Strange Invisible Perfumes Lady Day was inspired by jazz vocalist Billie Holiday, who was known affectionately to her fans as Lady Day and who always performed with white gardenias in her hair. The fragrance notes are gardenia, lemon verbena, blood orange, jasmine, and sandalwood.
Lady Day opens with a burst of gardenia. It is heady and overbearing, much like a freshly cut gardenia flower, and too much of a good thing for the first 20 minutes or so…
I have posted about gardenia perfumes before (see Kai, Jo Malone Vintage Gardenia, and a few more gardenia fragrances). Here are a few more that I tried recently:
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz Pink Gardenia: In the Beaux Arts line, with notes of bergamot, gardenia, tuberose, ambergris and musk. It starts very light, with a touch of bergamot. The gardenia note comes on next, but stays very soft and low, then fades into a tuberose blend with a warm musky dry down. Much softer than all the white flowers might lead you to assume, and nicely done, although I prefer her Nouveau Gardenia…
Following up on yesterday’s article about Kai, here are a few more gardenia fragrances worth considering:
Monyette Paris: Another perfume oil, this one with gardenia, lily of the valley and nag champa incense. This is creamier and sweeter than Kai, and when worn right next to each other, the Monyette smells very much like vanilla sugar with a hint of incense and a dollop of suntan oil. Very beachy and tropical. I prefer Kai, but if Kai is too green for you, Monyette may be what you are looking for.
Creative Scentualization Perfect Gardenia: A very sweet gardenia with a touch of vanilla and musk. None of Kai’s greenery, none of Monyette’s nag champa, just a basic, sweet gardenia. Too plain for my taste, but might be nice for layering…
Kai is a fragrance created by Gaye Straza Rappaport, who wanted to capture the aroma of her vacations in Hawaii. It has something of a cult following (it was included in Style magazine’s 2002 list of 5 Great Cult Perfumes) and has its own little celebrity fan base (Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Charlize Theron, and Naomi Watts are all rumored to wear it). The notes are gardenia, jasmine, tuberose, and lily.
Kai is a relatively simple, easy-to-wear scent. It starts with sharp green notes and gardenia. The sharpness fades, and the gardenia softens as it is joined by the other floral notes, but gardenia remains the prominent note…
Vintage Gardenia was released last year to celebrate the Jo Malone brand’s 10th anniversary. The fragrance notes include gardenia, tuberose, cardamom, incense, myrrh, and sandalwood.
Vintage Gardenia starts with, obviously, gardenia, but just as Chanel Gardenia starts true to its name and ends up mostly jasmine, so the Jo Malone version goes, but in this case tuberose is the main floral note. It is a big, lush, tuberose only for a very short time, after that, it is very restrained…