Peony Couture

No joke, DHL just dropped this off at my doorstep. I couldn't wait to try this, and hands down, this is the best blind buy I've ever made. I took a really big chance on it because I'm ordering from the US, so it's only an available through Liberty London. I'm a floral girl through and through, but rose and peony are surprisingly not my favorite floral scents, as I typically gravitate towards gardenia and jasmine. But this....this is heavenly. It's a solid rose and peony for sure, with that pepper and licorice adding some depth and interest. Just last week I was considering Le Labo Rose 31, but only grabbed a sample because my friend and I agreed that it didn't really project. You had to have your nose pressed up against my wrist to catch any whiff of it at all. Peony Couture is what Rose 31 wanted to be. She's loud and she's proud, but in a very classy way.

This is a blind buy for me, based on the rose note. However, the rose is a tad shy, and is hiding behind the peony, but the incense and anise are front and centre on my skin. This has a very similar opening to Lolita Lempicka Lolita except for the bashful rose, which is creeping forwards as time goes on. A very beautiful and feminine fragrance, can't comment as yet on longevity as it's only been on a couple of hours. I don't see her in couture, I see her in a beautifully thin and floaty summer dress. EDIT An hour later and the rose HAS ARRIVED! It didn't announce it's arrival either, one minute it was in the cloakroom and the next it's dancing like no one is watching, surrounded by the other notes all clapping it on! Phew, this was unexpected! The peony may make it's name, but the rose is what became. Just what I was looking for!

Wow! This is a true love for me. I first tried it cos it came in a discovery set when I ordered opus kore (also incredible) to my girlfriend. To me this is peony straight up, I have honestly never smelled something that is more exact then this. It is like dipping your nose in a peony and getting it ALL, the floral and the peppery all at the same time. I also smell the anis which is an amazing compliment and just gives it that extra spice that makes it interesting. To me, this scent feels like when you walk in to this very chic boutique hotel that has made their own perfume. It’s expensive and BEAUTIFUL. I must ad that I get tons of complaints when wearing this.

My favourite perfume. It somehow manages to smell like real peonies and roses and also to smell unlike any fragrance I’ve tried before. At the end of a day of wearing this I feel like I’ve been wrapped in a cloud of pink flowers and candy floss. (Just in case it is helpful to anyone else - I tried Delina because they do sound similar don’t they? Delina was also lovely, but much much sweeter and almost sherbety to my nose. I wouldn’t be able to wear it myself, but adore Peony Couture. This is a girly perfume for a grown woman.)

In love with this one, so pretty, very similar to Delina and Blouse it’s like in between of those too, has pretty rose and little softened from peony and I can totally smell pepper and something a little sour. It’s gorgeous, very crowed pleasing. Performance is amazing. I have a travel spray but it’s on my want list now for full bottle. May be after I ran out of Delina. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.

I LOVE black pepper and I LOVE incense so obviously I love this perfume. Very approachable, lasts forever, and people will recognize it as "your" perfume. I almost cried when my 10ml fell out of my bag onto concrete but the glass is a) incredibly beautiful and b) very thick, so it survived.

My second small bottle of this fragrance and I recall being very underwhelmed by the first. How times change. I grabbed this as an after shower spritz on for the evening and found more interest and complexity this time. My previous perception being that this was very dull, I found the black pepper in the foreground on first sniff quite modern when offset against the pinky floral rose. The spice and warmth of the anise maintained well before settling into a pleasant albeit unsophisticated rose petal scent. On me it didn’t particularly evolve further than that but I enjoyed wearing it. I wonder if I am wearing it amidst a current preference for musks so it appears more dramatic in that context? In winter I was wearing lots of Lutens, Stora Skuggen and classics and it seemed superficial. It’s adventurous amidst the unadventurous, nothing groundbreaking but pleasant, with a bit of backbone that gives decent longevity. I also think it’s unisex (as all fragrances are really) as the pepper and subtle but present Anais serves as an anchor. I would recommend for someone dabbling beyond designer.

somehow i get a very spa-like impression from the first whiffs, like a mix of expensive lotion and relaxing incense. the projection of this scent is interesting; at an arm's length it's a juicy, translucent-pink floral, but up close to the skin it's already expressing the soft, warm, woody base notes. from a slight distance i can see the similarities between this and pdm's delina. while the peony here dominates over the rose, they share the same clean, fresh and preppy vibe. very femme, i enjoy it. i don't know why this isn't more popular compared to some of vilhelm parfumerie's other trendy releases, you'd think the it-girlies in their sleek baby pink athleisure would be all over this. it's not very long-lived though, so be sure to reapply after pilates class.

