Night Scented Stock

I am amazed how polarized these reviews are! It's like each is written for another fragrance, and the irony is: mine will have nothing in common with the others! :/ I can see some are perceiving this fragrance as tropical or beachy. While ylang tends to bring out such association, my first vision upon the first sniff, was an inside of a nice, little house, cozy and clean, on the shady side in the morning. Many of the reviewers are having a punch of cloves and cinnamon in their faces. I don't get that either. What I got was a powder puff in my nose. Heartbreakingly beautiful powdery flowers, color lilac. I am really not familiar with that stock herb, or I just don't recognize it, but I think I can identify the violet, heliotrope and the lily in there. One reviewer labeled it as a "very 70s-style floriental". I'd say this one might have been created easily many years, or even decades before that! It is that classic, it's that timeless! It is something your grandmother could have loved and worn back in the days, or it might have been her lifelong signature. However, I can easily imagine it to be your daughter's favorite: the one she connects with "mom" in her little head and will have a nostalgic reference to it for all the years to come as she grows up herself. It could make an olfactory universal intergenerational link in the female side of a family. Oh, and there is also a reviewer, who cannot see how come this genderless fragrance is labeled "for women" and that there's no evidential "femininity". To me, this is the archetypical feminine fragrance! Such a gentle, floral, powdery scent brings only female figures to my mind, and an image of a home with an obvious female touch and decor (the floral wallpapers, the embroidered curtains, white china vase in the middle of the dining table and a lace cover). Even though one of my favorite reviewers says it's a winter, even Christmas-time appropriate, this brings the images and the sounds of late spring and early summer to my imagination. I can relate, though, to some parts of Edmondsee's review, but mostly with Lunolickaya's perception, yet while she despises the "mom's old lipstick" impression, that is exactly what makes my heart sing! I think it's charming beyond words. It is as feminine and classic, as Chanel No5 (the powdery), Lipstick Rose (the sweet, cosmetic violet) and Drole de Rose (gentle and soapy) and I deeply love all of these! (Thank you, Nexangelus! <3 )

@ Matt Oldham. Is there really any reason for you to be so bloody obnoxious? "Seems like a really deranged concept that could only come out of Britain." You do realise stock is a flower, don't you? Or are you assuming it's something in which to cook or pour over your dinner? You don't like stock? Why bother to comment at all? You clearly haven't smelled the perfume and only stopped by to troll. Keep your prejudiced attitude away from Fragrantica, please.

POW........A blast of a tropical wet garden..it reminds me of my childhood in Australia. Ylangylang and cloves in the opening. Ten minutes later Jasmine, benzoin and vanilla with a touch of patchouli. This is all I ever wanted Jardin d Bagatelle to be. My sample.....I wish it was bigger. These scents never last on me...........can I justify the price..... It might just break my heart and go to the top 10 of all times.

I received a sample from Nexangelus for which I am very grateful. Ive been curious about this one for some time. Its definitely spicey with the opening of cloves and ylang. It is also sweet but the sweetness wains a bit with time. I see what others mean about the soapiness but that also wains over the first hour. I like it. Tonka and the heliotrope I imagine are supposed to add a vanilla element but I dont think they register very much. Its definitely first and foremost spicey. Sadly like nearly all Penhaligons the sillage is moderate and the longevity poor but then again it is only an edt. Come on Penhaligon we love your fragrances but you need to make much stronger, long lasting fragrances! Britain as usual is the most imaginative. You have to bear in mind that when pushing the boundaries you dont always succeed but when you do its fantastic. Nobody liked Serge Lutens Feminite du Bois when it first arrived on the scene but it changed everything about modern perfumery for women.

It was nice, simple and flowery on me, without even a hint of vanilla. I liked it.