It's not unheard of for a flanker to outsell the original pillar fragrance, and I have a feeling that's the case with Bvlgari's Omnia. Bvlgari did not include Omnia in their Bvlgari Charms collection (adorable 25 ml travel bottles of most of Bvlgari's feminine line; see image below far right), although Omnia Green Jade, Omnia Améthyste and Omnia Crystalline all made the cut. The advertising for the latest in the series, Omnia Coral, also includes nods to Omnia Améthyste and Omnia Crystalline, so I'm going to assume those two are the biggest sellers of the bunch, and that Green Jade is perhaps next?
I'd also guess that the original Omnia is the perfumista favorite.1 It's certainly mine, although I do like Crystalline as well. Green Jade and Améthyste are pleasant enough but I can live without them, and the same is true of the new Coral. Coral is the first fruity floral in the group, and the first fruity floral for Bvlgari. They're late to the category, of course. By way of apology, perhaps, perfumer Alberto Morillas (he did all of the Omnia series, including the original) noted that it was fruity, "but in a very Bvlgari way".2
The opening is sweet and tart nonspecific "red fruits" (listed notes include bergamot, goji berry, hibiscus, water lily, pomegranate, cedar and musk); it's cheerful but somewhat warmer and fuller than the usual fruity floral sort of thing, and the dry down — nonspecific flowers that reasonably call up the coral coloring and the tropical inspiration— is likewise warm, and not overly fruity (or sweet) at all. It's not a heavy fragrance, but it's fuller-bodied, and less clean and pale, than the prior Omnia flankers. If I was classifying Omnia Coral, I would have pegged it as a floral and not a fruity floral at all,3 and it isn't as summer-y as the advertising might suggest. I would think it would wear nicely in nearly any weather.
Omnia Coral is likable and pleasant; if you'd like something fruity, but not too fruity or sweet or young, it is very much worth a try. It doesn't smell like anything else in particular, but nor did I find it especially memorable, and in that sense, it's a good fit with the rest of the Omnia flankers: not groundbreaking, but quite nicely done and perfectly wearable. I know many of you will see that as damning with faint praise, but I will say that it's a far sight better than the average, no? Bvlgari, in general, doesn't do stupid fragrances, and that's more than you can say for many brands.4
Bvlgari Omnia Coral is available in 25, 40 and 65 ml Eau de Toilette and in matching bath & body products.
1. Although I should point out here that many people are anosmic to the musk(s) used in Omnia and can't smell it at all. I should also mention that I don't even know if Omnia is still in production. If it's been axed, don't even tell me.
2. quote via Women's Wear Daily, 2/23/2012. And if you missed it, see the video I posted recently in which Alberto Morillas talks about fruity fragrances, and how they all smell the same.
3. And of course, brand classifications don't always end up matching Michael Edwards' classifications. There really isn't any such thing as an "official" classification, but in general I always assume Michael Edwards is right. You can read more about fragrance family classifications here.
4. And Bvlgari did make brief forays into "interesting" with Omnia and Bvlgari Black, and they created a whole genre with Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert — if au Thé Vert no longer seems interesting, it's only because it's been so widely copied. If Bvlgari has axed Omnia, Black and au Thé Vert, I seriously don't want to know about it.
My favorite is the original Omnia, too, and I have a pretty large bottle I won’t be finishing off any time soon. Omnia Crystalline & Au The Blanc are two of my favorite summer staples and I have actually finished a bottle of The Blanc, shocking myself. I would have loved Omnia Amethyste if it had stayed in it’s opening sappy phase, but it turned to soap & water, disappearing completely in less than 30 minutes. Wah. I doubt I’ll even smell Coral. I still really like the Omnia bottles and wish they’d make another flanker I could fall in love with so I could get a different color 🙂
I adore the bottles, and loved the coloring for the Green Jade & Amethyste…wish I liked the fragrances better.
I have a bottle and two minis of the original Omnia, enough to last me a lifetime — and a bottle of the body lotion, too, which is also gorgeous (more vanilla than the liquid scent). Never tried any of the others: the names don’t inspire much confidence, and the lists of notes don’t seem like my kind of thing.
I sniffed this in Bloomingdale’s a few weeks ago and quite liked it. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any samples but I’ll be sure to sniff again.
I think it’s at nearly all the department stores now, so should not be hard to score a sample.
Gorgeous coral colour…not worried about the juice as I can’t smell Omnia so just have avoided the flankers. I’ll keep my Black thanks!
Off-topic but I have to share. I finally had luck in a charity shop! A FB of pre-reformulation L’air du Temps for £1.95! I used to love and wear a vintage bottle and when I recently started thinking about it again and sniffed at the counter I was horrified at the bland soap that briefly scenes my arm. Yay for charity shops!
…briefly SCENTED my arm that is…
Oh, congrats — what a lovely find!
(And after that, you won’t care about the Omnia flankers, but truly I would not avoid them because you can’t smell the original — they’re not related at all)
The bottle is beautiful. The scent however reminded me of Daisy Eau so Fresh.
Robin, did you already smell the Jil Sander Sun Sorbet? Sorbet was to my nose a mix of Lancome Tresor Midnight Rose and Parlez-moi-d’Amour.
