Collection Extraordinaire Gardenia Petale Van Cleef & Arpels for women

In my opinion, this is the truest Gardenia around. I cannot help closing my eyes when smelling it, because it feels like having the same flower in my hands! It's incredible how they succeeded to capture its aroma! I found Chanel's gardenia less sweet, but a bit lemony, having non existent lasting power and sillage. Gardenia petals morph into a pleasant accord of white flowers after a couple of hours, reminiscent of Diptyque s Olene, where although the initial gardenia's power fades giving way to jasmine tuberose tones, still it manages to keep your interest undiminished! On me it can last about 8 hours, and that compensates for its high price (125 pounds). It is such a beautiful perfume, and gardenia lovers look no further!

Maybe it is not the most original and beautiful perfume with dominant gardenia, but it is the one I can't get enough of. What is so special about it? It is not as sophisticated as Gardenia by Chanel, not as sensual as Black Gardenia by Tom Ford, not as sexy as Cruel Gardenia by Guerlain. But it is charming and cosy and wearable in any weather in any mood... An ideal perfume when one can't decide what to wear: Gardenia Petale will always be right!

This perfume is one of the most gorgeous I have ever smelled. It was so delicious, I could not stop smelling my arm. It's very elegant and refined, flowery and sensual. If it didn't have so damn little lasting power compared to what you pay for this, I would definetly buy this.

I was so excited to try this fragrance so my husband bought it for me for Mother's Day. I did not have a chance to smell and sample it before he purchased it in Seattle because they do not sell it in Portland. The gesture was sweet but the fragrance did not meet my expectations (or his). He really wanted to like it because of the price ($185)! The sheer scent starts off with lily of the valley and turns a little mushroomy as jasmine floats in and out of it. That's about it!! NO gardenia (I KNOW gardenia)! This is a mostly pretty scent, the bottle is generic, and this will be returned! I gave this many opportunities and developed a migraine almost every time.

As surprising as this might be...this smells 1:1 like Elizabeth Taylor Gardenia. Just the price tag is different, for this one you pay ALOT, but for ET frag you pay less than 20$. Actually I could even copy-past my review for ET frag, because it is the same - very beautiful, very sweet, but too sweet for me to wear. Gardenias for me are too sweet. I love to feel them on wrist for a while, but can't imagine to wear them daily as it might be headache inducing.

Oh, and those who do love this scent and wishes to have a bottle, but are frightened about the price - do try the Elizabeth Taylor "Gardenia". You will find that it's the same.

This reminds me of the huge gardenia tree we had outside our house when I was a kid. Every summer it would be covered by creamy white blossoms and you couldn't walk past it without taking a sniff. VC&A Gardenia Petale is that gardenia tree in a bottle. Very realistic, practically a soliflore without the synthetic edge some gardenia scents have.

That being said, while I like this, it is so uncomplicated that I'm sure there exists an equally good, cheaper alternative.

Update: I wrote about this one yesterday and now that I'm wearing it for the second day, I can tell that it's lastingpower and sillage are wonderful! Woke up in a garden of Gardenia this morning and my sweatheart could not keep his hands off me (which must have been caused by the perfume because I can't think of anything else, with my mascara all over my face asif I was doing my best Gene Simmons-imitation...(-:

Anyhow...after my shower I took another spritz and felt uplifted, fresh and delighted all day. (this starting with the luxurious feeling of taking the bottle out of the box and carefully holding it asif I owned a treasure..)

Learned that it's a perfume you should use with care though...Use only one or two careful sprays to do right to the beauty and delicacy of this scent!

Sprayed it on a paper today and went absolutely "Ooh!!!!" ( a loud 'Ooh!', people around me turned their heads(-: )

After testing it on my wrist, I bought it within seconds and without hesitation.

Picture a Hamilton photograph: A girl with her curly hair tied up, a few curls around her face, flowery dress and a basket with fresh picked flowers in one hand while holding her bike in the other...

Picture that and you'll get the feel of this scent...
It's flowery alright but I do get chypre too and even a hint of Neroli.

To me it is the cooler version of 24 Faubourg from Hermes. Smells just as expensive and gives me a luxurious, yet comfortable feeling...
A little soapy too, but in the way few very expensive soaps can make you wish there'd be a perfume created that smells just like it.

Well in fact someone did...Van Cleef & Arpels did...

About the price...Yep..130 Euro's is a lot..but considering the 75 ml you get for it, the beautyful box that carries the elegant bottle...the leaflet, telling you about the fragrance...

It is worth the sin..(-:

I'll stick to Gardenia Passion a much more complex Gardenia.

THe smell reminds me of what Pantene shampoo used to smell like 20 years ago. I really loved that smell. But this is a bit pirecy to smell like a nice shampoo...

I'm not sure about this one. It smells nice gardenia, but "nice" it's not enough for a highly expensive Van Cleef & Arpels. This is another scents among the last ones I tried that smells like a fraction taken apart from big apparently messy Givenchy Amarige.
It's long lasting and not bad smelling, nor cheap in itself, but it smells cheap close to its name and price.