Gardenia

This is deceptively simple, with an almost linear development – but that's not to say that it's boring. At all. It's all mad, shivering spring. It captures the excitement of the first warm days, the fluttering urge in the chest to go out and live after the dead days of winter, to see the first deep shadows from the sun amidst green branches play on tall white town houses. And then, beyond the white spring gladness, or rather on a different frequency beside it, there's a very slightly animalic, subversive side to it – one you can only smell if you are attuned to these things. Perhaps it's for this reason that it reminds me of Nabokov, whose crystalline yet oblique style of writing I also associate with spring.

Gardenia remembers me from a summer garden Scene in Downton Abbey: extremely elegant women dressed in pastel tons wearing pearls, the Lords talking politics, the Little smiling Girls with Velvet ribbon in their hairs running after the Boys, the patisseries served with the finest tableware surrounded by fresh flowers, just cut from this fairytale garden Gardenia is the authentic british Noblesse in form of scent. The White flowers here are cristalline, gentle, long Lasting, fresh and soooooo elegant and classy. I just love this Penhaligon ́s creation! a real treasure!

I love Gardenia, tuberose, white flowers...and this here is my spring/summer hit!!! I like to wear it on the evening in this time of the year and I always receive tons of compliments. I was in a lovely spring evening in a restaurant in München with husband and friends, and the dame from the table beside us make me write the number of this treasure. This scent is lovely, romantic, fresh, and full of character...projection is moderate and longevity is more than 4 hours...amazing...Penhaligon ́s always make very refined, high quality scents.

First I would love to say this bottle suites its liquid perfectly.beautiful white flowers gatherd in a great harmony. Clean,green,crisp and alluring.freshly sweet and feminine.descent presentation.no need to say more.just try it.

one sentence to describe, one of a kind.. i smell like a princess and different in a good way from others..love it and my bf love it so much..sensual,romantic and feminine..just hope it last a bit longer..

A truly beautiful gardenia smell. Feels floral and fresh. It’s such a shame that it’s been discontinued.

I am presently shopping and hunting for the ultimate GARDENIA scent.... so far CHANEL was a let down but this one is getting nearer the mark. Still not a 100% but at least 75% on point I should say. I guess it's the ultimate perfumer's challenge to create a near genuine Gardenia experience. I used to work as a plant nursery sales person and always sniffed Gardenia endlessly. I find them addictive. I would describe the true Gardenia scent as indolic, jasmine-tuberose-ylang-lilley of valley-plus honey-suckle and then there is also a Mitsouko/ Salami meaty undertone, some mushroom quality AND the funny close up overbearing quality of a tooth-paste-y-ness that is hard to describe but maybe most likely is present in orange blossom? 7/10

This is the best white floral I have ever smelled. The first spray is really green, like fresh cut flowers. I can only smell the florals. I can't smell any of the rhubarb, cinnamon, cloves, sandalwood, or vanilla, or anything else listed in the notes that isn't a flower. For me, this is strong magnolia, tuberose and lily-of-the-valley. It's like I've walked into a garden full of white and green. It's so so beautiful. I'm usually a gourmand lover first and foremost, but Penhaligon's always enchants me with it's beautifully blended floral offerings. Longevity is around 3 hours on my skin, double that on clothing. Wearing this makes me feel much more ladylike and fancy than I really am.

The first burst of gardenia on this one to me, is very very similar to the gardenia in Gió by Giorgio Armani. I am not saying this is a twin of Gió but definitely reminds of it. Gió is of course darker, heavier, etc, etc. and with a whole load of other notes. This is a lovely, natural gardenia. Dreamy floral. The longevity is good, but close to the skin. I think my hair has impregnated from my neck spritzes and I get very soft lovely wafts 4+ hours after I applied it. Its only a "like" for me because I like my scents to be a little bit more complex. This smells like a soliflore to me.

