Gardenia

Sampled from luckyscent.com. An enjoyable gardenia. No headaches. Not a white floral bomb. Soft, sweet. Dewy. I tested out my sample for the umpteenth time today and love how reliable this is. I know reliable isn’t sexy, but I appreciate it nonetheless. This was one of my first gardenias after Tuvache’s Jungle Gardenia began my quest for a gardenia fragrance. It shares some similarities with JG, namely the waxy/green smell of gardenia. It diverges in that it doesn’t have the lipstick note in the opening. Jungle Gardenia is glamorous where this is a natural beauty. This lasts ten hours on me. Projection is 4 to 6 inches. I had some family members sniff through some perfume samples and they all seemed to like this, so I think it can be considered a 'safe' perfume for most occasions. I forgot that I bought this for the vanilla/amber notes, which seemed like it could be the best of both worlds. I don't get any vanilla or amber in this and I would be a bit more disappointed if I didn't like the smell as much as I do. My best wearing experience with this is when my skin is a bit warm (so either in the summer or during a workout). Cool weather cuts the longevity and projection by a lot. Allow me to leave you with this image: It’s summer. A storm has just rolled through and the grass is wet under your feet as you wander around the corner of your grandmothers house. There’s a mist in the air and everything is jungle green, breathing, alive. Next to the back porch is a gardenia bush. You sit down on the cool concrete steps and observe. The petals are still dripping with water. It looks disheveled but the soft floral fragrance hovers in the humid air. The world around you is damp, intoxicating, quiet.

Gorgeous white floral featuring gardenia as one would expect from the name. The opening is somewhat indolic but not to the detriment of the fragrance. It settles into something very clear, almost crystalline, that belies the use of such heavy florals. In a sense, it reminds me of Goutal's Un Matin d'Orage in it's lighter feel, though the Goutal is sweeter. It seems to touch on all the facets of gardenia - indolic, buttery, mushroomy, even rubbery as it evolves on the skin. The bottle is a work of art worthy of display on it's own separate from. This was a blind buy. If you know you love gardenia and white flowers in all their glory, I'd say it's pretty safe to do the same, but others should try to sample first if possible. I think it has been disconnected, though I'm not sure. Edit 6/28/24 After reading Carrotlyn's review below, I wanted to comment on this vs the Elie Saab. I agree that Saab is more true to the nature of gardenia. I have it, as well as a few others from the collection, and they all rise to the level of expertise one would expect from Kurkdjian. I fell in love with the Gardenia. However, the last two times I've worn it, it has accented two facets of gardenia that I really don't care for. It smells strongly of rubber and gasoline, and I'm not sure I can tolerate it anymore. I'll continue to experiment. So at this point, while I consider the Saab to be a truer representation of the gardenia flower and all it's aspects, I prefer to wear this one. Those Saab Essences are among the finest I've ever experienced, and overall, I prefer FK's work with Saab much more than his creations in his eponymous line.

This is a love at first sniff for me. This has almost every note in it guaranteed to make me swoon. It’s gardenia supported by creamy ylang ylang, tender jasmine, sweet peach, silky musk, skin like sandalwood, and ambergris to give it that pinch of watery dewy freshness. I’m a white floral girl and this is exactly right up my alley. It’s not a loud floral though it’s not too heady. It’s sweet and creamy a little watery and clean musky. The real standouts for me are the gardenia, peach and ylang. It’s understandable why people might think this has vanilla because ylang and musk add that smoothness along with the sweetness presents that silky smooth lactonic floral buttery feeling that vanilla and gardenia is associated with. It sits close to the skin the projection isn’t great and the longevity for me is about 4-5 hours. Update: I’ve had this fragrance for a few months now and the Ylang Ylang is very dominant. It’s a very strong note in this fragrance and it’s also quite strong in my other M. Micallef fragrance Royal Muska. I absolutely love Ylang so it’s no wonder I love this one. It also has a pretty generous dollop of salty ambergris. I happen to love ambergris so be aware it’s very present giving this a fleshy gardenia, tropical yellow floral almost beach feel. M. Micallef is SO underrated. They hail from the heart of Grasse the mecca and birthplace of modern perfumery. Their fragrances are so dreamlike and creamy and have a serene quality that I’m in love with.

