Lilacs & Gooseberries

Y'all need to stop complaining that this "doesn't smell like Yennefer because it's not dark enough, etc..." This scent is not supposed to smell 'like Yennefer.' This is not a scent she would pick for herself. It's a scent she uses to mess with Geralt. The series did a poor job of telling the story. I don't recall what the books said. But in the game, there was a scene where Geralt and Yennefer were intimate, and the ROOM just happened to smell like lilacs and gooseberries. So then Yennefer would choose that scent just to trigger his memory and mess with his head and distract him. It's not meant to smell like Yennefer. It's meant to smell like a scent memory that would make Geralt horny. It's a nostalgic scent for Geralt. The same way how you wouldn't pick a sugar-cookie-vanilla scent for yourself, but you know if that's a scent your boy crush really enjoys, so you'd probably wear it around him just to make yourself more attractive to him. ANYWAY, Witcher lore aside. I love this fragrance. It's different than anything I own. It's unique yet safe. Different but inoffensive. I love the smell of lilacs, and I find the gooseberries to cut through the headiness and perfumey-ness in just the right way. I do love amber and that gives it a classy but comforting undertone. It's neither juvenile nor mature. Right down the middle. Longevity was great on me, layered on top of a fragrance-free moisturizer. I couldn't stop smelling my wrists! I got a small sample but I find this to be full bottle worthy as an everyday scent for spring & summer weather.

Definitely a scent Yennefer would wear in the Spring and Summer. Most people remember Yennefer as being dark, brooding, chaotic sorceress, with a strong personality. I think this perfume captures some of that but mostly her soft-hearted, motherly, warm side, which is what I like to remember her by. This fragrance is feminine and comforting yet dark. Sweet, yet sharp and slightly bitter. Starts off almost aquatic to make the gooseberries juicy. It's fruity sweet, but tangy and bitter as if the gooseberries haven't fully ripened. The lilacs accompany the gooseberries but take a backseat. It's reminiscent of the scent of fresh lilacs drifting through a cool breeze. As time passes, the smooth and warm amber comes out. The fragrance starts off fruity and clean before warming up after 10 minutes. Normally I don't enjoy lilacs because my skin amplifies it like crazy to where it smells dated on me (which Yennefer will like more but not me). This is blended beautifully for those who cannot stand heavy, heady florals. This is for the people who want to smell dark and sensual and/or emulate Yennefer but are sensitive to heavy scents that are usually marketed as dark/femme fatale-esque. This perfume performs like a cologne with a projection of half an arm's length or less (I did two small spritzes). Overall I love this concoction and I love Yennefer so I'm glad I enjoyed this!

i started seeing ads for this perfume and immediately became interested in it mainly due to my love for The Witcher and especially the character Yennefer - i had to have it just to know what lilac & gooseberries smells like. eventually, i received a coupon for Shay & Blue and it was the perfect time to get it. prior, i've never been a massive fragrance fan or anything, only purchasing spontaneously here and there, but this scent has opened my eyes to the world of fragrances. it's addictive to me. i take the cap off this bottle like 10 times a day just to smell it. i'm uplifted when i spray it on my skin as it envelops me in its dewey, bright freshness. it's so light and airy. unfortunately, i don't pick up on an exactly lilac note, but definitely something floral, which is enough for me. whatever it is, i'm just absolutely obsessed with how bright this scent is. it dries down a bit softer and lasts at maximum probably 4-5 hours. i love this scent and i'm excited to try out other fragrances to find more that make me feel so good!

I know nothing about The Witcher or Yennefer; I wanted to try this because I was intrigued by the gooseberry note. This is honestly absolutely gorgeous. The opening is so JUICY. It’s sweet and feminine without being cloying. I think this is because the sweetness is offset by a bit of tartness, something I’m a HUGE fan of in fruity fragrances. The florals quickly come through and the combination is very nostalgic to me; it smells like walking into a Hallmark store in the 90s (I haven’t been in one in decades, I have no idea if they smell the same). Smelling this conjures racks of greeting cards, stationery, and middle-class mom appropriate gifts. As much as I love this, I don’t see myself wearing it that often; the nostalgia factor is THAT strong for me. This is something I'd only pull out when I'm in the mood to be transported back in time.

