April Violets

Yardley perfumes have always been part of my life as my mam and Grandma used Yardley. Even my husband in the 1990's used the English Blazer line. I've always loved everything violet scented. When on a family holiday in Devon, my family would always bring back a small bottle of Devon Violets, the green liquid in a clear bottle with a little purple bow on it. When I inherited my aunts perfume collection a few years ago, in the collection was a little bottle of DV. I was amazed as it still smelt the same. I discovered April Violets by Yardley when I was quite young. I used to fill the family home with its fragrance. My dad had allergic rhinitis, and the heavy aroma of Violets played havoc with him. Yet he still bought me bottles.I always got a bottle of AV or the older version of English Lavender for birthdays or Christmas. Over the years I've had so many Yardley perfumes, but I always come back to AV. Today my husband ordered me the full range of the "new" Yardley fragrances as I'm in love with the Cherry Blossom and Peach. They cost £9.99 for 125ml bottles! I was initially looking for Peony, but that's sadly been discontinued. AV is a heady fragrance but once it settles its cosy and comforting. I have Meteorites perfume and it DOES smell like the older versions of AV, just more refined.

I was looking for a violet fragrance which reminded me of Swizzels Parma Violets sweeties, which we used to eat as breath fresheners as children. I lived not far from where they are made. I found it with Yardley, although I don't detect any hint of vanilla at all and find it fresh and almost green. I bought it in April and am still spraying liberally in July. I use it on my hair and nape of neck and find a delicate aroma meets me on my pillow. I find it's lasting enough but not at all sickly or over powering, so perfect for warm summer days. What began as a trip down Memory Lane, has turned into a firm favourite and it's so affordable, I think I'll allow it to take the place of Paris which is infinitely more expensive and only takes me as far back as the 80's. So if you're looking for violets, I recommend this as an inexpensive experiment :-)

When I was in 5th or 6th grade, my grandmother gave me an April Violets set with a bottle of cologne and a bar of soap. I loved it, and I remember how grown up I felt when I put it on before going to school! This was in the early 70s, and the box was a pretty purple and green swirly pseudo psychodelic design, and I still have the box. I used up the cologne and soap long ago, and I threw away the bottle, unfortunately. It would be so cool if I still had the bottle and could open it up and smell it. Will I try the latest version? I don't think so. I'd like to get a violet fragrance, but I need something stronger than this for my dry, perfume eating skin. I'd call this a safe office fragrance, and also a good gift for a tween who likes fragrances with a vintage, old fashioned vibe.

I love AVs I wear it to bed everynight and I fell so clean and feminine it is sweet and powdery but refined too a true violet and one of the only ones I would think I can smell nothing but violet no other notes. I get so sick of rose this is a bit different it takes me back to 1900 an era I would have liked to live in, they used violets in perfume a lot then, sometimes I layer this with a franapanni perfume I have for fresh daytime summer use. AP is hard to get now and I found a big bottle in a small country town I was so pleased love it a true classic Grandma or not who cares.

There was one day, last summer, that I couldn't believe how beautifully my cardigan smelled. I couldn't tell what it was. It kept coming to me, again and again, and, then I said, wait, you know this smell.. It is the white powdery Yardley soap bar, you once thought was too heavy to use. Well for some reason, it spent some time in my suitcase and then ... just beauty on my clothes. I have never had the chance to try the actual perfume but the soap is quite possibly one of the best products out there to refine and give a bit of character on your clothes. Exquisite. Beautiful.

I get sharp, clear, penetrating, refreshing, cossetting, true, violent violet. I have not been without a bottle of this for 40 years (not the same bottle). I spray on my pillow or pj's before bed. Borsari's Violetta de Parma is great too, but softer, more powdery. Sometimes I layer it over Rive Gauche - the violets are beautiful over the cold, metallic aldhydes and orris. Yardley's April Violets is far superior to what its very modest price suggests.

Now i know this is discontinued , i must go out and buy the cpl of bottles ive seen tucked away in a chemists shop ! I love this scent , really gutted it's gone :( I see someone mentioned Sea Jade , ive never smelt that one , but have noticed it causes a stir on Ebay I adore Violet scents. Bring it back Yardley , and PURPLE juice not the clear reformualtion!!!

April Violets is one of the new reformulations that to me, is not bad. Not bad at all. It is very light in my opinion. It is not sweet or cloying. The violet blend is lovely. Nice bottle, and great value as always. Yardley, love Yardley everything. Christmas would not have been Christmas without Yardley Gift sets. There were some amazing scents.

For anyone who might think that a cheap perfume smells cheap, April Violets (the pre2015 version) smells rich and indulgent and fabulous. The bottle is also beautiful. I haven't tried the newer version yet, but will, because I love this so much.

My signature fragrance! Absolutely lovely scent, romantic and sweet! Reminded me of a sort of "mints" or breath fresheners that i loved as a child. Quite good sillage too, must say this is a very priceworthy perfume and i warmly recommend it!

Very lovely violet scent ,grape, with a sweet twist. Reminds me of BBW limited edition Violet Bouquet in 2007 or so.. I can only find the scented powder in US. Wish Yardley was easier to find. Sweet like grape candy.yum

This one is a spring favorite; it's just like eating a pack of Choward's violet mints, but smelling it instead. It does dry down to a more believable violet fragrance, but the candy-sweetness remains.