This is a really nice tuberose, Jasmin and magnolia scent. Leaning green, fresh and very natural. It does not remind me of natural gardenia—of which I have two varieties among seven bushes in my garden. That said, Penhaligon’s Gardenia is not challenging and easy to wear. And for an EDT I’m getting an hour of projection, which is pretty good. For me it feels a little generic. Maybe that’s a tall order in that it’s trying to smell like a realistic gardenia. There are pros and cons here, but my analysis results in a pass.

this s a vanilla tuberose with some freshness, but this is not an original scent, or maybe it is the original first good gardenia scent, cause this one is a renewed version of the one of 70's i think, but there is a lot of gardenia scents there which smells the same of near, the one from Goutal is very near from this one. this scent is beautiful and fresh very spring flowery tuberose vanille, but it is not really stunning scent, very classy and pure, but i prefer lily notes for pureness

This is so well blended, amazing for spring & summer I really enjoyed this and wasn't expecting it after smelling Jo malones gardenia I was so put off the note but i own gucci flora gorgeous gardenia and I tried this & it's like the base before gucci sweetens with brown sugar. I will be buying a 30 ml of this.

Wore this today in the heat of summer and boy does it come alive! In the spring time I barely got more than an hour of longevity before it disappeared But the heat and humidity made it come alive. The orange blossom & musk carry this scent’s longevity.

A scent that made me feel like a girl. Nice, feminine, the kind that has tea parties and likes to cross-stitch. Loved it. It's over now, what a pity. Should buy it again. This kind of gardenia I like.

I love Gardenia, always will. But this one is a weird one for me. It changes on my skin to something sharp like sheep smell and dries down back as a flower. So weird. Probably not for my skin or because tuberose sometimes clashes with me.

This fragrance opens as a lovely fresh, magnolia. Followed by a bouquet of florals, particularly lily-of-the-valley and jasmine rounded by creamy vanilla and musk. This is a lovey soapy, floral perfume. Mmmmm! Solid LIKE. -

Reminds me of a less sweet and creamy Love Tuberose by Amouage. Can barely smell the scent yet it gives me a headache...

Unfortunately, on me it smells more like bubblegum than gardenia.

Like many fragrances labeled as gardenia, Penhaligon's Gardenia comes across as tuberose dominant. Not that I am complaining. I grew up in east Texas where the soil pH is acidic and gardenia plants (and camellias) grow huge and bloom prolifically. Meaning I have smelled natural full bloom almost choking gardenia blossoms so much that I will never be satisfied with any gardenia simulacrum. Can't please me when it comes to gardenia. So bearing in mind nothing in a bottle is ever going to smell like gardenias to me, Penhaligon's Gardenia is an excellent light green tuberose. It showcases the green fresh side of tuberose (unlike, say, Carnal Flower which is waxy and fleshy). This is due to the LOVELY hyacinth note. The hyacinth brings this out and adds a gossamer freshness to prevent this feeling like a heavy choking white floral. I love heavy choking white florals, but not everyone else does. PG is a white floral you can wear anywhere. It's not loud or scratchy. The longer I wear this, the more it changes into hyacinth + neroli. After about an hour the neroli just leaps up. I caught a whiff without thinking and wondered whether I had sprayed on Elie Saab EDT & Anais Anais. I am loving the hyacinth + neroli. This is just beautiful.

Penhaligon GARDENIA is a somewhat sweet gardenia fragrance, with a significant dose of tuberose. In fact, a better name for this composition might be GARDENIA TUBEROSE. Or better still, since the opening is tuberose-heavy, and the drydown far more gardenia-like, perhaps this should be named TUBEROSE GARDENIA. Comparing Penhaligon's GARDENIA side-by-side with Chanel's, the former is quite a bit sweeter and smoother. The Chanel presentation is greenish, sharp, and bitter to my nose. When I reviewed it a while back, I mentioned that I preferred MARC JACOBS, and comparing the three (believe it or not, I sprayed MJ on one of my ankles and had to contort myself in a pretzel shape in order to conduct this scientific study (-:), I still prefer MJ to both Penhaligon and Chanel. Plus MJ has much better longevity. My understanding is that all gardenia in perfume is either a composite creation of other flowers or else an entirely synthetic rendition. MJ's superior longevity suggests that it may be more synthetic than the other two. But I prefer it nonetheless: the nose knows best!

A very lucky blind buy. My bottle was brought from Penhaligon's main London store. The opening: really green and thankfully the rhubarb is very pronounced. Quite soon I begin to smell violet and hyacinth. In the heart: I clearly detect lily-of-the-valley, orange blossom and gardenia itself; one small drop of rose and one even smaller of ylang-ylang; cloves yes, a little bit; no cinnamon definitely. And the rhubarb is still there! Actually it's there virtually until the end, which is lovely because I adore rhubarb. It's the first time in my life that I meet such a great combination of rhubarb and white flowers! Shall one be British to invent such nice flowery-green combos?.. Love! The drydown: very nice musky-vanilla, with that noble benzoin hint. I truly love it. It's my perfume of happiness and my most complimented one. Somehow it reminds me of Fracas which does not come as a surprise since 1/4 of notes are matching; but the latter is more on tuberose and white flowers side, while Gardenia is more fresh and green. Fantastic blind buy and love at first whiff!!

