I suspect that being “into perfume” it is almost impossible to avoid having some perfumes from this family, even if you are a self-proclaimed “not a floral perfumes fan.”
Saturday Question #65:
What Are Your Top 5 Floral Perfumes?
OK, if you are really not a fan, maybe not 5 – but how about three? Those do not have to be just plain “Floral” – but maybe “Oriental-Floral” or “Floral-Fruity” or “Floral-Woody Musk.”
And if you are a fan of florals, please do not feel like you have to name real top 5 – those can be top 5 today, this season or all times, whatever comes to mind.
My Answer
I am a floral perfumes fan. So, probably if I had to choose perfumes just from 1 family and stay with them forever, florals would be my choice. But when I started thinking about the list, it proved to be harder than I thought. Not because I have a huge list of those (though, it contributed to the situation), but because, as it happens with any list, I started overthinking: Is it a good representative of the family? Would I want to wear it often? Should I choose it, or are there better candidates? Etc., etc.
But since I had to choose something, here we go (in no particular order; I won’t link to my previous posts, but I wrote about all of these, and you can find links in My Perfume Portrait):
Keiko Mecheri Johana
Ormonde Jayne Tiare
Jo Malone French Lime Blossom
Guerlain Cruel Gardénia
Ineke Hothouse Flower
You know it just occurred to me that when I think of florals I don’t think of roses. Is that odd? I see you didn’t include Ta’if so maybe you feel the same.
Anyway this is tough for me as I’m not much of a floral person but off the top of my head I’ll go with Ormonde Jayne Frangipani, Guerlain Chamade, Hermessence Cedre Sambac, Annick Goutal Songes and L:Artisan Parfumeur Fleur d Oranger.
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Ooh, two of my top five are a snap: Frangipani and Songes.
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I love a full bodied tropical floral.
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I thought about it while choosing, and yes, roses seem to be in a category of their own. Besides, I didn’t want to add any oriental perfumes to this list – and Ta’if is considered oriental floral.
Love Frangipani and Chamade and getting warmer on Sognes (thanks to Vanessa).
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Vanessa has enabled you, me and Val on the Songes front!
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It looks like Sognes is one of the most popular perfumes in this thread.
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I love florals. In no particular order I’ve been enjoying Guerlain Floral Romantique, Le Parfum du 68, Mademoiselle Guerlain, Mon Precieux Nectar, SL Bas de Soie, and Byredo La Tulipe. But I have tons more. I agree roses seem to be their own category.
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I love all these, Tara C. Guerlain has so many gorgeous florals!
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I seriously considered including La Tulipe into the list, but since all I have is a decant, I decided it wasn’t fair.
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I love La Tulipe. After you wrote about how much you liked it, I sampled it and got a bottle on eBay at a good price. It’s a great refreshing summer floral.
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Once I’m done with this decant (I bought a large-ish one), I’ll go for a bottle. Maybe a travel one.
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I don’t really have 5 top florals, but right now I am wearing a lot:
Vilhelm A Lilac a Day, Prada Infusion de Mimosa, Prada Infusion D’Iris, Annick Goutal Songs, Christian Dior Diorissimo and Jo Malone Red Roses.
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Both Pradas are my favorite also (but I need to buy Mimosa). I wore Diorissimo every Spring – and then forget about it until the next year.
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Nocturnes de Caron
Gap Heaven
Sarah Horowitz custom blend Brigitte
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As per OH, adding Cristalle and Reglisse Noire (and Calyx too!)
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:)
Are you sure that’s it? Any more additions?
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:)
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Mine are all vintages. I think my tops are Jessica McClintock, Perfumer’s Workshop Tea Rose, Santa Maria Novella anything, Annick Goutal anything, Penhaligon’s Bluebell.
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I see what you did there! Very clever — I plan to emulate!
