Illuminum White Gardenia Petals gained overnight popularity as the perfume that Kate Middleton wore (supposedly) to her wedding. And then everyone with a princess fantasy went out and bought niche perfume like it was on a Black Friday sale. I have no idea how or why I ended up with a sample of White Gardenia Petals, but I have one. My sample is what you can purchase now and from what I understand, White Gardenia Petals today smells differently than it did before. Is it possible that it was reformulated so that we couldn’t smell like Kate Middleton?
White Gardenia Petals opens as a squeaky clean lily of the valley with grout cleaning aldehydes. On me, it’s bloody awful. It smells like floral plastic being projected out of an aerosol can. And then it becomes generic, screechy “white florals” that are served with a double helping of powdery laundry musks. BTW – This is not a gardenia fragrance. If you are looking for a gardenia fragrance, look elsewhere.
The only other perfume that I have hated just as much on my skin as been Madonna Truth or Dare. It appears that synthetic white florals and my skin have a terrible chemical reaction. The plastic lily of the valley just rubs salt in the white floral induced wounds. It’s a scrubber for me.
Notes listed include lily, gardenia, muguet, jasmine and amber wood.
If you are a Kate Middleton fan, I’m sure you’ve already tried White Gardenia Petals. If you are a perfume person, give this perfume a try if you like white florals or lily of the valley perfumes. Or if you like perfumes like Madonna Truth or Dare, the original Michael Kors, the original Kim Kardashian, the original Michael Kors, Avon Fergie Outspoken, and/or Coty Sand & Sable. White Gardenia Petals is a feminine fragrance appropriate for day wear. It may be a good spring floral fragrance if it doesn’t go gross on you like it does me.
I find projection and longevity average.
The 1.7 oz EDP of White Gardenia Petals retails for $140 at Luckyscent.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Screechy, soapy white floral. I understand that many people enjoy wearing this perfume and I imagine it has been rather popular for a variety of reasons. However, on me, it’s bloody awful. If you have traumatic lily of the valley “issues” then stay away from this stuff.
Want more reviews? Try…
SmellyThoughts – I fully support this review.
I was sent a complimentary bottle of the scent Kate M actually wore, which is not the same as the one Birgit and I first sampled – B has a bottle of the erroneous juice(!), while I now just have a teeny sample left from Daisy the great enabler. The actual stuff was so disagreeable I sent the bottle back, and urged Roullier White to return it to Illuminum for forensic examination!
Vanessa recently posted..Bonkers In Belgium: Part 3 – A Bunch Of Mostly Oud-y Things At Senteurs D’Ailleurs, Brussels, And The Perfect Scents For Your LBD (Sticky Tape Not Supplied!)
I love your comment.
I really like white florals but I have the same problem with some going screechy on me as well. They start off great and then go horribly wrong and I scrub. This never tempted me because I have yet to see a glowing review from someone that I think has similar taste in scents as me. I wonder if the reformulation was so that we couldn’t really smell like Kate or (here’s my cynical side peeking out) they figure people are going to buy it because she wore it so if they tweak it a bit to make it less expensive to make they make more profit on it.
I don’t think you are being cynical at all. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that is what happened. It was going to sell no matter what. It’s now a “collector’s item” and people were buying this stuff to smell like Kate. Illuminum could have, based on demand even, changed the formula to something “more accessible” to increase the scale of production (read that as more synthetic and cheaper). Of course, this is speculation. I have no proof but it wouldn’t surprise me at all.
And seriously, you saw that wedding and that dress. Do you really think she would have worn a perfume that retailed for under $200? I don’t think so.
I’ve tried this out of curiosity and my jaw dropped at the poor quality of this fragrance. I don’t care much for Kate Middleton or royal weddings but to think that she chose to wear this or anything similar is beyond me. The description of the fragrance made me chuckle a bit: “A beautiful bouquet of angelic white flowers” (insert joke here)
I’m not a Kate “fan” and I didn’t care about the wedding; however, I ended up with a sample. And curiosity killed the cat 😉