Well if you want to smell like a walking Palma violet this one's for you. Personally, I like smelling of and old fashioned sweetie, but whatever works for you, right?

I catch all sorts of types of violets in this fragrance—powdery violets, violet candies, rainy violets... I love it!

Spring was the last time I wore April Violets until today, in the deep, frozen Ontario mid-winter. When I wore it to bed in late May, my fiance said, "what is that sweet smell? It's too sweet!" This morning, he sniffed my skin and said, "smells like candy." I paused. "Does it smell like flowers at all?" I asked. "Smells like candy," he said, shaking his head. Violet is such a precious flower and scent to me... I think that the talcum powder (not widely available anymore, to my knowledge) still packs that purple punch. Like all Yardley talcs, it is fine quality, silken and very fragrant. I have the teensiest bit of purple juice I paid a lot for on ebay, and I have a full container of six-year-old talc I purchased from a seller in England - and they smell exactly the same. So do look for the talc, if it's the vintage you're after. I find that I have hardly touched my juice - the talc does the trick! In spring, I love it combined with Borsari Violetta di Parma, which I find to be slightly more green than April Violets. The talc also compliments Apres L'Ondee, Chloe Love, Annick Goutal's Eau du Ciel, Chanel 19 de Poudre, and even L'Heure Bleue if you're feeling like you want to be adventurous and take a real trip back in time...

I found this on special at Chemist Warehouse: $10 for 50ml and an aerosol body spray. Thought I'd gamble on a blind buy. I'd read conflicting reviews – some said it was quite green, while others said it was quite sweet and candyish. I was hoping for more of a green, fresh scent, given that Yardley's Iris errs on the green side. Instead, on me April Violets is sweet... but in the way that real violets smell sweet. It's still quite light and reminiscent of spring, rather than cloyingly fruity or gourmandish. I think it might make an excellent comfort perfume rather than a 'going out' perfume. As it progresses I get a tiny whiff of iris in the heart, but no pelargonium. I think I might experiment with layering it – does anyone have any recommendations for what might go well with this? Since I am not 14 and in PE class, I am not really interested in spraying the body spray on myself, but I did spray it in the air in my bedroom and study as a room freshener, and it has a very clean, fresh and feminine scent that's more sophisticated than your average air freshener. EDIT: Today I have layered it with Yardley Iris. All I smell is Iris when I sniff my wrists, but occasionally I get little wafts of violet.

With the encouragement of a friend and based on these reviews I blind bought a 125ml bottle of Yardley April Violets recently and am happy to say this is mostly all violets on me. I get the initial green blast which doesn't last long and it goes straight into lovely, sweet, familiar violets. I say familiar because I kept sniffing myself thinking I know this scent, I've smelled it before ... and then realised I was being transported back to the early 90's when I used to wear YSL Paris. The violets to me are exactly the same. April Violets doesn't last very long on my skin, the violet fades fairly quickly but lasts forever on my clothes. I guess I'll be spraying it all over me and not just my wrists and neck. The base notes on me are light musk and pelargonium, I don't smell any vanilla whatsoever. I would love to try the original purple juice, however the reformulation is still a beautiful scent, cheap and cheerful for sure, but fast becoming a very firm favourite. EDIT: I take back my earlier statement that the violets do not last long on my skin. It has been 12 hours and I am still getting wafts of light violet. I could smell it all night in my waking moments between sleep. Magical.

received my bottle today.it's a lovely bunch of violets. truely violet perfume. very gentle,.. polite?)) just giving a slight hint of its presence, not imposing at all...maybe even i'd like it to be stronger but it's not. the smell of violets is so realistic! the scent is not sophisticated at all. i cannot smell here any other notes, but in this case i'm fine with this. i would call this edt a violet-scented water. expected it to be more powdery (which IS in the drydown)... at the beginning it's a little bit oily violet, then turns into a live flower... both the sillage and longevity are very poor on me. thus, for me it'll be the one to wear when i want to forget that i'm wearing any perfume and let it from time to time modestly whisper, reminding me that it's still there...

I basically agree with what everyone else has said - it opens like grape soda, which is what Iris smells like to me, so that and then dries down to a dusky violet that is balanced with some greenness that makes it a bit more defined. I don't really like the grape note but the violet makes up for that. Its a lovely classic scent, good for spring, feminine and elegant. It reminds me a bit of My Burberry for the fresh outdoors note, it brings a rainy April showers vibe although the note makes me think more of Autumn rain.. I like it, its great value but as everyone has said - does not last long at all, on skin or clothes - I'd say an hour, max, but at this price you can afford to just spritz it again :)

I just got a bottle of this in the purple liquid. This a very nice woody violet that turns into a nice soft violet powdery cloud. This reminds me very much of very refined victorian ladies drinking tea from their elegant fine china wearing lavish gorgeous victorian gowns. It was such a beautiful era where everything was of the finest quality. A very lovely old-fashioned quite fragrance...almost makes me think this is where Guerlain got their inspiration for the meteorites makeup. This is the perfume I like to wear after a hot bath, I put my satin pajamas on, and cuddle up with a good historical romance;) A romantic purple potion!