Julia

Because this was labeled "fruity floral" and eschwed by bloggers, I avoided it until I received a sample with my Teo Cabanel order for some other scents (which I adore, love the house). This genre may be done to death, but this perfume is lovely! While the advertising and indeed bloggers and reviewers identify this as young, fruity, fresh, floral, I found it different enough to whip out my credit card again. It is not a sweet fruitcouli, but rather the younger version, more iris, rasberry, violet (but not candied sweetness) of Lace Garden. I literally had an image of a mother wearing her Lace Garden, while daughter wore Julia--but also saw mother and daughter swapping scents. As Oha is to a formal mature occasion, Early Roses is to a summer day, more casual. So Julia provides a counterpoint to the more overtly formal and classical Lace Garden. This is a classy, piquant and effervescent scent for the summer, perfect to wear to weddings (including one's own) and garden parties. The rhubarb adds tart greeness and the florals smell distinctive, with the violet quite noticeable. Rather than a musky fruit-berry sweet generic smell, the rasberry has a lip puckering quality. I also feel like I pick up rasberry leaf, not just berry, and I could swear there is rose in this. Overall this has presence. I found this considerably better than the mall frags and dreck out there. This would make a lovely gift. I highly recommend finding out for yourself if you'll like it and advise a discovery set. This one is an overlooked gem. I'm an incense, resin, wood "Shalimar"type of woman and was pleasantly surprised.

Beyond the embarrassing crudity and age-ism of “old lady” rudeness lies an ocean of ignorance. This is an exquisitely balanced fragrance. It takes perfect advantage of the sweetness of raspberry and orange to highlight the sweetness of the hyacinth (so often lost in bitter green), violet, and jasmine. But Julia also uses the subtle tartness of currant and rhubarb to both balance the sweetness and pull freshness from the orange. This isn’t a freshie , but it’s fresh. It isn’t fruitie, it’s an elegant floral lifted by fruit notes. The base?... a very soft touch of incense. Also, sandalwood and the violet combine into a light waft of powder. There isn’t a single part of this composition that’s either too much or too little. Ageless, timeless, always perfect. Approachable yet elegant. It smells like a light, classic waft of deliciousness, floral, clean, a beautiful bubble of time. Genuinely delicate powder and incense ground a classic violet/jasmine/hyacinth floral accord, a light scarf of fruit keeps everything perfectly aligned. Wow. Bottle lovely too.

Mixed feelings about this perfume when I purchase it almost a decade ago.. barely even used it! But nowww fast forward 2026... I was pleasantly surprised that the fragrance was not spoiled by the warm tropical weather I lived in. Adding to this, Julia smells even more lovely, like a pretty girl who is completely unaware of her natural beauty. Julia would smile warmly at you, when you dropped your pen or paper and she voluntarily picked it up. That opening smell caught me off guard, bright tangy and sweet~ rhubarb and hints of blackcurrant. Orange barely there, if it was , it’s quite weak and overwhelmed. Hyacinth, Jasmin and violet blended so well that none dominated the other. So overall a pleasant and unpretentious beauty. Perfect for summer evenings and a glass of refreshing fruity cocktail

Absolutely beautiful to me... it has a sweeter component, but it’s so light. The raspberry adds a green tea-ish note. No incense, no musk, and not much sandalwood until later. Very mellow, easy to wear. Natural, not synthetic. Quietly elegant. Downside, longevity is poor, unless on clothing.

My sample of this says: Mandarin, Rhubarb Green, Tart Blackcurrant, Jasmine, Hyacinth, Violet, Sandalwood, Incence, _Cistus_, Raspberry, Musk. Labdanum is not listed for Julia by Teo Cabanel. As for the scent: This is quite a heavy scent to my nose! It's also exactly how my grandma smells. I love my grandma! She loves Hyacinths, blue is her favourite colour. She is an old lady now, in the sixties looked like Marylin Monroe with her style and posture, big blonde curls and white shift dresses plus high heels. Berlin in style! :) But I'm not sure I can wear this now. It will have to wait! It is definately a perfume for a lady, not a child. Hyacinth is strong in this, the combination of strong sharp fruity notes and then the flowers is well done and blended. There's quite the dose of musk, cedar and incence in this, so it's the last smell on earth I'd call "young" or "naive". Violets, hyacinths and jasmine fill the centre with an almost almighty power. This isn't innocently sweet, it's sweet-sour and powerful! I would place this in the winter and spring category, it's refreshing but not cold. Neither does it exactly need the warmth of winter spices to work. I could imagine that it might blossom nicely in summer weather, but it's not light enough for that; it could be overwhelming. Certainly a scent that knows itself well. To be worn when you're sure of yourself.