My version is a simple oval glass bottle with a flower in the middle and a long tubular metal lid, I don't know if it is the same as the round bottle version. But it's so beautiful, so lush, vanilla, and creamy. No top notes, no green or mushroomy feel, no freshness, just endlessly smooth, rich, milky white floral ocean. I know this isn't a realistic gardenia scent, but it captures the image of the flower's thick petals. It says EDP on the box, but it definitely has the sillage and longevity of Extrait de Parfum. I bought it ten years ago, and I guess it's far older than that. Under the plain packaging, it is a gem. Interestingly, my dad never wore perfume, but he always bought vintage-style, great floral scents for my mom, always white flowers and powdery iris. In the mind of this traditional East Asian man, good perfume is feminine. He cannot judge the quality of male perfume at all, but he likes it very much when I spray this perfume on my mom.

I was sent a decant of this along with a decant of Van Cleef & Arpel's Gardenia Petale from the lovely churinl and while I fell in love with both of them, I just love this more. While both are gardenia scents with all the facets that entails, what differentiates this for me from VC&A's GP, is the peach, ylang, and ambergris. Actually, I find it much more similar to Isabey's Gardenia except that goes heavy vanilla amber on me on the far dry down which I am not getting here. It does smell like there might be some vanilla here, though I don't see it listed in the notes. Whatever the case, this is full-on creamy gardenia from beginning to end and I am so here for it. I love this so much it has shot right up onto my list of favs. Fb worthy and already done.

I thought I’d correct some of the notes in this fragrance that I got straight off of the M.Micallef website. There is no vanilla and the correct notes are as follows: Gardenia, Peach, Ylang Ylang, Jasmine, Sandalwood, Grey Amber, and White Musk. I don’t know if this is a reformulation from the notes they have on this site but the above notes are correct as of this date 05/2019. I also don’t know if Grey Amber means Ambergris. The note of Ambergris was on the notes listed on Luckyscent and I’m inclined to think that Grey Amber would probably mean Ambergris either natural or synthetic.

This is a beautiful rendition of gardenia with some tropical effects from the ylang ylang. The notes come together to create a banana-like scent. It is not loud or beast mode. It’s intimate and it sits close to the skin. However, I’ve found that when I spray this on clothes, it lasts for days! This fragrance is soft, sensual, feminine, and extremely creamy. It could be a signature scent, although it’s more fitting for spring and summer. Overall: 10/10

Yes! Smooth, rich, milky, lush white floral beauty...I have to agree with another reviewer. That is an accurate description. One of the best Gardenia scents I have smelled. I love all the notes & how they blend together just perfectly. The Peach adds a delicate fruitiness. Sillage is above average & longevity is about 6-7 hrs. Thank you M. Micallef & Jean-Claude Astier for this giving us this enchanting fragrance. 🤍

I found myself a vintage bottle of Gardenia and I'm blown away. Stunning, gorgeous, superfemale'ish, warm, flirty, sensual, airy but there for many, many hours around you. The Amber is soft, warm, creamy and a bit light/airy. Not winterheavy at all. The Gardenia is airy, flowery. Not heavy or thick as usual. In base I get soft creamy shy vanilla. I love this scent and for me -the best Gardenia-scent I tried so far.

On me, it definitely has a sheer watery element to it.. the intense rich gardenia flavor is there but it's easy to wear. The water part makes me think of Marc Jacobs original, but this is all gardenia & no lily of the valley, so I like it more! I'm not noticing much amber, maybe a little vanilla, it does lean more sweet than green. I like how it smells like a real bloom floating on water!

Gardenia by M.Micallef is a rich and luxurious, serious floral scent, dense but not overly sweet. M. Micallef captured the true essence of the flower. Vanilla blends with the gardenia and the whole is like radiating waves that provide layers of creamy and tender notes throughout the day. This is definitely not linear. Long lasting, with deceptively strong sillage and very feminine.

Soft clean airy & green, more than gardenia on me. I like Micallef Black better for a gardenia scent.

What a gorgeous gardenia fragrance.. It’s just ravishing from the opening to the dry down.

