Bluebell

3 Reviews

1. 

   artisticCoati6

   Reply

   Like Estee Lauder’s Private Collection, Bluebell is a powerful but ethereal fragrance that uncannily evokes the smell of freshly cut leaves and stems from a garden dripping with dew. But there’s a twist– once you get past the first thirty seconds of intense greenness, a floral note begins to emerge, sweetening the overall composition while the green notes slowly step back. That floral note is immediately recognizable as hyacinth, and it takes my breath away for its utter realism. There’s also a dash of cinnamon or clove-like spice in there, but barely detectable. Mostly, it’s all about the hyacinth.

   Not since Un Lys by Serge Lutens have I encountered a floral fragrance that so perfectly captures the scent of a living flower, from the blossom to the stem to where the roots touch the earth. It’s that incredible.

   An aside: I’m puzzled by the sheer number of people who have sampled this fragrance, hoping this would be a sexy, glamorous scent because of the reported connection to Princess Diana. But honestly, Bluebell is not what most of us would classify as a seductive or glamorous scent at all. Like other realistic, clean-smelling florals such as Un Lys and Anais Anais, it’s so prim and proper that it’s downright asexual. Because seriously, there’s nothing sexy about the smell of a bouquet of flowers or the inside of a florist’s shop. But it’s certainly a beautiful smelll, and that’s the whole point of this fragrance: beauty for the sake of beauty, not beauty for the sake of seduction.

   If we really want to discuss how this fragrance may have captured some aspect of Princess Diana’s world, it’s certainly not the borderline personality disorder, the eating disorder, the smoldering extramarital affairs, or other dramatic elements in her life: this fragrance seems to capture the stereotypical British notion of the stiff upper lip, the upholding of royal traditions, and the legendarily damp, fragrant air of an English garden. It’s pure propriety, not prurience. And that’s exactly what I like about it. In a world filled with so many “sexy” scents that try so hard to be over-the-top, this one says, “Let’s not get carried away.”

   I can see a full bottle of this in my future. It feels lush and cool, like a shaded garden bench on a clear day.

2. 

   amazedMussel2

   Reply

   This is a clean scent, as others have said, like a spring garden. The problem with it was twofold. First, it lasted only minutes, then couldn’t be detected either by me or anyone else I asked. And secondly, my airways closed up completely a few minutes after I sprayed some on my wrist.

3. 

   superiorLion3

   Reply

   LOL I love the old vase water description and that very thought ran through my head when I first spritzed this on. After a few moments, I started to smile and wondered “What IS this potion?” I find it so hard to describe but impressions such as cold, formal, old, young, bitter, restrained, stuffy, embalmed, inhibited, fresh, haunting, spring, subdued, proper, and ladylike ran through my head. The putrid old vase water was gone and I was left stumped for words, which for me is a rarity if not miraculous. Left me shaking my head, but still smiling. Final impression: contradictory. Maybe that’s why I like it, because it dances to its own tune, like me. It’s most likely a simple matter of body chemistry. Tut tut well done, Penhaligon old chap!