I have not smelled the Sander….don’t have a Sander counter anywhere near me, so have hardly smelled any of the line. Did not love either the Tresor Midnight Rose or the Parlez Moi, though.
Me neither.
I can smell the original spicy Omnia and have a small bottle of it (do I, or dont I need to stock up?). but I can barely smell the jade, amethyste and crystalline assortment. Even Pour Femme and Rose Essentiale are too anemic for me. But, I did come across Blv recently. It doesnt say for Woman so I assume its the original, though I found it in the woman’s section. Weirdly, it comes in a blue omnia bottle. Before I have only seen it in the squarish shape so I was quite surprised! I quite like it and I can get it for a reasonable price but I don’t know if I LOVE it. It does have a nice ginger accord…
And I cannot smell the original Omnia, the Amethyst and the Blue versions. I can smell Crystalline and Coral.
I seriously don’t know if you need to stock up. I worry about Omnia and Black.
I agree with you, Merlin. I like Omnia well enough to wear it occasionally, but I could not smell any of the flankers I’ve tried. Might as well be scented water.
I am a really big Bvlgari fan. Haven’t tried this one yet but very much enjoy the Original Omnia, Crystalline and Amethyst as far as Omnias go. Love the coral color..I’ll see if I like the juice:D. I like BLV tea scents and love Mon Jasmin Noir, Jasmin Noir L’essence( so sad this one is a limited edition, sad face). Really, there’s not too many BLVs I don’t like.
Then hope you will love this one too…sounds like you might!
Everybody in the Internet says Coral is a full copy of MJ Daisy. Strange that you didn’t mention this resemblance
Everybody in the Internet, really? I have not seen many reviews of Omnia Coral at all.
I don’t find them that much alike, other than the obvious things — red fruits, vague flowers, both by Morillas. But Daisy is younger & cleaner & fresher, & while also pleasant & easy to wear, is even more innocuous than Omnia Coral.
I loved the display of bottles which included the original Omnia as well (so it still seems to be around.) The fragrance is just as you say–likeable, easy.
By the way, I finally spotted Valentina at Saks, and the bottle doesn’t look that great. Plus, the flowers on the tester had the most unsightly spots where the fragrance dripped on them.
Glad Omnia is still around.
You have a better memory (and nose!) than I do, what do you think — is Coral a dupe of MJ Daisy? (see comment just above).
I still have not seen Valentina. Not surprised if it isn’t as nice in person, they rarely are.
Nah, you have a great nose! I wouldn’t say so that Omnia Coral is a dupe of Daisy. Of course, it does have the fruity-citrus + woody amber accord just like Daisy does, but it is something that many fragrances in this Floral Crisp family share (as ME calls it). Plus, Morillas worked on both fragrances, so given that he is a perfumer with a very distinctive style, it isn’t surprising that his creations share similar elements. All of this being said, for me, Daisy and Omnia Coral have very different characters.
Good, I am not quite crazy.
Meant to go look to see if the FF had already put up ME’s evaluation of Omnia Coral, but they have made the directory even worse than it was…it is really almost as if they are trying to anger and frustrate potential users. They ought to just take it down if they won’t make it work properly!
Hey, I am sorry, I didn’t want to set up a discussion. You both have a much better nose than I have 😀
OH, now I am sorry — I did not mean to contradict anybody, and you are not the only one who said it — see antonpan’s comment above. Plus, I think somebody mentioned it in the comments to the fragrance announcement.
And it is never a bad thing to set up a discussion, right?
And adding…I’m not kidding, I don’t have a great nose OR a great memory. Not being humble, just being honest.
Robin, I know you are honest, but I did feel guilty 😀 And it is true, you have a much better nose for perfumes as I have.
It is Floral Crisp (with Citrus-Fruity accent)!
Thanks V.
Tulp, truly, no — everyone here should say exactly what they think! It doesn’t bother me to see different opinions — it helps me learn, which is presumably what we’re all trying to do, right?
😀
I received a bottle of Femme in an Omnia bottle that had turned, yuck! I finally got to try Bulgari for Femme unturned that was much better, but still a little on the resinous side for me…benzoin maybe? I like Bulgari Omnias, so looking forwards to sniffing this. I like your review Robin.
Don’t forget Bulgari Jasmine Noir is kind of a foray into the unusual mainstream fair, a kinda of gourmand, sticky foray.
Help me if anyone would please. I desperately want a Caron in the dotted bottle. I really like Fleur De Rocaille, but not enough to be FBW. I like fresh florals, soft florals, and floral woody musks. I have thought about Fleur Du Bonheure (?) but Dioressimo has a nail polish remover note to my nose that I can’t imagine away. If FDB is softer or rounder maybe, I might buy it. Please help me find my Caron.
Thanks,
Becca
I can only just barely smell Jasmin Noir at all…perhaps it is unusual, but I can’t tell! (And funny how many fragrances Bvlgari makes that people can’t smell)
Hi – I’m a great fan of Diorissimo, but I do know what you mean about the nail varnish top notes; however these fade quite quickly. I think that is a problem with older formulations, and I’m not sure that the current version would be the same – although people say it is also not so good any more.
