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Design by Paul Sebastian is a Oriental Floral fragrance for women. Design was launched in 1985. Top notes are tuberose, orange blossom, peach and jasmine; middle notes are honeysuckle, carnation, gardenia, lilac, ylang-ylang and rose; base notes are sandalwood, black currant, musk and civet.
Top Notes
Middle Notes
Base Notes
I once abruptly left a Starbucks because a woman who was wearing Design walked in. She didn't even sit near me. I could no longer taste my coffee, so I left.
Design smells like Aussie brand hairspray to me.
I usually try not to contribute negative reviews, but I'm sorry. I can't help myself when it comes to Design. Miserable stuff.
romancing the old bag as she removes her dentures and slips off her orthopedic shoes propping her wiglet on her walker he makes his move catching that smell of her Design perfume he dims the lights for some serious smooching........
Well, at first spray it's awful smell but when worn for a long time and then it smells clean and fresh. This scent I think goes with your body chemistry ... If you are more like acidic then it will not smell right,like a bad musky odor who didn't take a shower and just put on perfume on top of it...
I sooo want to love this. It's available at Marshall's all the time, the big bottle for only 17 bucks. I love gardenia! Each time I see this, it whispers to me as I walk past. After ten feet, it screams my name! I return to it and hold the box. I tell myself things will be different this time. But noooooo.....tuberose is like a jealous sister, pushing gardenia out of the picture, refusing to let Gardenia be friends with me. Then, along comes Big Brother, Civet. So cruel, he just slams the door on me and leaves me standing on the front porch, refusing me a date with my one true love, Gardenia.
This used to be my favorite and signature scent -- until it was changed, and cheapened, and became a drugstore scent - not at all like the orginal. What a shame! I still have an almost empty purse spray from around 1990 and can still smell the way it used to smell: floral, clean, lovely....
This is really nice-not what I expected.Maybe I got the 'watered down' version but it has very light silage on me.I get mostly just a lovely,non cloying gardenia out of it with a hint of rose-doesn't remind me of typical 80s scents at all.Well worth what I paid for it...and luckily no carnation to be found as we don't play nice with each other;)
Edit:I love this more and more each time I wear it...big bottle purchase for sure!
YUM!!! My mom has used this for years and she always smells fantastic. Design has awesome sillage and lasts forever. It's amazingly inexpensive for how nice it is (at least on her). I can smell the gardenia the most, and it comes across to me as a lush creamy floral. I wish that Paul Sebastian had made more women's fragrances than just this and casual because if anything they have amazing longevity and sillage.
I used to love this perfume, but I made the mistake of wearing it while I was pregnant. Now I can't even get near it, or any fragrance containing civet!
This is my all-time favorite perfume! I have difficulty finding a perfume I can tolerate. I don't like overly floral or powdery scents. I do like musky scents, but find them overbearing in the summer. I can wear Design all year round. I find it to be a nice combination of floral and musk. Everytime I wear it, someone compliments me on it. I always wanted a signature scent and apparently, this one has become mine. I was at a wedding and my teenage niece hugged me and complimented me on my perfume. She said she associates that scent with me. I have worn this since it came out in 1985, and, even though I have tried several other perfumes, I will until I can't get it anymore!
I have alot of acid in my body, so most perfumes and colognes wear off quickly or start smelling like alcohol as soon as I put it on.This one goes on smelling nice and stays on! LOVE IT!!!!
I bought this fragrance for my teenage niece. All her friends and my sister like this fragrance. I wasn't to happy when one of her friends took this perfume from her. This has all the right ingredients for a night-time fragrance with enough lightness to make it perfect as a daytime fragrance as well. Its like the interlude between been a daytime and night-time fragrance.
This was likely my second department store fragrance. I remember being able to splash it on or pour into an atomizer! And I remember also getting a free gift. It did not compliment my chemistry nor make a lasting impression. I do remember rose and other floral notes. It smelled really good on my coworker we knew it and it was her signature.
I really like this one, on me this smells like a fresh spring garden.It's true if you spray to much it could make you sick but I found out that if I use only one or two sprays right out of the shower, it's wonderful! all that you are left with is a soft tuberose and a hint of gardinia that just makes you feel beautiful all over.
On me, this fragrance is wonderful; warm,soft, and rich without being agressive. The first time I wore it to work I was standing with my new (younger and very handsome) boss in the empty Grand Ballroom at the M**flower Hotel discussing an event that would be happening that evening, and as we spoke he came closer and closer into my space. Finally he leaned in very close to me,inhaled, and asked (with just a little catch in his voice) "Are you wearing...Design?" I said yes and we both laughed and moved apart, but it was a great moment. I love this stuff. Every perfume smells different on everybody, fragrances you like when younger may not suit you as you age. You'll lose nothing by trying it.
