Swan Princess

A very elegant meditation on musk, opening as a bright, light, powdery white musk, volatile and fleeting. Following this, a clean, sweet floral musk appears, featuring iris and creamy violet notes, not metallic or dry, with no coppery or blood note. Eventually a heavy, deep musk begins to emerge that will last until drydown—and beyond. I wore this perfume fairly consistently for over a week, night and day, office and play. I discovered that it has an incredibly persistent musky drydown that leaves an impressive trail. This profound woody musk accord is heavy, sinking down, pooling at your feet, and leaving a fine wake. Despite this sense of molecular weight, it retains a powdery, soft, fluffy and enveloping vibe. Warm and sensual, on me this is a natural skin scent with a sweet, slightly smoky rose; It is interesting to follow the rosy notes as they morph from powdery to syrupy, a warm tupelo honey tinged rose. It seems to me that this too is created in part by the musk, a creamy, buttery, sweet musk with a rosy incense vibe. I get more iris than violet, and a completely non-indolic jasmine. A classically pretty floral accord builds, starting with a powdery violet, then iris, jasmine and finally settling on rose. I get no peony, which is a blessing as I am not always fond of peony. Very little mimosa to me, and not classic old school mimosa, more a modern mimosa, with a little sparkle. The Swan Princess clings to fabric, hair and skin, staying warm and slightly damp, and never turning dry or dusty. The first time I wore this I got a dose of powdery violet with just a touch of rose, but as I continued to wear it, day after day, I found that the violet receded while the rose became more dominant. I also applied less each day, finding that as time went by I became more sensitive to the musk accord, rather than fatigued. Deceptively complex, this is the ideal perfume for anyone wanting to explore musk, as it is built around musk but manages to feature all the other facets of musk: the honeyed rose, the powdery violet, with a little incense and a lot of wood on dry down. I have grown extremely fond of this fragrance, especially considering how rarely I wear any perfume for a week. I never tired of it, and frankly, I never completely understood the fragrance. I think I would need to wear it in different seasons to understand it fully, but for now I think it is easily my favorite musky perfume.

A very kind Fragrantican sent me a bottle of Swan Princess, and I am absolutely elated. I love everything about it, from the gorgeous Bavarian-style illustrations on the high-quality opaque ceramic bottle with its unbelievably heavy metal top, to the juice itself, which is a dreamy, dusky, iris-and-violet-forward powder bomb. I get the comparisons to Kenzo Flower, although Flower has more incense and smoke (and also rose). I might also pick up hints of Iris Poudre and Infusion d'Iris, which is not to say that Swan Princess is derivative, only that it can run with the big dogs in terms of quality and complexity. I don't expect to run out of this anytime soon (it's a 100-ml bottle), but when I do I could see buying another bottle, even at full price. It's enchanting--and perfectly named. Wear this if you feel like a Girl Lohengrin (or is that more of a me thing?). In all seriousness, I recommend this to anyone who loves vintage makeup accords and fragrances like the aforementioned or Chanel Misia EDT (my all-time favorite makeup scent). Update: It reminds me of Insolence, but a bit softer and less fruity--it's more dreamy than insolent. With the soft musks, it also reminds me a bit of Guerlain Musc Outreblanc, L'Instant Magic, and Chanel 1957. Although I enjoy the wood notes, I would mostly classify this one with the deliciously retro powder bombs. Wearing again, nearly a year later (November 2024), I continue to be surprised that this perfume doesn't have a higher rating. It deserves at LEAST a four; the downvotes must be from haters and competitors. I don't see how anyone could object to this pretty girl of a scent. But if I had to guess, I would guess that people go noseblind to the musks and assume the perfume has worn off long before it actually has. I tend to go noseblind to musks, too, on prolonged exposure. This has enough complexity with the other notes that it doesn't seem to disappear entirely, but the musks are of the silky, elusive variety (Guerlain Musc Outreblanc vibes). You might think they're gone, but you'll notice them on your laundry days later.

