Seven Days of Eric Buterbaugh*
Eric Buterbaugh is a well-known floral designer based in Los Angeles. Last year, he launched a line of perfumes, Eric Buterbaugh FLORALS, inspired by the medium he knows best – flowers. The Noses work with Firmenich, creating many of my most-worn perfumes from designer to niche. I’m dedicating a week to reviewing this line because like Eric Buterbaugh, I too love florals.
When it comes to soliflores, roses are my favorite. I’m a rose person. And apparently red roses are Eric Buterbaugh‘s favorite. When I tried the Florals range, this was the first one that I tried. Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations because I’m a realistic rose lover: Perfume World is saturated with rose perfumes, this brand was new to me and many rose perfumes are redundant. Let me just say, that this was a great introduction to this new-to-me line.
Sultry opens as this overripe tropical fruits with a saffron pudding. This is splashed with rosewater. Passion fruit is very prominent in the opening – sweet, almost sickeningly ripe. This intense fruitiness intensives the savory, almost sweaty quality of saffron. Sultry wears as a creamy, jammy rose. However, I’d still classify it as a “dirty rose“. This beautiful rose is with saffron and oud which makes this feel like a rose in twilight. It dries down to a jammy rose with a warm, skin-hugging ambergris. What makes Sultry a stand-out in comparison to other roses, is that it has depth but it’s as sheer as something like Serge Lutens La Fille de Berlin. It’s a decadent rose that you wear; it doesn’t wear you.
This is one of those roses that I have fallen deeply, madly in love with. Many florals focus on the idealized beauty of the flowers. Sultry instead focuses on the “ugly” sides of beautiful ingredients. The final product is a beautiful, dramatic perfume that’s interesting. It actually reminds me of those delightfully dramatic Dutch Golden Age still-lifes, like something from Adriaen van Utrecht or Maria von Oosterwijck– fruits, flowers and something to remind you that we all will eventually perish¹.
Notes listed include pepper, passion fruit, Ottoman rose extract, rose water, vanilla orchid, saffron, ambrette musk, oud and ambergris accord. Launched in 2015. PERFUMER – Ilias Ermenidis
Give Sultry a try if you like jammy rose perfumes or saffron perfumes. Or if you like perfumes like Guerlain Nahema, Vero Profumo Rozy, Mona di Orio Rose Etoile de Hollande, L’Artisan Safran Troublant, Montale Red Aoud and/or Ormonde Jayne Ta’if.
Projection and longevity are average.
The 3.4 oz bottle retails for $295 and the 8.5 oz bottle for $495 at Eric Buterbaugh. A travel size is also available for purchase.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Dramatic rose . It’s passion fruit, saffron custard and roses. I know you’re thinking “Can you really fall for another rose/oud combo?”. And the answer which even surprises me is, “Yes”. This one wears more modern. Plus, I love the passion fruit and saffron.
¹I know this comes across as emo, but that’s the truth. Flowers and fruit decay. Many perfumes try to “preserve” these notes when they are at their prime. I like perfumes that remind me that many of the beautiful things that I love are temporary. And yeah, I guess that makes me sound rather emo.
Want more reviews? Try…
Observer – More info on the brand.
Fragrantica – Member reviews