Libertine

I found this on a clearance table the other day and picked it up. I'm still deciding what I think about it...I've only worn it twice so far... For the most part, I enjoy it. Initially I get the passion fruit, pineapple, and honeysuckle...in about that order. Interesting mix of floral & fruit, and something, well, something else... There is something about it that turns me off, just a little, and I can't figure out what it is exactly. It persists from the opening notes all the way to the base notes, and I've never smelled this in another perfume. If I had to come up with adjectives to describe this elusive note that I can't deciper, it would be musty (NOT to be mistaken with musky) and spicy mixed together. Maybe even mildew-y...like clothes that got wet and dried naturally. It baffles me, as none of the notes listed even hint at this. I'm going to keep wearing it and see if I "fall" for it. It lasts a long time (about six hours on me) and I agree completely with others that have said it's very difficult to classify. I'm glad I got a good deal on it! :)

I got this at the weekend in a charity shop for £34.99. Still cellophane sealed in the box! I spotted it in the cabinet and pounced. I've adored Anglomania for years and always meant to try this but it got discontinued. My god, I LOVE it. From the notes and some reviews I expected a soapy, bland fragrance but on my skin it just smells divine. I was dreading the Pineapple note as I thought that it would make this juice smell like a cheap beachy fragrance. But to my nose, I get expensive jasmine, honeysuckle and soft musk. It lasts really well on my skin, but does not have great projection. That is fine by me though. The bottle is also beautiful! I am so glad I found it and just wish I could use it with abandon, and be able to get another bottle. Alas, I think I will have to make the one bottle last forever!

By the way, this one is really tricky. It smells in different ways eaach time I wear it. Today it ́s as masculin that a female fragrance could be I think, without being a mens fragrance... Almost no flowers or fruits at all, but a lot of leather, honey and moss... I have to put this one on my husband, I think he can wear it without it being taken as a feminine perfume... Today it isn ́t anything english with it, I rather imagine an aristocratic french -male- libertine on his way to the next an very naughty adventure... Bodychemistry is so exciting!

Finally I ́ve got it! :) And it smells delicous, feminin and soft. Fruity but not overwhelmingly sweet, I think it ́s a refined fragrance. All put together for me it ́s a really english kind of perfume, as I think all of Vivenne Westwood ́s perfumes are. Remind me of some other fragrances, but still with a personal and very seductive twist.

I love this! I love the earthy and musky scent it leaves on my skin. I do not get a lot of citrus-only a strong shot of pineapple on the initial spray. Very sexy and warm on the dry down. So so hard to find at a price that doesn't break the bank. Am actively looking for a bottle if anyone in the US has one they are willing to part with!

I am so sad that this has been discontinued : ( Libertine has a gorgeous mixture of slightly creamy citrus and what I can only describe as 'spring garden smell'! The beginning starts of quite strongly, which can be initially off putting, but softens a lot in the dry down.

Oh how I miss Libertine! I love this fresh, sexy citrus fragrance. The zesty notes are perfectly balanced by the middle floral notes and the musk and amber add the necessary punch to take this above a typical citrus fragrance. Please bring this back!!

Good. Elegant. Somewhat masculine. It smells of guelder-rose essence oil (Viburnum opulus). Similar to Romance by Ralph Lauren, but without the rose. Romance - roses = Libertine.

After having it for a while I discover a discret but unmistakenly masculin note. Wich ofcourse does the fragrance even more exating and complex.

One of my favourites, and - like so many of the perfumes I fell in love at first sniff -unfortunately discontinued!

Beautiful, sexy scent. Why Vivienne Westwood stoped producet them ? Indeed,censor custom? :)

The House of Vivienne Westwood is quickly becoming one of my favs. Boudoir and Anglomania have been in rotation as of late, and after the addition of Let It Rock, I knew I needed to collect them all. I quickly learned this unicorn came with a hefty price tag, but after all the reviews I kept in my search. I found a bottle for about $40 and purchased that quick. I do have to say, working off of the notion I would be getting a nice light fruity tropic, I was kinda shocked. At first I thought the bottle had turned but I realized it wasn't that same "rancid meat" smell that unfortunately I have been privy too. I don't get any citrus at all. No Pineapple, no Rose, no Honeysuckle..... whatI do get is an overwhelming green, almost "parsley" like smell for about 3 hours until it fades off into a soft Passionfruit. I have plenty of vintages with Oak Moss that do not smell this way on me, so I know it can not be that. I would be curious to know if anyone else smells this or if there is any feedback on what this might be. I don't hate this scent, and it's such an oddball that I will keep it as it intrigues me. For me this is an "occasion" perfume, great for days like today, St. Patrick's Day. This is now gone to the front of the class as the Greenest Scent I Own!