Gardenia opens very flowery, heaps of white flowers and some indoles. There is some sort of sultry, slightly powdery note in there that I can't identify in this mix. The scent develops even more flowery-- the ylang becomes stronger and I can clearly smell the vanilla in the base. The drydown is soft and gentle. White flowers on a vanilla base. The drydown-gardenia reminds me of the gardenia in Cartier La Panthère, with a slight tarry note. Longevity is a bit disappointing. Sillage is moderate, but longevity is not as I hoped. Gardenia lasts only 2-3 hours on my skin. The opening is amazing, but the performance is quite low. I wish the opening would take longer. Will definitely use the sample more often, but probably won't buy a full bottle.

This starts a bit waxy, but not green or fresh. It dries down to warm, sweet, almost overripe decaying gardenia leaning tuberose due to its soft powder and fleshy, buttery scent. No coconut or tiare in sight, so it's not as tropical as some other white florals, but very realistic and creamy, and without any stems or greenery. Isabey Gardenia is much more like budding gardenias, earthier, greener, and not very true to the name as it's also a blend of prominent ylang ylang. They are only a bit similar in the top notes. I absolutely prefer M. Micallefs gardenia, it's one of my favourite white florals and probably my favourite gardenia.

It’s a complex gardenia. It’s a beautiful fragrance that shares similar DNA with the Soleil Passion fragrance of theirs (namely the musk, ambergris and sandalwood). There’s almost this sweet, fruity hard candy like quality along with the gardenia in here and the indolic quality the ambergris adds. I am not a fan of ambergris (and I think this is partly because I wear a lot of cheaper perfume, LOL - which this one is not). I think it is the real deal. I would not get a full bottle of it. Mine came in their Advent calendar and 10 ml is perfect!

I've tried it! But I still did not buy it, its on my must have list ;> It's as I recall a very fresh floral scent, mostly gardenia... I don't remember the vanilla or the amber, I should try it again.. what I liked about it is that its a very soft feminine morning fragrance.. I hope I helped! I will review it again once I've purchased it ;>

Beautiful gardenia recreation. White florals on top of green notes and ambergris. Smells vintage. nfbw for me as it's not significantly better than the favorite white florals I already have in my collection. Reminds me of Sedbury. -

A lovely soft, musky sweet gardenia with slight powdery undertones. A light white floral that is feminine and pretty.

I should like this fragrance because I love gardenia, but I don't find this to be very realistic at all. There is something plastic here that is off putting. In fact, this really reminds me of their Glamour fragrance, and I thought I would like that one, but I hated it and gave my decant away to someone who liked it. This has the same screechy jasmine that is found in Alien as well. I love jasmine but like rose I am picky about it and here that screechy jasmine just overpowers everything. I can't have this near me because it makes my eyes water. I think this perfumer must use something in their base or whatever that irritates me to no end. I can't tolerate any of their fragrances. Also, I do get the peach here but it is screechy as well. Very nails on a chalk board for me.

OMG, this one is so shockingly horrific to my nose that I'm almost at a loss for words. Raw, animalic, indolic to the nth degree jasmine sambac (it has to be the sambac version as I've smelled the grandiflorum and react much more positively to it) blew my olfactory out in a bad way. I don't want to go on because it would just be negative, so I will say on a positive note that if you love raw, indolic jasmine sambac, please give this scent a try; you may love it. I will also add that this does not smell synthetic, but like jasmine sambac absolute distilled straight into this thing. I just...I just can't.

I love gardenias, one of my favorite flowers and easily my favorite white floral. I wanted to love this, but it’s just.... “Perfume,” it smells like a very generic “perfumey smell” like hotel soap or something. It really just smells like bar soap. Such a disappointment. Perhaps my noise is soiled on gardenia scents after smelling Elie Saab’s Essence No. 2 Gardenia, which is just heavenly true gardenia with and undercurrent of woods, which was masterfully blended by Francis Kurkdjian. I think I was hoping for something less powdery and more like a real gardenia. Oh well.

