Annick Goutal Gardenia Passion

Annick Goutal's Gardenia Passion is a perfume that I have been test driving over the past few weeks. I worked my way through two entire samples of this product while I tried to decide how I was going to write about this fragrance and what I was going to say about. Why did it take so long this time around? It makes perfect when this one fact is revealed; I don't like gardenia and it is last on the list of my favorite floral scents. So we now have an issue, I am reviewing a fragrance that contains a heart note that I really dislike. So I know that I am using a fragrance that I'm not really going to like and I have to decide how to review it around the fact that this isn't a fragrance for me. I love the Annick Goutal brand so I know that the fragrance will be high quality and will be true to the heart note in it.

"A souvenir: that of a travel of Annick Goutal to Kyoto during the rainy season, when moistness exhales all the vegetable scents. Everywhere presents the fragrance of gardenias in flower, wet, that Japanese, in love with beauty, lay out in the gardens, at the edge of the roads, at the entrance of the temples. A passion: that of the creator for the gardenia flower, which scent is so subtil, so rich, so heady... For an infinitely feminine woman, at the same time generous and fragile, carnal without being sulphurous, and who knows how to be attractive and seductive", states the Annick Goutal website.

In addition the gardenia, this fragrance also contains the following notes: Orange Blossom, Jasmine, Tuberose, hint of Vanilla. This fragrance is available in both the EDP and EDT forms, I had received a sample of EDT from when I made a purchase at C.O. Bigelow and it is quite fragrant even though it is considered the lighter of the two versions. This fragrance is also available in the full line of body products in order to help build the fragrance.

This fragrance smells strongest of the gardenia, tuberose, and the vanilla. It has a hint of spice that comes out the most after an hour or two of wear. I was very impressed about how the perfumer bottled the essence of the rain on the flowers, one of my first impressions of the fragrance was that it smelled almost "humid" and had a rich, deep quality to the notes. The lating quality if this fragrance is what I have come to expect from this company, I get five to six full hours from this fragrance and it fades very gracefully.

This fragrance is much richer than many gardenia fragrances on the market and I feel that this would be best used at nighttime, especially if you decide to go with the EDP version of this scent. However, this fragrance is refined and professional so applied with a light hand (and the use of the EDT version) this fragrance would make a lovely fragrance for a professional environment.

I still don't like gardenia scents at all and I wouldn't buy myself a full bottle of this fragrance. This is the best of the gardenia fragrances and it is well crafted and a lovely choice if you love gardenia fragrances or white floral fragrances.

photo courtesy of Bergdorf Goodman