I always get excited when a new gardenia fragrance comes out, largely because real gardenias smell amaaaaaaazing and I’ve yet to find anything that even remotely approaches their perfection. But – I do believe in progress, so we persevere.
Arquiste is a niche line I haven’t much gotten into. I haven’t been very interested in prior offerings due to combinations of notes that were not really “me” and the rather ambitious price tag for a bottle ($175 for 55 ml). Boutonniere, however, purports to highlight lavender, bergamot, gardenia, vetiver, mandarin and oak moss. Oooooh, I thought – a cool, green, earthy gardenia. Now this is new! And indeed, it is not your normal gardenia fragrance. It opens with the smooth, cold lavender note, then softens a bit into a vetiver/mandarin melange. It’s a very mild vetiver – not too smoky, more just a hint of earthiness. Throughout, the unfortunate aromachemical that most perfumers seem to consider their best approximation of gardenia is apparent. I don’t like it. It lends a cheap, air freshener quality to what would otherwise be an interesting fragrance. And it gets even worse in the drydown, with all of the other notes fading and the gardenia-wannabe turning sour.
My gardenia hunt continues.