My husband and I are huge fans of The Witcher and had seen some perfumers on Etsy with their blends, but really felt like we could trust Shay & Blue to give us an accurate, quality version of these scents. I live in the US and had to wait quite a while on this because they do not sell it on the US website as it's a limited edition. You guys...this stuff is HEAVENLY. It's just the right balance of ripe, juicy gooseberries and delicate lilacs riding on white amber that doesn't overpower the other notes. The scent doesn't last as long as I would like, or maybe my nose is just becoming blind to it, but this is my new favorite spring scent and my husband adores it. I am ordering the large bottle today so I have it should they stop producing it.

Bought because of Yennefer! I’ve seen lots of mixed reviews on whether this scent actually matches Yen; and for me when I smell it I get such a strong sense of her. It really brings her to life. This scent is for the eclectic, the tart of the gooseberry in a soft bed of lilac. An all year round sensual scent that isn’t stereotypical. I’ll be purchasing a full size bottle for sure. EDIT: No longer purchasing the full bottle! I adore this scent so much but my goodness, it’s gone after a few moments! I thought maybe I was just nose blind but you can’t even smell it on your clothes after many sprays. Such a shame because it smells gorgeous... A deodorant spray would last longer

I absolutely adore this fragrance! It's unlike anything else I own. The opening is deliciously sharp, but not citrus. The lilac is almost a whisper, like the scent on a breeze, as opposed to shoving your face into a handful. It serves to just temper the sharpness of the gooseberries. The amber is present throughout, and adds a consistent warmth throughout wear. I can only describe this as a mysterious scent! I am NOT a gourmand girly, so usually those scents marked as "sexy" are a no for me, but THIS... This is supremely sexy to me. Intriguing, beguiling, mysterious... My spouse says it makes his mouth water in a really good way... 😉

This is my go to daily scent. I wouldn’t say it is necessarily my signature scent, but it is the one I pick up most frequently because I find it to be a comforting, inoffensive, light scent. For me, this one is very fresh and comforting. Of course I originally got it because I was inspired by Yennefer and I love Lilacs, but it honestly does not smell heavily of lilacs to me. Much more on the fruity side. Smells like it could be a shampoo or body wash, but doesn’t exactly smell soapy. Although there aren’t very many notes in it or anything that would indicate it, this perfume reads as very aquatic to me.

This is a cheap perfume, that’s fresh smelling (more aquatic than floral) and will get you compliments. I’ve worn a variety of perfumes, ranging from this to JPG, to Tom Ford, to Zoologist, to Gucci etc and this is the most complimented one. When I don’t wear it, I get asked why I don’t smell like I normally do. My boyfriend is obsessed with this one too, literally sniffing my wrists when I’m wearing it. Suitable blind buy, and a nice daily wear that won’t break the bank to replace.

Opens fruity and a little musky, like a fruit scented shampoo from a high end hair salon. If I had to pick a fruit I would say pear. And maybe slightly peachy. Because of the musky nature, it had a clean and clear type of vibe to it. Slightly soapy, but mostly in the shampoo/conditioner type of way. For me, this is not a negative. Bar soap smells can be too much, but shampoo style soapy smells make me thing of cleanliness. Fresh and uplifting.

This smells SO good, it’s very clean and fresh but not in a “this smells like my skin” way like most of the recent “cool girl” releases. I wish it lasted longer; I feel like I’ll probably end up using it as a hair perfume because it does not stick around on skin. I’m hoping it performs a bit better in warm weather. Definitely worth carrying around a travel atomizer so you can reapply!

I adore this quirky scent. It’s fresh and zingy without ever being sweet. It’s sharp and playful and undeniably feminine. I can see why it got the Witcher mentioning it in the book 80 times. I love it! Got my full bottle and it’s a happy edition to my collection.

