Flower versus Flower Oriental. Kenzo

What has this perfume really got to become a best seller since its launch back in 2000's?.
Best ever bottle.
Fierce packaging.
Best surreal fragrance.
Best marketing and visual.
bla bla bla. Agreed!.

Flower by Kenzo.
You can choose between eau de toilette, eau de parfum and parfum.
I review here the eau de toilette.

Perfumer: Alberto Morillas:

Countains hedione, cyclosal, mandarin, cassis, jasmin, hawthorn, Bulgarian rose, freesia, Parma violet, vanilla, opoponax and white musk.

Well, this is for me, a sublime recreation of a floral scent that doesn't exist. Bizarrely, the poppy flower has no scent of its own.

Adored, and called "Heaven in a bottle, warm, syrupy, powdery, floral goodness, overly feminine, sexy (but not slutty!!) and comforting".
The main fact is that this launch and its predecessor had become top of he sales list for the last 8 years!.

Flower by Kenzo is fantastic. Violets, vanilla and a very delicate rose are the main notes on my skin.
Here, as in “Power” (the conceptual male version) you’ll raise the most realistic violet note as a powdery feel of a scented flower. And the rose note, it's not a synthetic, over powered, overtly perfumed smell; it's really, a delicate and light rose undertone.


It actually starts weirdly synthetic - sharp violet blended with the mandarin, hedione and the cyclosal appear to my nose like an unreal latex note… But just a hint.
Although the violet here is far from prominent, the juice possesses a strange blend of “fresh-cut flowers” like in a watery way. Then a milky undernote too.
Complex and odd. But delightful.


Within 20-30 minutes, the sharpness of the fruit & flower softens to a bit of soapy, powdery with isolated pieces here and there of waxy flowers: opoponax, the queen violet and a nice sweet rose in the background.
Next, arrives a sweet velvet symphony becoming mostly a sensorial experience.
You have to experience this for yourself.
Not bad at all. Glorious, in fact.

When the perfume dries down, the powdery accords are far from noticeable, (a little disappointing).
Rose, a dense violet with vanilla and a touch of sweet woods playing with each other.
“Flower” develops as a very soft yet noticeable muted fragrance, with its own character.
Rather minimal yet very pretty and for the individual.


Flower Oriental.
Eau de parfum reviewed.

Perfumer: Alberto Morillas.

Notes of bulgarian rose, cassia, sinchuan pepper, violet, vanilla, musk, Kyara (agar wood) and Chinese incense.


Flower Oriental starts quite similar to the original Flower scent: soft, sweet, and powdery floral, but when it starts to settle down, the perfume shows its true colours and turns itself into a dark, smoky, woody fragrance.
The key here is the agar wood. A soft “oudh”, but in a medicinal way blended with a gorgeous violet accord, not as powdery as the original version.

The perfume dries down into a smoky, peppery, dark, flowery scent, with patches of rose and violet here and there.

It is mildly spicy, with touches of vanilla and a clean musk in the drydown.

It is drier, less flowery and less powdery than the original, and definitively much less feminine.
Good!
I started using it at home, shy and comfortable.
Now it has become an addiction to me. I Still not being that brave to wear it in a night out socially, but sometimes, I spray it on during these cold winter days, whilst having a quiet walk, and I have to admit it is fully pleasureable.

Closest to "Power" than "Flower", I do think both launches have a lot of similarities.
Even knowing that the "Flower Oriental" has the distinctive female side, much more gentlemen who enjoy "DiorHomme" would become easily, a fan of this one.
Superpower sillage, by the way.
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