Caron’s Muguet de Bonheur is definitely a lily of the valley fragrance, but is nothing like the Dior – it is much softer, less green and more powdery. It is also not very long-lasting. I always prefer the Dior! However, I have sometimes worn both at the same time.
My favourite Caron is Infini – floral and woody and quite different from other frags. The current formulation is quite heavy on the vetiver, especially in the parfum (maybe to replace oak moss or some other now forbidden ingredient), but I love the rosiness underlying it. I believe there is some tuberose there as well, but my nose can’t pick it out.
If you want please take a look at first-in-fragrance (www.ausliebezumduft.de) in Germany. They are very kind and could possibly help you.
Crystalline was a scrubber on me. Actually it was the only bottle of fragrance I have ever returned to the store. I do like some of the other Bvlgari fragrances but have avoided anything Omnia after that.
All the Omnias are so different from each other though…I wouldn’t necessarily avoid them because you didn’t like one.
Yes. Omnia Is Still Available… Neiman’s has it on it’s Website and Ulta Carries it in Store…
Black is also still readily available at the Bvlgari Website… So no fears!
Thanks!
Fragrancex also carries them both.
That’s kind of a silly ad: a big ol’ croc is gonna eat that girl, beads and all!
HA…go watch the video, she’s in a big ole fish tank.
But at least she will smell good going down <3
Well, this review suggests that Omnia Coral will fulfill my expectations (such as they are). I’ll sniff it whenever I happen to see it — who knows, right? — but I am not expecting fireworks.
Now that I think about it, I also have a hard time smelling a lot of Bvlgaris — Rose Essentielle, Jasmin Noir, and at least two of the previous Omnia flankers were total blanks. Thé Vert was a little more perceptible but I still felt like I was missing something. Fortunately, Pour Femme and Black work wonderfully for me (wearing the latter right now) — and for whatever reason, I’ve never smelled the original Omnia even though it sounds like it’s right up my alley.
Very interesting. As I said above, Jasmin Noir is a near total blank on me too.
Am I the only one that thinks that the model looks like Fran Drescher?
I obtained a sample of this last week, and tried it over 2 days. It’s nice, very forgettable and nothing that I would consider getting another sample of, let alone a full bottle.
I have several Bulgari’s in my regular rotation, but this time I think that they’ve shot a blank.
LOL…I didn’t notice, but she sort of does. Except much prettier.
I couldn’t smell the original Omnia at all, so I even don’t remember how it smells.. I also could hardly smell Crystalline and Green Jade, but I like Amethyst – it reminds me of something from childhood; I’d wish it was stronger though… I own and like Black and in permanent indecision about whether I need a FB of Femme (love it or like it? I don’t know 😉 ) Coral sounds very nice, I’ll definitely try it.
Femme is so pretty. It’s just not me though.
I’m not even sure you can buy the original Omnia in the UK. I’ve never seen it anywhere and I do look out for it because it sounds like the kind of thing I’d like a lot.
Actually, I’ve just checked the website, and I can’t find it listed on either the US or International versions. Perhaps it is already discontinued?
I have a feeling it is. Impossible to be sure, but if I had to lay my money down, I’d say it’s a goner.
Douglas online in Germany carries Omnia, but only the 40 ml bottle. Don’t know whether they ship to the UK.
Tried this one on Tuesday. Had such high hopes for it 🙁
It’s fruity but not too fruity, flowery but not too flowery, tart just right, sweet just right … so sorry to say this but it’s an exercise in mediocrity.
The coral shade it’s more coral-ish in the picture. The flacon looks cheap.
Ya, I was thinking this might be a little tart, which I don’t like in fumes..guess I will see..must sample. And lol, I’ll admit, I do like MJ Daisy..so if it just happens to be similar..I’ll probably be on board. Lol:D.
First, wanted to say I’m new to this. Although I always loved unusual smells, and everyone tells me I have a sensitive nose, I never knew anything about this world. Thank you so much for your blog. It’s given me the guts to try new things, and the knowledge that I do not need to buy full bottles of everything. Now if only you could tell me where to find the old formulation of Maja!!
On topic, this perfume surprised me. It’s the first one I’ve come across that I absolutely could not smell. I got a few samples from my lady at Nordstrom, and finally got around to trying it today. At first, I thought it was just light, but after using half the tester and getting only the faintest potential hint of smell, I realized I just couldn’t smell it. Again thanks to your blog, I figured I probably stank, so I went and showered. (Then put on Angel for the first time. OMG, heaven.)
Hi and welcome!
It is amazing how many people are anosmic to Bvlgari scents!
I didn’t know coral = tropical.
I don’t think anybody is making that claim (?)
I just smelled this for the first time yesterday. All I could think was that it smelled like a cherry-scented marker! I tried a tiny mist on my hand, and couldn’t smell anything but fruit. Overripe pomegranate and red kool-aid. Truly one of the most bizarre experiences I’ve ever had with a Bvlgari scent. I’ve enjoyed Amethyste as a clean and rather innocuous fragrance, but like Jade and Crystalline, this one was all scrubs for me.