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I remember time when Jessica McClintock wasn’t vintage yet… (sigh)
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You know me, I do love florals! I’ll have to go with the “top 5 this week” approach, or by houses like Gina T. So: anything floral by Ormonde Jayne, especially Ta’if; all the Hermes’ Jardin series plus Muguet Porcelaine; Chanel No. 22; Clouds and its variants, by 4160 Tuesdays; tie between Guerlain’s Chamade and Chanel’s Cristalle.
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Oooo….I didn’t think of Cristalle as a floral but since you do I would add that one to my list. And also, Reglisse Noire if I can. And then my list would not only be top floral list but top five perfumes of all time list.
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I’m with you on “anything floral by Ormonde Jayne” :) I also like most on the rest of your list.
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Very very tough to whittle it down to just five. Probably the most represented genre in my collection. SSS Jour Ensoleille, AG Songes, OJ Frangipani. Because I feel that rose should feature, Tauer Rose Flash, and what was my first of its kind, AG Tubereuse. I could go on. . .
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Frangipani is one of my favorites (with many other OJ perfumes). With Tauer though Rose Flash was too straightforward for me, I like two different roses from his main line – Phi and Une Rose Vermeire.
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I really like the Phi but love the Flash.
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Oooo!!! Jour!!! Forgot about that one!!! It’s a beauty.
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Ain’t it just. I have a few extremely precious mls left.
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I love floral notes. Will go with Le Labo Ylang 49 and Lys 41, Penhaligon’s The Coveted Duchess Rose, Givenchy Rêve d’Escapade, and Parfum d’Empire Osmanthus Interdite.
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I need to revisit some of Le Labo’s perfumes. I like and wear Iris 39 and Rose 31, but the rest I tried but don’t remember any longer.
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This is a tough one, since I adore floral fragrances and own many of them. In the top tier I’d put Guerlain Neroli Outrenoir, Guerlain Joyeuse Tuberose, Eau d’Italie’s Fior Fiore, Ormonde Jayne’s Ta’if, Prada Purple Rain and Heeley’s Iris de Nuit. Also in that top group belongs Panouge Isabey’s Nuit d’Amour, Lutens’ Une Voix Noire, a glorious gardenia tribute to Billie Holiday, and Lutens’ De Profundis, the ne plus ultra of violet. I think I’m going for 10. I also have to add Chanel’s Jersey, Chanel Beige, and Guerlain’s Mon Guerlain. I adore lavender flowers and lilacs. Add Ex Nihilo’s Sweet Morphine to the list.
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Nice list!
It’s interesting: I don’t think of any Chanel perfumes as of florals – not sure why. They are so smooth and well-blended.
Lavender (which I love) in my mind also somehow doesn’t translate to “flower.” I’m not saying those aren’t flowers, just somehow other flowers come to mind first :)
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Love this question! Although thinking about my choices I realized florals are not at the top of my go-to choices. But here they are: Cruel Gardenia, Honores des Pres Vamp a NY, Penhaligon’s Artemisia, Puredistance Antonia and Guerlain Mahora.
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Love Mahora. I need to sample Artemisia!
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Oh, definitely Antonia! I didn’t include it only because I’m planning to include it into a different list soon :)
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Mahora😍
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I love this thread :) I love AG Songes, and Grandiflora Michel, and Tubereuse Criminelle, Fleurs D’oranger, and oh no. I only get one more. I’ll plump for Arpege.
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Grandiflora Michelle! Of course! Such a beautiful perfume.
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What? No iris perfumes? And I am including the commenters’ choices as well. Maybe that needs a separate category. I’ll stick to non-iris then.
My top 5 today are: Puredistance Opardu, NVC Mohur Extrait, Chanel No.5 L’Eau, Guerlain Mon Precieux Nectar and DSH Oeillets Rouges.
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Iris is in its own category! After all, it’s not a flower that we smell there.