The many different "collections" at the house of Micallef are a bit confusing to navigate, but this perfume, Gardenia, appears to be one of the "Exclusifs". To my nose, this is a big fat floral fragrance with a powdery facet reminiscent of some of the big fat floral fragrances launched by Bond no 9 over the past couple of years. Central Park South and Central Park West (not Central Park, which bears no resemblance to them at all!) come to mind as examples of super-floral compositions with a femme-d'un-certain-âge feeling to them. It's a particular style which appeals to some but not others. In the mainstream, lower- price tier, I'd compare this to something along the lines of Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds but without the aldehydes. There is definitely a somewhat oriental feeling to the composition, which makes sense looking at the note pyramid, as it includes both amber and vanilla, but mostly this is a super floral bouquet. Gardenia looms large, but the jasmine and ylang-ylang are evident, and I almost imagine some narcissus, though that's probably because I'm thinking of the similar creations from Bond no 9, all or most of which feature big blasts of narcissus. As this is a haute-niche-priced perfume, Exclusif Gardenia is not a safe blind buy, unless you already know that you like the big fat florals chez Bond no 9. Needless to say, you must also love gardenia. Other notes include sandalwood, musk, and peach, but this is not soapy at all, and after the big blaring opening, I found the longevity to be a bit disappointing.

Ok, I got mini from mister_chaz, how sweet~! This perfume is gorgeous! The most creamy, velvety, soft gardenia you can think of. The silage is not great, but the lasting power is very good. It smells innocent and natural, yet there is a seductive quality in it which makes me want a full bottle. I cannot sense any vanilla or ambergris, but I must assume these give the perfume its creaminess. It's so feminine, fresh and beautiful, unpretentious yet very classy. It just seems to elude a ladylike vibe, very aristocratic. Edit: I wore it again, in warmer weather. It appeared quite strong this time, good sialge and lasting power too! Seems to intensify with the heat. It also became a bit soapy, which isn't a good thing for me. EDIT Almost identical to Billionaire Boyfriend. So much that I am tempted to say.... save your money and buy that one instead. Except that this one has a gorgeous bottle while that one has a horrible one.

Its starts out as a peachy gardenia, feminine floral, Something people of Diorissimo fans I would imagine would absolutely love. about 5 minutes later peach mellows down and Jasmine / Gardenia is more permanent to my nose. I think this could cause headache for people who are sensitive to white florals, specifically Jasmine. I reminds me a little of Gardenia Petale by Van Cleef and Arpels, also Replica Flower Market. Im not saying theyre dupes but the strong white floral accord is what they remind me of each other. I think I like the Van Cleef and Arpels the most from 3 because the Florals there are not as headachy and aggressive as here. Also Isabey Gardenia is similar but more soapy and more pleasant to my nose than this M.Micallef Gardenia. I have to add if you looking for pretty Gardenia, Chanel Gardenia or Van Cleef and Arpels Gardenia Petale are absolutely 2 the best I have tried with Gardenia note.

I love this scent and since I got it I almost always wear it. It's feminine and unique enough to not resemble any other scents I ever had or tested. The top amber notes are warm and almost overwhelming but once it sets down it gets cooler and flower-ier. I believe, this is the softest gardenia I've ever tested, nothing like aggressive Jo Malone's Vintage Gardenia or crispy-clean Chanel's Gardenia. Probably, it's just the right amount of vanilla (which I am generally not fond of) that compliments the flower notes and make the scent powdery but not dusty. You'll never be unnoticed wearing this scent. Several times strangers would approach me with a question what was the perfume I wore.

This is a gardenia for gourmand lovers. The most prominent notes are gardenia and vanilla, very very rich. What I love about it is that it's not overly a flower bomb, like some perfumes of similar category can be, it's very gentle, feminine and you can smell the good quality of the ingredients. The package is absolutely beautiful, the bottle has gold Swarovski crystals on it, which a girly girl can really appreciate. If you are gourmand and gardenia lover, this one is going to be the holy grail for you.

Starts off like a fire in a skip, all burning rubber and melting plastic. Then, after about an hour and with the vile rubble still smoking, a lovely white flower springs up from these hideous ashes; its white petals are a little sullied by the taint of hot electrical insulation but it is strong and powerful. I don't know if it's lovely enough to forgive the mess it opens with.

I love the big beautiful opening of this perfume. Sadly, it doesn't last more than an hour or two and for the price tag, it's not a smart purchase... But, dang it, that first hour is exquisite.