Swan Princess is in my opinion unfairly maligned, both here and on Basenotes. Whether I just lucked out and got the perfect formulation or other people's noses are discerning notes to which I am anosmic, I cannot say. I also cannot say whether I would have purchased it at its unabashedly expensive original price--probably not, but that's because I have other perfumes on my wish list, not to mention a very high-maintenance geriatric choxie who can run up a vet bill like you wouldn't believe. All that aside, I'm very glad to have this perfume, which reminds me of Chanel Comète (but with violet instead of cherry blossom) and Guerlain Musc Outreblanc (only woodier and less delicate--and I don't go anosmic to it within 10 or 15 minutes). I have decanted this for several friends, but no one in my perfume-enjoying circle seems to go for old-school aldehydic powderbombs-and-pencil-shavings formulas the way I do. I consider Swan Princess to be in the category of comfort scent: pillowy-musk protection against the jangle and stench of daily life. No, it's not particularly groundbreaking, but I'm past the point in life where I might want to assault anyone's nostrils with any unsettling, provocative, avant-garde odors. (No need to be offended, ELDO and Comme des Garçons fans--that just leaves more juice for you!) I wear Swan Princess when I want to smell discreetly clean and ladylike, subtly soap-kissed, blameless, immaculate. For me it serves the same function as Cacharel Anais Anais or Noa at the low end or Chanel 1957 or Comète or Guerlain Musc Outreblanc at the high end: to prolong the sensation of comfort and cleanliness as long as possible post-shower. With Swan Princess, though, it's like you scrubbed yourself clean with a very luxuriant and long-lasting soap and then pulled out the softest, cleanest white-cotton nightgown from a cedar chest. It always makes me think of the magical grandmother's enchanted baths in George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin.

Now that I had the chance to smell all three fragrances produced by The Vagabond Prince I can tell they all seem to have something magical in them, as if they are made in a fairy tale land. Different from one another, but still having the same ability to drag you away from your urban rutine, to make you leave everything aside and start relaxing, dreaming and feel special. Swan Princess is the most feminine of them and it actually exceedes the level of feminine found in many other perfumes too. The official notes cannot reveal it`s complexity so you have to test it for yourself, to sniff it the entire day to see how much it transforms itself in contact with your skin. On me I get a very intense note of iris, it is huge and sweetened by a dose of mimosa. It becames creamy and softer in time. I also feel the presence of other flowers, like heliotrope-mon-amour (that reminds me a bit of my Teint de Neige), violets and a sugared rose, but none of these flowers overshadows the royal iris. Though, I cannot name it a soliflor perfume,but a huge bouquet of flowers that happen to have the most fragrant and lovely iris in the middle. And the bottle...is a real gem, pleasent to hold in hand and look at, with that beautiful painted belt in russian folclore style Permogorka. I think it will soon become a well known and loved perfume, especially by people who adore iris based scents, because it gives you another take on this special note. The delicate and feminine Swan Princess will steal everyones heart, so be prepared...

Yet another winner of Fragrantica & The Vagabond Prince's awesome giveaway present and accounted for! It opens with very subtle aldehydes, tastefully done. I don't detect pink pepper, myself. I do get a powdery, cool iris from the beginning. It's light and lovely, not bitter the way iris can often be, perhaps because of the softly sweet mimosa in combination with it. The effect is soft, lovely and romantic. It's fit for a grownup princess. As it evolves it grows muskier and the iris, rose and sandalwood notes alternate in strength. I love fragrances like this, their only downfall being that their powdery soft muskiness causes them to sit very close to the skin. This leaves very little trail even immediately upon application. It lasts over 12 hours on me, but I have to put my nose to my wrist to enjoy it. It might have better silage with a spray version. I'm probably the only one who will think this, but this reminds me of Onde Extase by Armani, a now discontinued fragrance that another Fragrantica member introduced me to and that I love. They do share a few notes in common that result in a powdery sweet mimosa. I slightly prefer the toasted rice edge of Onde Extase, but possibly purely for sentimental reasons. I can't see myself buying a bottle of this when there are other perfumes that I love that have a similar effect for a much lower price. But I'm very, very impressed and I can't wait to see what other fairytale like scents The Vagabond Prince comes up with.