I'm so surprised by all the bad reviews on this perfume. I have to admit I love this one. I smelt this on my best friend when we were 18 and I always admired her from her clothes right down to her signature scent, Design. Years later wearing it I've had more compliments. My mom loved it so much on me I had to buy her a bottle. It's one of my all time favorite perfumes. I hope it never goes away.
YES, i too saw it at drugstores and THE discount store but until I found about 1/2 oz left in a 3.4 oz bottle at a yard sale for 50 cents did I break down and buy. I was pleasantly surprised by the burst of fragrant flowers. It does remind me of a perfume my older sister wore in the late 50's. Is it the tuberose?
It takes me back to when I watched black and white movies in the late 50's where the Southern Belle, dressed in taffeta and tulle, is walking under a dreamy full moonlit night, her arm curled around her escort's arm who is dressed in his military uniform.
Design just evokes romantic images in my mind: proms, corsages, Mother's Day bouquets...
I tried it. I did not like it. Ahh .. . civet and tuberose(bleh).
Why someone puts civet in a perfume is anyone's guess.
I got this as a XMAS gift. Goodness knows I would not have bought this knowingly. I tried this years back and thought "bleh" then. Now after years have passed it is no less unappealing. Something about Paul Sebastian fragrances , I guess. My sweetie doesn't like Paul Sebastian for men either and after smelling it I have to agree.
After reading many bad reviews on this scent, I had never bothered to sniff it for myself....until one day a woman in line behind at the store smelled so divine that I HAD to ask what she was wearing. Imagine my surprise when she said "Oh, it's Design, by Paul Sebastion!" Here I was thinking that Design would be...too much, over the top, in your face 80's, when in reality it was a warm and elegant floral! I will admit that she had either over-applied or that the sillage was remarkable, because she was a good 4 feet behind me when I first detected the scent....so I am guessing that I wouldn't want to be trapped in a car or elevator with this one, lol. But I was intrigued enough by the scent that next time I get a chance to sample, I'm going to test it out for myself!
Okay people , I hear ya ! It seems a lot of reviews are negative but I am telling you this is divine on me. People get back on elevators and ask what I am wearing. Must ne a body chemistry thing as my sister and aunt LOVE it on me and hate it on them. There is no other perfume that I have received more compliments on. As far as it being an old lady perfume........the lead singer of the very young rock band Hinder asked me WHAT are you wearing , God you smell SO good !! And thats my two cents on Design , its devine .
I cannot believe I'm making this review, because it is positive, but let me explain. I didn't like it when I tried it: the tuberose, the powder, the civet, it all became choking and chalky to me. I passed it to my mother and she adores it. WEll, it just happened to send my mom to an appointment I could not attend myself, but it turned out that I did manage to arrive on time so... here we are, on the elevator, the three of us: me, my mom and the appointed. At a certain point I exclaim: "They surely did not save on air-freshner!". The third person looks at me and says: "Or maybe someone is wearing too much!" It slapped me on the face, as I recognized Design immediately after. It was my mom wearing it, and it was summer. Well, when we got home I did all sorts of tricks to transform Design into an air -freshner indeed, but without success. Lately I have the habit of adding perfume I do not use as bath odorizer, as it is the only way that makes me spray them. What a nice surprise it was this time indeed! How soft and beautifully flowery and peachy and rosey the fragrance was! Yes, just adorable. I took the bath in disbelief, could it really be Design? It was like a more flowery 5th Avenue and, as secretcrush mentioned (great for you to have noticed!), like a softer Red Door, a bit more peachy.
Having finished my bath, I sprayed once inside the cap and then just added a good amount of water and created an all over body splash. Yes, now I like it, I really do: rosey peaches, bright instead of choking, that is just ... so unexpected.
The secret I think is dilution. It is not that you have to apply a small amount, but that you have to water it down and then you'll see it really works. No migraines and no coughing, I swear. Give it a try.
This has to be one of the all-time worst, which makes me sad since I generally prefer ANYTHING from the 80's to the average modern department store scent. This smells like a deformed Giorgio, at once louder and thinner, with all of Giorgio's trashy spirit sucked out of it. I see Sigourney Weaver in "Alien Resurrection" wandering among her tortured, genetic accident clones moaning in their test tubes. That's what Design feels like; it just smells...gray and claustrophobic. The packaging is so sad that a new bottle feels like something inherited from a dead relative. I stupidly purchased this because it was practically free and I knew it to be big and 80's and that it contained civet. It contains no civet. It doesn't contain anything, no individual notes, just one gray floral note that feels intended to mask unpleasant hospital odors. After the introductory spray I ran back from the bus stop and begged the clerk, standing under a big "ALL SALES FINAL" sign, to take it back and deduct the price from a more expensive purchase. He had mercy. STAY AWAY!