It’s interesting: for perfume twins, we don’t have a single floral in common in the top 5
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Floral. I have to think what that means to me. Not rose, as Tara said. What do I own that counts? Hmmmmm. Carnal Flower, NARS Audacious maybe, I guess that might be floral-ish. Songes, I have a decant from Vanessa. I have both Mohurs, but would never have called them floral. Serges’s Fleur d’Orange, I seldom wear it, and Cedre Sambac. I shall have to ponder this though, if you had just asked “do you wear florals?” I would have said no. xxx
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I’m glad I asked an open-ended question and made you think :)
Most of us agree that rose and iris are each in a category of their own.
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Straight-up florals, are not top of my list. I prefer chypres and creamy white sweetish florals. If they count too then something like; Vacances (vintage, but could mention other lilacs here), Chamade, Unter den Linden. Apres L’ondee (should count as a violet?) Secrete Datura (MPG). Those are probably my most floral florals :-)
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We share love to Chamade and Unter den Linden. I’m sure I would have loved the original Vacances (I liked what I smelled in a vintage mini, but I usually don’t like/wear vintage perfumes).
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I’m not sure I can list five firm favourites of floral perfumes, if we exclude iris and rose.
Among the ones in my collection with primarily floral notes I have some I value highly, but don’t wear too often: Ostara, Tubéreuse Criminelle and Seville à l’aube. I also own Dior Grand Bal, an elegant and smooth jasmine, easy to wear if applied with a little care.
Actually I blind bought Le Labo 41 yesterday, since I’ve been yearning something new and the scent I was looking for was out of stock. What spurred me on was a 20 % off code and a gift card burning in my pocket!
I never think of Chamade as a floral, on my skin the green aspect dominates. Most of my florals lean green or chypre, when I think floral it is often the bouquets of white florals and I don’t find many occasions to wear them.
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I also don’t classify Chamde as floral perfume in my head.
Grand Bal! I like it – one of a few prominent jasmine perfumes that I can wear. I have a mini, so I should remember to wear it soon.
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Gosh, that is a tricky one! You may not be surprised to learn that AG Songes is top of my list too! I also love Mona di Orio Tubereuse, EL Bronze Goddess, Ajne Printemps and Ajne Fleur Blanche.
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Interestingly, Bronze Goddess absolutely does not translate in my head to floral perfume. I would have hard time classifying it but definitely not floral. Oriental? Spicy? Something like that.
Did you see what you’ve done with Sognes? You’re so influential! :)
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WOW! How did I miss this? What a wonderful question Undina.
Cutting out rose and iris makes it even more difficult. Then I should also relegate lavender to the bin?
Things I adore and currently wear regularly include
Rahele by Neela Vermeire Creations, an osmanthus & white floral over leather.
Eau de Narcisse Bleu by Hermès, clean narcissus.
Reem Acra is my favourite radiant white floral
3 Fleurs by Parfum d’Empire, MUCH more than three flowers.
La Vierge de Fer by Serge Lutens is getting quite a bit of wear lately. Lily.
I feel like a traitor to my collection. Sio many left unnamed. I can feel them all gnashing their petals at me.
Portia xx
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Don’t worry: it was just a list for one day! On any other day you can change your mind and “promote” some other of your favorites :)
Lily is a beautiful flower, and I like its scent (unlike tuberose, for example), but for some reason I avoid it in my perfumes.
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AH! So interesting Undina. All the lilies?
Portia xx
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Yep. You name a famous lily-centric perfume, and I’ll tell you that I can’t wear it :)
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Your question really had me thinking and I find it really interesting to read the comments. So after a long time of just reading the comments I’m adding a comment myself.
Foryears I thought floral perfumes weren’t my thing, iris being the exception. But I’m slowly warming to them and some found there way into my collection. My favourites are A la Nuit, Fleur d’Orangers, Tyger Tyger, La Chasse aux Papillons and Basil & Neroli. I also enjoy carnation perfumes, but I consider those more spicy than floral.
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