Anthea

A big buttery white floral with hints of freshness. I usually hate anything “buttery” but this is only lightly buttered 😄 Other white floral notes are in this, not just tuberose. And I’d be surprised if the freshness came from orange or another citrus. The backdrop is more of a green freshness. Reminiscent of Gucci Bloom and performs well. Drawback: slightly lower quality than Bloom as one of the aromachemicals stands out but I can’t remember the name of it. As if it’s not properly blended. It’s still beautiful and people who don’t blend fragrance would never notice.

I’ve never owned Bloom (although I have a flanker) but this has convinced me I don’t need it. It’s a nose-wrinklingly strong white floral but it doesn’t last super long - maybe an hour or so on me. I like a tuberose but I prefer a L’Interdit or Bvlgari to Bloom. However, if you love Bloom then you can’t argue with Verset prices!

Surprisingly competent dupe of Gucci Bloom, more linear than the original but without that artificial mettalic/musk note that a lot of clone perfumes have (I'm looking at you,La Rive.) Impressive for the price and I am now very interested in sampling others from Verset.

I've gone back and forth on Bloom for years, testing every single flanker and chasing perfection, only to come to the conclusion that none of them are really for me. I'm happy to have 15ml of Anthea as, lovely as it is, I just don't need a large bottle of this scent, be it the real thing, or a clone. It's a very pretty white floral, without the dry scratchy note that always bothered me in Bloom, so that's a real plus. It's classy, mature and sophisticated, and I do prefer it to Bloom. And for the price, you just can't really go wrong.