Surely this used to be better, because I'm SHOCKED that something that smells this awful is available everywhere, from CVS to Wal-Mart. What kind of woman WEARS this? I mean no one wears Giorgio anymore and it's good; who on earth still wears a BAD GIORGIO RIP-OFF? Who is Paul Sebastian? Sometimes I think that they just make up designers for sad perfumes like this.
Hate it, not sure, I've smelled worse but I can't stand it. Gives me a headache which means a lot b/c I'm very tolerant to chemicals and fumes. Very strong. I just don't like it, too sweet in a repugnant way. I only bought it b/c the man in the store highly recommended it to me while I was perusing the fragances. Thankfully I just bought a little sample for a few bucks, but never again.
I LOVE this perfume!!! I have worn this since it came on the market and people alway tell me how good I smell!!
I recently gave my last bottle to a neighbor for her birthday and she is soooo happy.
I have a friend that can't breath around most other brands, but she isn't bothered at all by Design. Hope I have it always.
I have a soft spot for this scent...High School memories...so it definately does not smell old lady-ish to me...It is not amazing or innovative...it just makes me smile when I smell it...
this stuff stinks .period.
how ever it does remind me of the smell of my dear sweet uncle who used to get sloshed on cheap peach brandy and chain smoke and pass out! the smell reminded me of his breath
aww my mom wore this for years...i always hated it but i know i'll love it when i don't have her around anymore
This has a Strong Siliage of Civet
it just dominates this perfume it has a
Waxy Lipstick kind of a scent it drowns
out the other scents.
AWWW THIS ONE IS NICE IT REMINDS ME OF MY MOMMMY WHEN I WAS LITTLE... RATHER SMELL THIS ONE THAN OBSESSION OR RED BY GIORGIO THATS 4 SURE LOL... KINDA REMINDS ME A LIL OF RED DOOR BUT SOFTER...
This is my ALL TIME FAVORITE!! I am 27 and been in love with this since middle school. I had a teacher who wore it, and I was complimenting her so often that she gave me a bottle. I keep a supply ever since. It stay with me all day. And it is perfect for both work and play. As a mother I feel it is not over-powering to wear near my baby either. I love this and always will.
Victoria!!!! YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!! This is nasty nasty nasty and a gardenia acid trip on top of that!
One of those bad trips to the 80's. Wow. I never thought I could dislike anything more than 24 Faubourg, but this takes the cake. I'm glad I'm not alone.
Simply awful too strong definitely old-ladish as someone said its in the same category as Chloe. This is another one I spray on suits like one week before I wear them or right after taking them off to "freshen" them up.
No. Just...no. Don't buy it, don't ask for it and don't wear it even if you get it for free. All the right notes but in the wrong ratios. Gardenia hell. Painful death by gardenia.
I'm certain there are those whose skin chemistry turns this into something beautiful but I've yet to encounter one of them. Sadly, add me to the list of those for whom this causes IMMEDIATE headache.
Long lasting, yes... but persistence by another name is harassment.
HOWEVER: so many people have such good memories about this one that I'm going to go on record as guessing there's been a reformulation. (Just ask the fans of another bargain fragrance that's no longer worthwhile: Vanderbilt.) I'd love to sniff some old Design juice just to compare.
i am lil bit dissapointed..i was expecting something more agter reading many positive reviwes about it.It is just lil retro,floral ordinary smell.Nothing so special .It is a frag like Chloe Narcisse ,something of the sort.The tuberose and carnations stand out.I love tuberose but this one i dont like very much
My coworker gave me this for Christmas last year and I hated it. It smelt very old ladish and I'm only 26. I threw the entire bottle away after on e use because I couldn't think of anyone I disliked enough to give this one too. This may be on my personal list of worst perfumes ever. I guess if you're older than this is good for you but I'm still young and like fun perfumes and this wasn't it.
I want to like it...the notes sound wonderful and I love florientals, but this smells more like soap than perfume. And what's up with the name? Awful!
My husband bought this for me a while ago and the bottle is still full. I find it extemely offensive in a sweet sickening way. Tried again today, and had to wash it off. Yuck, gave me a migraine.
I normally don’t write but I read your opinions. This one is really nice. It is long lasting, and smells fantastic. Has reach and sophisticated impression. For that price is just unbelievable.
This is very warm and it somehow seems like a happy perfume. It's uplifting and smells of honeysuckles. Another plus is that it's long lasting.
*Edit* If you use enough for those around you to smell it, it'll end up being medicinal. If used very lightly, it's nice enough.
Great opening with great notes, but dries down way too sweet and cloying on me.
Very sweet and strong. Love it,but gives me a migraine.
On me, this is a warm floral. The tuberose stands out. It also smells to me, very clean and sultry at the same time.
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