Cotton Flower

Such a shame this is limited edition, maybe Dom will change his mind and make it permanent! Fresh yet warm, feminine with a masculine edge - it’s so wearable day through night. I love cotton flower in a fragrance and this is definitely the star here. If anyone is familiar with Imperial Leather Cotton Clouds hand wash and shower gel, this is the closest thing to it in ‘perfume’ form. That’s not doing this down at all, I happen to adore the Imperial Leather and use it often, I find it very interesting and quite sophisticated.

This fragrance did not work for me. The smell was not unpleasant but was very non-descript and unfascinating. I think I am beginning to realise that iris notes are just a hard pass for me. Just as well Shay & Blue do several other scents which I adore (Scarlet Lily, Black Tulip, Blood Oranges)...I guess you just can't win them all. Gave the bottle to my sister...so its a a win for her!

I purchased Shay & Blue Cotton Flower because I thought it might be similar to a scent I am very fond of: Bath and Body Works Clean Cotton Blossom which then became Sea Island Cotton and which is now Fresh Cotton, but is perhaps not even available anymore? I loved the idea of that scent because it always conjured a sort of Anne of Green Gables Gunne Sax feeling for me, like cottagecore pre-whenever people started referring to it as cottagecore. Cotton Flower is less bleachy and screechy than any of the B&BW iterations; it doesn’t have that harsh lemony lily of the valley cleaning product aspect. It’s a bit woodier and muskier and warmer, with a golden nectarine glow, which is not to say it’s fruity, but it’s got a rather peachy-coral-vermillion-emberglow YouTube vaporwave neon sunset version of the scent of something like a nectarine.

Longevity is bad, about 30 minutes. But this is the only perfume by S&B I find agreeable enough to buy. I’m a sucker for iris and cashmere notes! This is perhaps the most photorealistic and cozy depiction of a wool sweater that I have found in a perfume. Pairing cotton flower with cashmere was genius.