Women's Eau de Parfum Bergamot Jasmine Vanilla 50ml

Lavender is an unusual thing to find in a women's floral, and it is what stops this one smelling like every other jasmine bottle. Where most white florals go straight from citrus to flowers to sweetness, this one puts something herbal and slightly cool in the middle, and the whole fragrance reads as composed rather than pretty.

• Lavender among the flowers. A cool herbal note where most florals put more sweetness.
• Apple and blackcurrant. The opening has fruit as well as citrus.
• Warm, slow finish. Vanilla, tonka and amber over cedarwood.
• Works morning and night. Bright enough for one, deep enough for the other.

Fruit in the Opening

Bergamot orange and mandarin do the lifting, but there is also apple, blackcurrant and petitgrain in there. Blackcurrant is the interesting one: tart, slightly green, faintly sharp, and it gives the first ten minutes a bite that pure citrus never manages. The fruit fades quickly, as fruit does, but it sets a tone the flowers then have to live up to.

Jasmine Without the Weight

Jasmine on its own can turn heavy and indolic, the smell people mean when they say a perfume is too much. Orange blossom lightens it and lavender cuts across it, and between them the floral heart stays airy for hours. This is the reason it works at a desk as easily as at a dinner.

Where It Ends Up

Cedarwood, white musk, vanilla, tonka bean and amber. That is a soft, warm landing rather than a dramatic one, and it is the part of the wear that lasts longest. By evening what is left is closer to warm skin than to flowers, which is usually when people ask what you are wearing.

Spray the Back of Your Neck

Under the hairline is the most underused spot there is. It is warm, it is covered, and every time you turn your head or your hair moves it releases a little more of the scent. A single spray there does more work over a day than two on the wrists, and it survives sleeves, bags and hand washing entirely.

Questions About the Jasmine

Is it a heavy floral? No. The lavender and orange blossom keep the jasmine light for the whole wear.

Can it be worn to work? Easily. It stays close and does not fill a shared room.

What happens to the fruit? It carries the opening and then steps aside for the flowers.

How does it finish? Soft and warm, nearer to skin than to flowers by the end of an evening.