A very lovely floral scent HOWEVER, when I let my friend try it, she was stung by 4 different bees at 2 separate times so proceed with caution if you're wearing this outdoors in warm weather

This was a blind buy for me and I would rate it as just alright. I was hoping for a peony/ rose combo that was fresh and alive ( you know the florals that are so realistic you can almost feel the soft texture of the petals brushing your skin when you smell). These flowers, however, come across as a condensed, thick floral syrup. On a good note, they certainly hold their weight in the composition, remaining on clothing well into the next day. Perhaps what I struggle with the most though is the type of incense used. To my nose it is very green and sharp. It reminds me of that used in Dyptique’s Kyoto and I just couldn’t get on with that fragrance either. I’m going to have to try some layering combos to see if I can create some space in this perfume and then perhaps I will enjoy it more.

Bit of an old lady rose to be honest. Not what I was expecting. Yeah... old lady rose.

I love the peony flower. It is sweet, without being sharp. It’s sweetness is quiet and tame. It is a flower who’s sweetness and overall scent, is non invasive and therefore, makes for a good addition to unisex floral fragrances. That being said, rose usually accompanies it and for me, ruins the respectable peony, by outshining it. This is not the case in Peony Couture. I blind bought this.. something I usually never do. As another reviewer mentioned, the rose dies down greatly. Upon dry down, the peony takes center stage. I smell no rose after twenty minutes. If anything, it gives the peony a bit of buoyancy, a thickness, but is very underlying, unlike a fragrance like La Colle Noire, where the two accompany one another in exact and perfect balance. As a soliflore, I think the goal was accomplished. The peony is what shines. However, while it is in fact a photorealistic peony, there is a bit of extra luxuriousness to the fragrance. While it’s not overpowering, the incense opens up the nostrils a bit and pepper and aniseed, lend a bit of spiciness and slight sourness. In this way, the couture in the name is recognized. It does lean feminine, but I think a man who’s enjoys florals, can pull this off if the occasion allows.

I still remember spraying this on for the first time last spring, before going for a walk in my village. We had just had a rain shower so the air was heavy with the smell of rain and thunder. All the shrubs, trees and flowers I passed, which are abundant in my rural village, were weighed down by the sudden shower and the smell of earth, green plants and an unidentified floral fragrance filled the air and mixed with the peppery peony and rose scent of my perfume. I felt so uplifted, I could have walked for miles that day. That's Peony Couture for me. Performance is very good on me and I get lots of compliments on this one. Very feminine but not in a girly sugar-sweet way, more of a sophisticated and modern floral. Would definitely rebuy. I am looking forward to trying some other scents from this house.

So here it goes.. Its Christmas 2019, everyone is a little tired and has eaten way to much. My sister opens her beauty calender to reveal a mini version of this. It's a label and brand I have never heard of and it peaks my interest. I open the lid and spray a little on my wrist, I just want to keep this for me!. I was blown away with the perfection that this juice is. This is as smooth as caramel and so very feminine. I cannot pinpoint the exact floral mixture but I assume it is peony and something else white floral. This is one of those expensive smells you pass in the department store as a kid that made you fall in love with perfumes. I want to buy a full sized bottle but as this is so niche it is also very expensive. It will be a couple of hundred £ or $.

At first spray this wasn’t a love. It was a bit too bright and featured mostly the Bulgarian rose. I’m pretty picky with rose and prefer Damask rose above all others. HOWEVER. After this has settled on skin the peony comes out to the forefront (which I love) and at least on my skin there is almost a slightly creamy powderiness, it reminds me of the effect of the cacao in Attrapes Reves by LV. From the sprayer this reminded me a bit of Chloe also. There is definitely another fragrance this is reminding me of: ok... I GOT IT. This is exactly like a brighter non-syrupy Maison Lancôme Parfait de Roses on my skin!!! So much better than that one as I could not stand how syrupy that fragrance was despite it being gorgeous.

My absolute favourite, currently on my second bottle. It’s not cheap, so my tip is sign up for the Liberty quarterly beauty drop they do; you bank £20 a month and they send you testers (including perfume!) every quarter. Save the vouchers for a sale, and when you buy you earn points too. Basically, girl math your way into this being a bargain. Perf.

This is very pretty. If you like Delina, you'll like this. It's a fresher, slightly less sweet delina, but with a hint of the same tartness.