I am a Gardenia fanatic and currently have a stockpile of over 20 gardenia-themed fragrances from soliflores, through to tropical coconutty tiare potions, to beautiful white floral mixtures such as Penhaligon's Gardenia. Although I do prefer the headier Gardenia scents, many of those I've tried tend to go bitter on my skin and smell like rotting citrus rind! Which is heartbreaking when they smell so beautiful in the bottle... So in short - I must say that Penhaligon's Gardenia is one of those rare Gardenia-themed scents that manages to smell of Gardenia, but in the freshest, cleanest and somewhat sweetest way. It is not overly sweet - but the touch of sweetness that it does have prevents it of smelling overly sterile and - that awful descriptive - "old ladyish"! This perfume is innocent-smelling, youthful and pure. I love the scent but it is VERY clean. It's not at all a sexy or heady Gardenia scent...more like something you'd wear on your wedding day!

Sweet scent, very sweet I would say. It has a strong personality... if you are looking for an introspective, personal, almost shy perfume... well this is not for you! He shouts out all the strength he has, his wake is overpowering almost to the point of nausea. A perfume that reminds me of the smell of monoi, a languid, overpowering sweet gardenia. If I wear this perfume I can smell it until the next day, that sweet tropical scent remains on my skin... I know why it takes me back to a tropical beach, white sand, palm trees, skin warmed by the sun! A perfect perfume for those who love florals with a strong personality, I prefer the more delicate ones, in fact I don't use it often, but I can't help but bow down to such mastery

White floral to the bone ! Plenty of tuberose ( Fracas style but lighter ) and Gardenia, hints of Jasmine, no fruits, vanilla , greens, or anything else. Slightly indolic, not soapy at all. Perfumey in a good way, opulent in the beginning but it mellows down quite fast. The presentation is gorgeous ,the silage very good for the first hour and then soft, the lasting power decent. Recommended to white floral lovers only ! I love it , there is a classic elegance about it that I find charming. Walk away if you expect sexy , or even the opposite, angelic. It's neither . Just a beautiful, classy, ladylike perfume . I got it in a swap with a lovely frageantican and it's a keeper for me !

Having 10 floral notes, this is another tricky one for me. I could be wrong here, but just like with Penhaligon's Peoneve, the rose note is yet again dominant. But at least Gardenia is less linear than Peoneve! It smells greener and sweeter once it dries down, and after about an hour there's a hint of vanilla in the background. I let a female colleague of mine try it out, and she thought it was too "heavy" for summer. She also thought it was a scent for someone older ... and this colleague is already 40+ y.o., so ... yeah. Maybe it's just her skin's reaction. On my skin, I'm not sure what to think. But I know 1 thing: it's way better than Peoneve (although that's not saying much).

Tuberose is there from the beginning for me. Tuberose, tuberose, tuberose. Generally I'm not a big tuberose fan but I don't mind it here. The green notes and the rose, cut stems and crushed petals, freshen it and sweep away some of the sweet, bubblegum headiness. It's quite a rich scent. After a while, Jasmine comes through. I keep trying to smell rhubarb but can't really. I'd say this was an old fashioned smell. But never granny. It's the smell of a Merchant Ivory film or a Holman Hunt painting. I've been wearing it around the house in lockdown but I think it would work for a late Spring picnic or for a leisurely river boat trip.

I like soliflores and florals in general, but this scent was love at first sniff. At first, it is fresh and zesty, later it becomes more creamy and heavenly. I like all states of the scent, it is so well balanced. This perfume is long-lasting on my skin, even though it is an EDT. Gardenia is a pretty, mild, refined scent that's perfect for every occasion, regardless of the age of the wearer. For those who don't usually prefer florals: most people think this is a weddingy scent: classy, feminine and pretty.