I think many seem to forget that this was his dream scent, she conjured it for him, and even she was surprised. This isn't supposed to be a "witchy" or powerful fragrance, no girl boss. This was what he craved, the scents of home, comfort, connection, peace.

Really like this one, I love lilac. The gooseberry is the strongest note, but it all blend together well.

I wanted to add a review comparing Lilacs and Gooseberries by Shay & Blue (LGSB) to the more affordable Lilac and Gooseberries by Bella Des Natural Beauty (LGBD) in case anyone is considering it. * LGBD is a perfume oil while LGSB is an eau de parfum so keep that in mind. That means that LGBD lasts longer than LGSB but stays closer to the skin. I guess if you like both or want to experience more lilac they would compliment each other well so you can totally layer them. * LGBD is more lilac heavy than LGSB, which to me it makes it smell more soapy and more like laundry detergent, which I personally find unpleasant, but I know some people enjoy that fresh clean scent. * I don’t get tartness from LGBD. LGSB is more gooseberry heavy, making it more tart. The lilac is very subtle. * LGBD I believe only has lilac and gooseberries while LGSB has an additional note of amber, which I love. This makes LGSB smell higher quality to me and slightly more complex. * LGSB feels like a summer night or a spring night perfume while LGBD feels like a spring or summer day perfume. * I think that if given the choice between the two fragrances, LGSB seems more like the perfume Yennefer would wear. I haven’t tried Yennefer by Siordia Parfums but since it has a violet note and I dislike violets I don’t think I’d enjoy it. It also has a musk note and does not have an amber note. If you’re looking for an alternative to LGSB and that seems like something you’d enjoy, check it out! There are several reviews that state that this perfume seems too simple for Yennefer. I think that would be true if she was alive today but for medieval standards I can imagine this would have been heavenly and feels very much like something she would wear. Yennefer has both tenderness and sharpness in her personality and I can see this perfume embody that dichotomy.

Yenn is complex and this perfume is not. Don't get me wrong-- it's a very pleasant spring scent, but it smells too much like Moschino's I Love Love for me to get anything more out of it; that's largely why I find it so disappointing. The amber seems sharper than I'm used to, but the lilac is hardly detectable. The gooseberry note is very much there, as I am picking away at a punnet of them while writing this! If you were to bottle the more cultivated, elegant-- and frankly, spoiled-- aspect of Yenn who desires only the finest things in life, I would go for something akin to Guerlain's Champs-Élysées with more dirt and soil accords in the dry-down. For the more "witchy woman" vibe, I think I'll stick to JHAG's Vengeance Extreme (which I realize this was not meant to be).

I ordered 10ml bottle of Lilacs & Gooseberries to try, just out of curiosity, as l never had opportunity to test this brand before. The design of the bottle is really nice and simple, perfect for the handbag. As l am a fan of fruity-floral fragrances, that was a nice blind buy and l don't regret that :-) The perfume reminds of a mixture of Lalique Ametyst Eclat (the opening) and Dolce Gabbana Light Blue (in the base). Unfortunately longevity and sillage are really poor and perfume sits very close to the skin. It would be perfect for hot summer days and for evenings just before going to bed after the shower. I may try other Shay and Blue scents, however for this one l don't think l will go for the larger bottle.

If I pretended this wasn't at all connected to an iconic literary character, Yennefer of Vengerburg, I think I'd love this fragrance a lot more. And I do really enjoy this fragrance. It's a very fresh scent with just a hint of tart. The lilac isn't overpowering, and the white musk and juicy gooseberry give it a nice coolness. On me, it has great sillage and lasting power and I get compliments on it whenever I've worn it out. It's great for spring and summer. Buuuut... for a perfume that is supposed to smell like Yennefer, it's disappointing. I was hoping for a dark, sophisticated, and complex scent to suit any time of year (this was her signature, after all). Something more like her.

