful.

I see a lot of complaints on here about it being completely changed. Being that I've never smelled the original, I can't even imagine how it used to smell. When my mom got a bottle of this and started using it, to me I thought it smelled like something released 15-20 years ago. So you imagine my shock when I saw it was released in the 80s. The early to mid 80's of all things. Part of it does smell a bit 80s because of the peach but then it starts to smell kind of light and summery and not 80s at all. Big hair and shoulder pads and pastels don't come to mind when I smell this. From a guys point of view I think it's a very decent fragrance. I'm sure the original version beats the daylights out of this one but until I smell it, I'd say the new one is very good.