The first Chypre Fruity I can agree with. The citrus is first to be noticed, and then the fruity notes. These fruity notes are clear, transparent, dewy, not sugared or overpowering. I don't find the perfume too sour-too Chypre-but the Passion Fruit (Maracuja) is naturally bitter, and is presented well in the perfume, and it's little sharp scent hangs around during the whole time of wear. I wore it today, such a beastly hot and windy day, and I did not catch any notions of the middle floral notes.. only the fun bergamot..wich combined well with the Passion Fruit, actually. It arrived to the dry down too soon for me. I could only feel the amber in the base because of the slight powdery feeling in the drydown. It's my type of drydown too, all those notes are favorites of mine, one could think it'd be heavy, but it's delicate and kind. Overall, I don't find the perfume too different, I find it a pleasant, well balanced scent. Enjoy everyone!

What an interesting fragrance. I enjoy wearing it. It is fruity, yet not sweet or citrusy. And yes, it's got floral notes, but it is not a floral--it's not flowery at all. When it is all said and done, it stays on the skin with an interesting blend of patchouli and musk, but it isn't heavy. None of that really makes any sense, and that is the beauty of this one. There are a lot of scents in this perfume but no one particular scent stands front and center. I think it is a perfume that is blended wonderfully and probably doesn't get the attention it deserves. I agree with Rebella that this is a wiley perfume that is difficult to 'pin down' with certainty. And that is exactly what makes it so fun to wear.

I like it, I love it! It has the same bubble gum note as Boudoir. Sparkling, sour and vital, juicy and herbal at first. It doesn't have the skankiness of Boudoir and it's less sweet, but I see two of them quite similar. Boudoir is sultry, dusty, indecent but calm, and Libertine is lighter but louder, refreshing like a wind and rain and lightning during a storm. It's like they share the same blood, but have different personalities. Libertine, while being cold and fruity, still has its class. So don't forget it's a chypre after all ;)

Libertine is a very unique fragrance. Sensual softness from lingering amber / vanilla with the oakmoss sourness in the middle. I was hoping for more pineapple, listed in the notes - I get very little fruit but more honeysuckle jasmine at the heart. Surprisingly sophisticated and well blended like all VW perfumes. I can’t think of anything else that would smell like this. VW fragrances are like expensive underwear, silk and lace, hiding underneath - you have to lean in inappropriately close to take in some more, they lure you in.

Definitely "citric leather", and it feels "fresh" after it has dried down. It's very easy to wear to work, because it's both energizing and grounding. Sillage is not overwhelming (again, perfect for work), and longevity is decent. It feels very unique from the other leather fragrances I've smelled, and I cherish it within my collection!

I am a lover of this fragrance. It goes on strong, but softens and then hangs on forever on clothing. It smells divine, and I see it being worn by a beautiful, elegantly insouciant thirty-something girl -- picture Carmen Kass motoring through the countryside in an Aston Martin convertible. Perfect.

Bitter oakmoss with fresh bright citrusy nose-tickling grapefruit and some bergamot then a little rose and maybe a hint of pineapple but nothing sweet about this. It is a chypre through and through with oakmoss and citrus.

Long, long ago, when I was just a pint-sized child, my mother used to wear her hair in a "cinnamon twist" formation on top of her head. This was apparently the fashion at the time, so she'd go to the beauty parlor to get this fancy thing done to her hair over the course of several hours. I'm unsure still to this day how she managed to make it last through multiple days punctuated by nights of sleeping and, I presume, showers or baths, but she did. One thing is clear: she used a product which has nary touched my golden locks: the dreaded hairspray. I sometimes receive nice-sized cannisters of hairspray along with the irresistible gwps which I have been lured into acquiring through making the minimum purchase at one of my frighteningly numerous online shopping emporia. But I never know what to do with them. I cannot imagine wanting my hair to stay in place in the way that hairspray is specifically designed to make it do. So I usually think about what to do with the cans but then don't really end up taking any action, since I don't know anyone else who uses this product either. Sometimes people compare perfumes to hairspray, and it took some real digging into the deepest, darkest crevices of my olfactory memory bank to pinpoint exactly what it is that Vivienne Westwood LIBERTINE smells like to me: my mother's hairspray back in the day when she wore her hair piled up on her head in a cinnamon bun-meets-beehive sculpture of sorts. In "The Guide", in her review of Guerlain IRIS GANACHE, TS identifies "what's wrong" with INSOLENCE as "hairspray and terror," which naturally raises the question why in the world it should have received five stars and been touted as a masterpiece. On the other hand, that apparent disparity is not any more inconsistent than many of the other comments vs. star allocations in "The Guide" (cough, cough). To me, a perfume which smells like hairspray is quite far from a five-star masterpiece, and LIBERTINE is a fragrance that I expect to wear about as often as I reach for a can of hair shellac. I should add, however, that there is some development here. As it dries down, LIBERTINE begins to smell, more specifically, like burnt hairspray, as though someone decided to apply a hot curling iron to her hair to touch up a do that had already been liberally sprayed. Désolée.