I was hoping this one would cast spells. The eau goes on fresh and soft with light florals and tart fruits that linger somewhere between green peaches and Granny Smith apples at arm's length. After an hour or two it settles inside personal space with a wet mineral amber that's a little abrasive--not headache inducing, just a little prickly--and stays pretty for half the day. The top notes grab cotton nicely. I wish it were witchier, more chaotic, more like Yen, but I like it, and the geek factor makes me really happy.

Fresh and soapy. I can't quite decide if the slight artuficial feel ruins it for me, but I think I like it still. Not necessarily artificial, but gooseberry plus floral might do that. Either way, juicy and green. Reminds me of something in my childhood. I'm getting very little of the lilac, the gooseberry overpowers. If the lilac came through a bit more, this would be really nice. Not my favourite from S&B (that would be Blackberry Woods and Black Tulip), but still a nice fresh adittion to my collection.

Does it give me a powerful, mature, and cunning witch? No. It's giving more Vidia from Tinkerbell, or perhaps Musa from the Winx Club. Smells cheeky, mischievous, and playful, but more in a juvenile pixie way, probably due to the sour gooseberries. It needs something more grounding for it to be a scent that Yennefer would wear.

I do love this scent. On me it's very fruity, the gooseberry comes through, but it's not too sweet. Mixed with a suble lilac it's a perfect daywear scent for spring or summer. The amber isn't very strong on me but adds a bit of depth. I like to layer this with Lilac Path by Aerin for a boost in the floral.

This scent is fresh, beautiful, and effortless to wear, but the performance is a huge disappointment. Fading in under two hours is unacceptable for anything beyond a budget body mist. I really hope the brand considers reformulating this to give it the longevity it deserves.

Love it! Simple and fresh but really wished it lasted longer. Interestingly the men in my life (romantic and professional alike) have all gone out of their way to tell me I smell FANTASTIC when I wear this, more than any other perfume I wear. Yennifer you saucy minx!😏

Clean, fresh, and dewy to start your spring day. But: it is very mild, in that it doesn't last or project. It was gifted by the brand and I enjoy it, but I would not purchase a FB or buy myself.

Smelled soapy. Not really a distinct and floral smell. I still liked it. Used it up faster than usual. It was not annoying to wear.

Smells like a nice fabric conditioner. Clean and soapy, will be great for spring.

For some reason, it smells like green grapes to me. Really pleasant and fresh.

I really wanted to love this but kinda don't. I wouldn't say it smells particularly of lilac nor gooseberries. This scent has an awkward, plasticky, artificial overtone that I find hard to ignore. The lilac note is very powdery and perfumey - and not in a good way. The gooseberry brings some freshness but on my skin comes out mostly as generic sour after a little while. It opens quite strong, but then sits quite close to the skin and and lasts moderately.

I was lured in by fantasies about the hot Witcher, but this didn't live up to my expectations. This fragrance is a light pleasant, but nondescript fresh fruity floral that dries down to a faint amber. It's reminiscent of a fruity, aquatic body mist. I smell something grape-like, but I do not detect lilacs. Pacifica's French Lilac is a better and less pricey choice if you are craving realistic lilacs.

I don’t know who “Yennefer” is, so I guess I’m not disappointed lol. I find this perfume to be absolutely beautiful. Is it beast mode? No. Does it have eternal longevity? No. There is a very fresh effervescence that I am getting from this and maybe the fact that it is very different from my go-to’s. I am enjoying it.

A blind buy I regret. I got it for some Witcher promotional stuff, and I can't say I'm impressed. It's super alcohol-ly upon first spray. My partner likes it, but I think that's because it smells like a salon. Not a bad smell, it's just not something I'd spend my money on ever again.

It smells like Gain, the detergent. I'm unsure how this would make Geralt horny - well, I suppose cleanliness is close to godliness...not for me. I think I'll give my bottle away to someone else.

smells like detergent or very generic soap. it’s clean and not unpleasant, but not something i’d buy a full bottle of.

