Josephine

This perfume was originally given to me by my sister a few years ago, as she couldn't wear the perfume. It lost all of its charm on her skin. Fortunately for me, it sat beautifully on my skin. It immediately became my signature scent and I've been through many bottles since. People (men and women) stop me regularly to ask about my perfume. I'm often complimented for it and moreover, it is such a delightful smell that it makes me feel fantastic when I wear it. It is somehow feminine, pretty and enigmatic and joyful all at once. I'd go so far as to say that this scent is totally seductive in the most encompassing way. BEWARE of dodgy versions though. Once I received a bottle that smelt sour (similar to the negative reviews I've seen on it here actually) and faded on my skin with none of the uplifting aroma that it normally has. My fiancee thought i was wearing a whole new scent. It came new in the box from ebay and cost the same as the others so I don't know how it happened but it was a complete dud. I have no idea why. The next bottle I purchased was divine. My recommendation: you must try this on yourself to see if it works. If it suits you, welcome to Heaven :-) It is very difficult an expensive to obtain in Australia however. Any suggestions are welcome :-)

Josephine is such a polite and ladylike perfume, so sweet and charming, reminiscent of my little bottle of Arpege (parfum). It's warm and refreshingly crisp all at once. It opens with a gush of spicy florals and peach. The powdery heart is the part I adore and wish it lasted much longer; it's woody and musky with a touch of something sweet & fruity. The drydown is soft with hints of vanilla and sandalwood, yet the perfume retains a crisp green note throughout its development, possibly from the hyacinth. I wore this on a rainy day, and that's when I really fell in love with it. It created a beautiful cloud around me while I drove around in my muggy car. The musk seems to really come out in the rain and make this perfume very cozy and soft. I think this perfume deserves so much more appreciation than it gets. This is so classically elegant and very refined.

Very happy to discover this brand and scent. Warm, floral, feminine. Woody and mossy, too. Honeyed. Doesn't smell like any vintage I own but DOES definitely have that vintage vibe, something feminine and flowery but not too clean. Just how I like it. For me, this is a beautiful light floral that captures what many modern florals don't, which is a human warmth. I think of Chloe's modern formulation, it's pretty, but has no soul. Sneezy florals need balance, and in Josephine black currant gives some ammonia and sweetness, the galbanum lends an outdoors quality, the powdery amber provides animalic warmth. Update: the more I wear this, the more I love it. And the bottle! It's so pretty.

Timelessness in a bottle. To me, this opens and remains very much like Guerlain's L'Instant! It is uncanny, yet it does not hold the complexities of that fragrance. Much like Napoleon's wife, this fragrance is unquestionably regal, outspoken, classical and yet unassumingly feminine in its nuances. I love the fact that it does smell as though it might well have been touted by Napoleon's beloved Femme le Reine; though it is time evoking, not old fashioned. Beware, you need to be a brave and presumptious woman to wear this one out loud! Josephine is ever bit the bouteille d'histoire x

Dearest Josephine, After our first encounter, I've been unable to forget you. I kept coming back to get yet another taste of your mysterious aura. I was fascinated by you, I had to see you, touch you, inhale you, decipher your different moods. I had to know if we could be together, because I wanted you in my life and I needed to have you. Then I took you home, still not knowing what to expect. Sometimes I find you extravagant, unfriendly, and hard to bear. But you know how to be warm and lift my spirits on a cold, rainy day, and I love you for that. Yours truly, Rux

This is the best ever perfume I came across.I slowly felt in love with it, discovering different tones of it every time I smelt it, develops slowly on your skin very gentle, feminine and sophisticated. Not heavy, not too flowery but makes you aware you are wearing it. Exceptionally sensual in it's unique way creating warm full feeling. Not aggresive or common in any way. Fantastic formula you can not put an age to it, it will suit from young woman to late middle age without being too posh and heavy. That one might be a winner for me for a long, long time!

wow, nothing else like it; a green floral but with an odd quality like a flower you never smelled before, maybe hawthorne? bergamot, geranium and violet leaf in the top with hawthorn and rose, some galbanum in the middle to lend a little bitterness to keep this from sweet and cloying, vintage peach rises, some peony, a hint of lilac but more hyacinth, sandalwood and musk; very complex; as it dries down it becomes a very green rose geranium scent that is like petals drying in a box with a bitter quality

A second review. Reminds me a bit of Valentino Rock n' Rose, but more amber and sweetness in Josephine. Sillage is intimate but quite long-lasting. Pink pepper is in there somewhere, it was on the tester sticker that came on my bottle, and here it's done very subtly (normally a note I hate.) It's too bad that Rance has constructed a questionable brand lineage, because if their other perfumes are as nice smelling as this, they don't need to rely on fake history to sell their stuff.

