Rubyred

Was a blind buy for me which went down the sink. Wasn't even good enough to use as a bathroom spray - the usual ignoble end for stinkers. Smelt like fish both from the bottle and on my skin. Don't blind buy.

Walking through a woodland, wet and mossy underneath, brushing cardamom leaves aside, hint of ginger and spices. Earthy and woody and softly, gently spicy, wet woodland becomes whispering dry. not sweet (except for the cinnamon) or floral. Very close to the skin. Yeah, good thing you didn't tell anyone about it 'cause it's already gone. It doesn't ever get to anything else other than the ginger and cardamom and woods for me, probably because it's vanished. Every Bvlgari has woeful lasting power on me.

smoky, leathery, licoricey (is that a word) and metallic. I class it as oriental vanilla, although I have seen it called a floral woody musk which I think is a bit of a tame description. Huge projection and sillage. A power perfume - very bold. One spray only will knock out a whole bus load of people. It's a bit masculine for me. I can't get through my bottle. In the same genre as Shalimar.

This is light and lovely. New mown hay sweet, not sugar sweet. I grew up on a lucerne farm and this is such an evocative scent for me - reminds me of swinging in the hay shed, the breeze blowing over the bales. The scent is much like Marc Jacob's Daisy line but without the ridiculous price tag. Also like the Daisy line, the scent has vanished to the wind within an hour or so, even when I layer it with the body mist.

If you think like me that violets are the best scent in the universe, April Violets is surely worth considering. I have had a bottle of this with me since I was a teenager. I get true violet flowers and little else. I hate lily of the valley, and do not smell it in this. I get a true, violent, cosseting, delicate, strong and long lasting violet soliflore. I spray in on my pillow at bed time. A treasure by Yardley for a very modest price.