This is a big no for me! I was very excited to try it because I love lilacs and sour fruits in my scents, but was a huge disappointment. I get barely any gooseberries, even from first spray, maybe a hint of something fruity in the background. The combination of lilac and amber comes across like a powerhouse, overwhelmingly powdery and floral. I own and love both Nosferatu and En Passant, but this lilac isn't fresh or dewy, it reminds me of the scent of flower shaped soaps in a grandma's bathroom. That combined with the sweetness from the amber makes it nauseating to me.

I received a mini of this perfume as a gift with an online order, so I had the opportunity to test this on skin multiple times over the course of 3 months. I wanted to like it, but it’s not for me. This smells like straight up gooseberry scented soap or shampoo. After ≈15 minutes it starts to calm down a little bit when the amber shows up more and makes the tart gooseberries a little bit (!!) sweeter. If you like a soapy fragrance, try this out.

Maybe I got a bad batch, as other reviewers report this actually smelling of something approaching "florals" or "berries", but the 10ml I picked up smelled mostly of aqua and even that disappeared after about an hour.

Smells fine, though very juvenile. Reads as a body mist to me. Way, way too heavy on the gooseberry; I adore lilac, and it simply isn’t present here. I totally doused myself in this just to try and detect any lilac at all, to no avail. Heavily synthetic. The initial blast is just pure alcohol and overwhelming sweetness, and that lingers before disappearing after 20 minutes. This smells more like candy than soap to me.

Lilac and Gooseberries is an uncomplicated tumble of tart, tangy berries against a delicate floral backdrop. It’s not as sharp or bitter as I would have expected... nor as interesting. It smells more like the idea of a person than a person. Like someone is describing his amazing sorceress girlfriend, and she's so perfect and wonderful and never farts or eats onion sandwiches or draws blood or makes mistakes, and he leaves out all the nuance and complexity of what makes his beloved so intriguing. It's like someone fed all their perfect girlfriend material into an AI machine, and it produced a robot to their specifications, but she has no personality and hasn't yet become self-aware. And yet...there are some days when I really need that blank slate to build myself up to be pretty and put together and ~definitely very normal~ because this is what the world expects of me.

Leaving aside the clever marketing campaign involving a popular Netflix show, basically this is a warm amber with a fruity opening. Initially it does smell a lot like the Body Shop’s Dewberry of old but the fruit in this one is less high pitched and the base note seems to dominate which makes it seem elegant and high-end rather than fun and tart. I think it’s a beautiful choice of scent for a sunny but crisp autumn day, or an evening in an old fashioned pub. I’m not sure I like the package re-branding - it’s quite austere, like a bottle of medicine from a pharmacy. At least the nozzle is gold, it looks gorgeous with the pale blue flask.

So i tried it from a friend, it opened up as some sweet fruity scent that was pleasant , but I don’t know what is in the dry down , it’s nauseating like two things mixed together that’s not supposed to be mixed. It doesn’t feel warm or alive . It somehow reminds me of funeral flowers and a jammy cake served next to it for grieving attendees. I wish it would be more lilac and vanilla and less gooseberry and death. It’s like a flower bouquet dumped into a cold pond and chemical poisonous berries growing around. I guess it represents the name.

I got this in today and I really like it!! It's not like the rest of my lilac perfumes. It's alot fresher and not as floral. It smells so pretty. Being a fan of The Witcher made me want to purchase. I think this is great in every season except maybe fall. Particularly I think it will shine in Spring. Very feminine lovely scent! It's a limited edition and I ordered mine from the UK Shay and Blue site. Shipping took about 3 weeks. Price was really affordable.

Very boring. Smells like hairspray. Glad I bought a sample and not a full bottle. Lilac is a favorite note of mine and I definitely thought it would be more prominent here. I don’t really get any of it. I worked in hair salons for 15 years and this just smells like hairspray. Disappointing.

This smells really nice, I love it. When I wear this I just feel happy. Lilacs, but soft - not sharp. There’s a sweet tartness to it I guess is the gooseberry.

This has got me walking round feeling like Yennefer of Vengerberg! Now to find my Geralt!

This doesn’t feel like it would be Yennifer