Gucci Flora Gorgeous Gardenia

Gorgeous Gardenia

Gorgeous Gardenia

Gucci Flora was like my guilty little pleasure where I knew the fragrance wasn’t super sophisticated, but I still like it and wear it anyway. So I got curious when I saw they had come out with some Flora flankers. I had my reservations, after all, Flora wasn’t anything to call home about so how good could the flankers be? I know I shouldn’t judge a flanker by the perfume it was modeled after. But what bothered me most about Flora Gorgeous Gardenia was its somewhat silly name.

In Bottle: Pear and sweetness with a little touch of floral.

Applied: Pear upfront with the sweetness rolling out its game very quickly. Gorgeous Gardenia smells of candy and lace and fruity summer drinks with little umbrellas in them. After the initial blast of fruit juice and candy, Gorgeous Gardenia settles down a bit and introduces a very mild and difficult to pick up floral element. I can’t say the gardenias are making much of a show as this tends to enjoy smelling like generic flowers and sugar. The sugar in this isn’t too strong. It’s actually used rather well, giving the fragrance a soft lilt that sort of brushes your nose instead of slamming into it. I like that about it, but as for everything else, it’s a pretty bland affair. The dry down isn’t very noticeable either with the sugar cleaning itself up a bit and leaving a ghost of itself behind with a dry and cleanly scrubbed patchouli note finishing the scent.

Extra: Gorgeous Gardenia is only one of five Flora flankers to be released. The other four are Generous Violet, Glamorous Magnolia, Glorious Mandarin, and Gracious Tuberose. Makes me wonder what other “G” words they can come up with to couple with some unsuspecting flower. Perhaps we’ll get Grandiose Rose.

Design: I really liked the design of Gucci’s Flora and the more I used my little 30ml bottle, the more the design grew on me to the point where I decided it was adorable and that I loved it–just in time for all the juice to run out. Still, I liked the packaging for Flora and I like the packaging for Gorgeous Gardenia which is largely similar except in a tall bottle as opposed to squat and with pinkish liquid.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Pear, berries, gardenia, frangipani, patchouli, sugar.

I did like how Gorgeous Gardenia smells, but it’s far from interesting or new. It’s a very functional fragrance much like Flora–though the two don’t smell alike. Gorgeous Gardenia tends more toward sweet and fruity as opposed to sweet and floral like Flora did.

Reviewed in This Post: Flora Gorgeous Gardenia, 2012, Eau de Toilette.

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