Laura

"Laura" ranks as one of my all-time favorite perfumes. I'm always stunned when I see negative reviews of this fragrance, as it's one of the most inoffensive and lovable perfumes I have ever come across. I first smelled Laura on a friend about 2 years after it came out in '94 and was so taken by the fragrance, that it didn't take long for me to get my own 100 ml flanker. Laura is one of the few perfumes that will *always* be a repeat purchase for me. I am very comfortable with wearing this fragrance (and respraying it) around people who are sensitive to perfumes. It always receives compliments. Back in the 90s, I was not familiar with the lychee note, just because I never owned fragrances which had this note. I only discovered what it really smells like in a lotion I bought this year. I don't particularly care for it in the lotion, but absolutely love how it's blended with other notes in this fragrance. Lychee and watermelon are the top notes in Laura, with freesia, violet, and iris in the middle notes. I have come to love freesia and iris after smelling them in two other fragrances I purchased this year. Laura is soft, floral, has an aquatic element to it, and is just so clean and beautiful. Unlike others who have commented, I do not have any fragrance in my arsenal that reminds me of this scent. It holds its own, is memorable for me, and will always be the one fragrance I reach for any time of the year. I spray this on my pulse points and a little on my top, and it carries throughout the day or night. I have noticed that with flankers I've purchased in recent years, I have to re-spray the fragrance, which was not the case before. This is a safe blind-buy and as mentioned before, will always be a repeat purchase for me.

I was beyond excited when I spotted this bottle on Fragrantica. Years ago, I worked as a hotel chambermaid, and one of the perks of the job was getting to sample various fragrances that we didn't see in our local shops (for those who travel a lot, take heed - sometimes our spritzes were quite 'generous'. Keep them in your case!). One day I came across this little lady, had a tentative sniff, liked what I smelled and sprayed it's fruity, aquatic deliciousness on my wrists, elbows, hair, uniform - I was a walking cloud of pretty. Imagine my horror when the lady-owner unexpectedly returned to her room to retrieve something. I hastily busied myself making the beds while my cheeks burned in shame. There was no way she couldn't have sussed what I'd been up to, but, lady that she was, she never said a word. The day she left, I went to strip her beds and found a generous tip, this bottle and a note which said 'To the dark-haired room attendant - I think this smells better on you than it does me'. How cool is that?! I was THRILLED. All mortification forgotten! I used the entire bottle up, moved on to something else and forgot about it until I joined this site. I racked my brain to remember what it was called, but all I could remember was that it had a girl's name, and what the bottle looked like. And then, whilst looking at something else entirely, up popped Laura on the left-hand side of the screen! YES! I ordered her immediately, for very little and now she's back with me - a beautiful, fresh feminine everyday fragrance. She's my 'for-now' signature - not quite unique, or loud enough to win the full-time role, but a sweet, friendly little temp who is more than up to the job. I heart Fragrantica!

Laura is what I imagine a freshwater mermaid to smell like! It's aquatic, but without any harsh pseudo-oceanic notes, just full of beautiful watery flowers like cyclamen and freesia. I get a hint of lily of the valley, which I usually dislike, but here it's done in a transparent way and not screechy or soapy like in many other fragrances. The watermelon adds extra aqua-freshness, the other fruits like peach and a berry-ish lychee are lush and sweet. I think the fruity notes show that this is a 90s scent, they are done differently than fruit notes from today. But Laura doesn't smell dated, it's rather timeless to my nose, especially compared to some other aquatics from that era that smell like calone overload and cleaning products. This is a well-constructed perfume with a nice warm base of vanilla and sandalwood. These notes don't dominate the scent, but are a canvas for the fresh fruit and flowers and make them last longer so it's fresh and sweet all through the drydown. This was popular back in its days and if you were around back then, it will likely smell familiar to you. Today it's a little forgotten and available for a song, but it's such a dreamy, romantic perfume. I noticed that sometimes tester bottles of Laura smell stale, likely because they don't get used up quickly nowadays and because light scents like this turn more easily. So be careful while testing and find a new bottle.

One of my all-time favorite perfumes. Just when I think I’m done with it, I fall in love all over again. Laura is always ensconced in my wardrobe in some format or other. This used to cost an arm and a leg, but am grateful for the occasional summer sale nowadays, now that the perfume’s novelty has dimmed somewhat. This was groundbreaking when it came out. This is, in a phrase, a fruity floral, but very difficult to describe. It has the lightness of an aquatic without evoking beach, lotus or sport; it has the gentle aroma of the outside of a peach without exploding into fructose, jam or fruit mix. I suppose that freesia and lily of the valley must be present, because the fragrance gives me that feeling of clear-eyed well-being I get from each of these accords, but the florals and fruit are so well-blended you can’t single out a note. A complex mix of woods gives Laura depth, though to me they are already perceptible from the first spray, and come to the fore as the notes of calone (watermelon) and the other fruits fade. This is a youthful, but by no means juvenile, perfume. Older women can wear it too – and enhance that romantic, endearing playfulness that only comes with age. There was nothing like Laura before its release in 1994, but plenty of emulators (or homages) popped up subsequently, including at least one Hugo Boss, an Ellen Tracy and a slew of drugstore dupes. Just beautiful.

I never expected to fall in love with this perfume as it is everything that I don't like in a fragrance, but that's the beauty of Fragrantica, where we get gifted wonderful perfumes which dispel our predjudices and open our minds to trying new things.(Thank you Yohji) The opening of this scent is very bland on me, I am almost anosmic to the notes but it develops into a magnificent floral composition which wraps itself around me like a cloak and envelops me in this wonderful, addictive floral mist, all softened by the basenotes. This is truly a beautiful and elegant scent. It is quiet but responsive, floral without being typical and boring, woody without smelling like a forest and sweet but not candy. The aquatic vibe that runs through this is truly stunning and makes this a delightful olfactory experience. It develops gradually, wafting up from time to time as a gentle reminder of it's beauty. The longevity is very good, this review is for the EDP, silage must be good as this fragrance has been commented on when I have worn it and I have been noticed in a good way. This is a classy and elegant lady, well recommended!