I tried Josephine yesterday for the first time. I was and still am intrigued. I sprayed it in the back of my elbow and sniffed throughout the afternoon. A little bit sour, a little medicinal, I hoped it would become sweeter but in the end I think it's just not for me. It seems to smell better from a distance and has something very addictive about it. Now I miss it and I want more. Rancé, what is this sorcery we're dealing with? :)

I discovered it by accident, as I was buying Rancé tuberose soap. Such a stunning scent! It feels seductive, elegant inviting and playful to me. I love spraying it on a warm day as it just blooms and has a better sillage. I constantly get traces of lilac, vanilla, and musk, with a splash of iris. Had a few compliments already, so definitely a keeper! Cannot wait to try it in a Canadian winter :p

Elegant, timeless, inviting, and extremely feminine. Warm vanilla with soft powdery florals, with just the right amount of sweetness. Everything is perfectly balanced, it never becomes too powdery, floral or sweet. In the same vein as Kenzo Flower, but they are not the same. Definitely a unique scent. Performance is excellent on my skin.

I love this perfume. It is a unique and happy floral perfume. The two notes I smell most are rose and jasmine. It is a very good quality fragrance and it doesn't smell artificial or overly heavy as some floral fragrances do. A somewhat powdery scent during dry-down, which I love.

It's adorable.So longlasting,so pure and feminine, very classy...I only had a sample of this, i would like so badly to have the whole bottle...Josephine was one lucky girl :)

I find this perfume far to clean/cool and modern to be named after an historic figure. I get the freshness of hyacinth and violet leaf in the top notes (I love this part), followed by the floral and musk smoothness of the mid notes (nice), but then it disappears on me. It's a two-hour fragrance, tops. This is a very expensive perfume in my country so I'm lucky that I was able to purchase a tester at a reduced price. Nice, but not worth the big bucks for me. I should also add that the cord-covered metal section that sits around the actual sprayer is a pain because it blocks some of the spray and gets soaked with perfume. You can remove this piece without damaging the bottle.

so nice!!! Here is a complex elegant feminine fragrance which is both floral and warm, very little powdery. I think it is better to try it on skin before buying because it seems one of those scents that change according to chemistry. On me it smells fresh and peppery for the first 5 minutes. No peppery notes are listed. Maybe it is cloves effect. I smell no galbanum, at least not the strong galbanum note that it is so strong and herbal in some other fragrances. Then it turns to a warm luscious carnation floral with a very faint candied edge. It's not strong and radiant, it stays quite close to the skin and smell like a cosy elegant lady. It lasts quite a long time.

I'm not a floral girlie, but this perfume is really pretty. I would definetly buy a full bottle if the drydown wasn't so utterly boring. The first, let's say 15 minutes, I smell a beautiful creamy lotion-like floral scent. It feels very well blended. However, later I get this very boring woody-vanilla drydown, the floral element is completely gone on my skin after some time, which is very sad. Either way, it's a beautiful perfume, that made me want to explore florals more.

I get confused wearing this scent. It smells so good when I am not smelling it nose to wrist, but once I smell it nose to wrist it is just sooo sour! I hope to the dry down is more powdery.

want this for historical purposes✋🏻

You should take my experience with a grain of salt as I tested it in the store (not on my skin) and really liked it and then got my hands on someone's bottle that had like 1/4 left. So possibly whatever I got has gone a bit old, it seems similar to my Daliflor which is a 30 year old flanker. It is floral and soapy and for me the beginning is too much. In the beginning it has that rubbery sour undertone that some cheap or expired perfumes have, though it goes away and turns more pleasantly soapy. And I love granny perfumes, but this one really does smell kinda... of age. Possibly I sprayed on too much. I will try not spraying it near my nose because it really was making me nauseous. Later I added a layer of a sweet fruity perfume cause I thought I'm not gonna survive smelling it the whole day, and surprisingly it got better so you can layer it if you work smart. Maybe it just doesn't suit MY skin. Or maybe I'm just in a summery juvenile sugarcoat fragrance phase. The longevity on the skin was solid 6 hours for me and possibly forever on clothes. Will try it again later.

I had this a long time ago and was wondering what happened to it; I must have gifted this as I recall finding the name and bottle beautiful but the perfume itself disappointing. It is cool and mossy, focused on Ebony Wood & Hyacinth and overly muted and dusty on my skin, rarely projecting, with slightly medicinal, even ''hairspray'' notes on the opening. This never dried down to anything better and I never received any compliments wearing it either. It was forgettable and I could not smell any of the beautiful notes listed in the perfume, such as geranium or rose.