This is my second favourite Gardenia themed fragrance (favourite being Isabey Gardenia). To me it's a very green and natural mix of fresh gardenia and tuberose. I think it's actually one of the greenest Gardenias I've encountered so far. Only Marc Jacobs Gardenia has an even fresher and greener (but less natural) feel to it. Penhaligons creation is well balanced and not cloying like others, having a subtle sweetness in the dry down, which gives the scent longevity. Definitely a great classic of the house.

A sheer, almost watercolour painting like impression of a gardenia flower, along the veins of Chanel Gardenia but with more spice. The kind of gardenia fragrance that genteel English ladies would wear to tea in a garden palace. It's clean and refined, rather than heady. Personally, I prefer Chanel's Gardenia because it's rounder and softer but definitely give Penhaligons a go if you like that clean, refined, English aesthetic.

Out of the 3 Penhaligon's samples I got (Artemesia, Peoneve, Gardenia), this one is by far the favourite. It is pretty much what I expected it to be; light and refreshing. I can imagine this as wedding perfume. The only thing I'm not sure about is the rhubarb, which on me is slightly too sour and cuts through some of the floral notes a bit too much. The search for the perfect spring/summer signature continues.

Smells like a big bar of soap, reminiscent of 'buttermilk' soap that used to be popular in infant and junior schools. I found it to be clean, very strong and fresh, and somewhat over powering. This conjurs up an imagine of elderly ladies at a summer garden party. I owned this briefly before passing on to a friend who appreciated it far more than I did. I find it (from memory) very similar to Solaris.

Golly this scent has alot of notes in it!! I smell tuberose the most, which I'm not a huge fan of, but in this it is light and subtle and I quite like the overall effect. Don't think I'd reach for this often though so wouldn't buy a fb but so far I'm really liking this line's offerings. Especially considering im not a huge floral fan, ESP soliflores, but these are nicely done.

A pretty, restrained, ladylike gardenia that layers exceptionally well. Some notes of warmish tuberose. I have recently layered this with L'Atelier Cologne's Orange Sanguine and it pairs beautifully. Not lush and tropical, more like a florist's gardenia that a rain forest walk. Very pretty, natural and springlike - smells like a crisp white shirt to me!

Bought this on sale as a blind buy (which I almost never do) and I quite like this! It's not a heavy gardenia and it lacks the spiciness of the Jo Malone Gardenia--which I quite like as I enjoy cleaner, lighter scents. After spraying I do get almost a chamomile note which I like very much--can't smell the rhubarb though. Not a ton of projection.

At first spray, I got a light breeze of Fracas. This might be called Gardenia but I am getting Tuberose upon application. Settles down very nicely into a beautiful white fragrance, clean, creamy, floral, pristine. A very pretty fresh floral with pretty good longevity, which I can’t attribute to all the Penhaligon products.

A nice gardenia, with other notes to make it more interesting, but it's just too much gardenia for me in the end. This is good news for gardenia lovers! A lovely person sent me a sample, but I didn't have high hopes as gardenia is problematic for me. Still, if I liked gardenia more, this is lovely.

A wonderfullly crisp clean fragrance like a white cotton sheet adorned with flowers in beautiful spring. This is a ‘wedding day’ perfume for the bride and perfect for women of all ages who want to feel as special everyday as a bride would inherit day. Pureness in a bottle.

A soft and gentle scent, yet also memorable and lasting. Very clean and well behaved all day. Conjures images of teas, cakes, garden parties and proper lovely dresses in my head. Not really my kind of thing, but a good, well-blended and enjoyable fragrance nonetheless.

What a wonderful fragrance, cannot stop sniffing myself. It's pure bliss in a bottle. It smells of femininity and cleanliness in a non clinical but very alluring way. It is innocent and does spring to mind, weddings, youth, innocence, and pureness. Purchase heaven!!!!

The lighter little sister of Ellenisia. Very clean, sweet - almost fruity -, but soft gardenia scent. It also reminds me of Tocca Florence. This is not a heavy femme fatale gardenia perfume, it's an innocent, optimistic, young at heart scent in a classy way.

Gardenia is the perfume of genuine British Noblesse. The white flowers in this arrangement are crystalline, soft, long-lasting, fresh, and oh-so-elegant and sophisticated. I adore this Penhaligon's design. A true gem.

It is a beautiful Gardenia, smells like a breeze of natural flowers. you get more the top and the beginning of the heart notes of the flower. Without the animal and mushroom notes. Fresh and full of life and beauty.