Penhaligon’s Portraits Week

Penhaligon’s has launched a new collection of perfumes, Portraits. This is basically a concept collection/olfactory comedy-drama inspired by a fictional, wealthy and totally dysfunctional aristocratic British family. This entire collection is like if Wes Anderson decided he wanted to be a creative director for a line of perfumes. The tongue-in-cheek stories feel like they’re pulled from an early 00’s era screenplay based on the early 1900’s (or maybe even some sort of popular TV series). The art is whimsy in a British way. Each bottle has a golden animal head cap, like a trophy for the flawed. 

The Portrait (taken from the site):

A darling of London Society, and one of the most influential ladies in Britain. Her aloof beauty, mysterious past and blazing passions are scrutinised by all from shop-girls to Royalty. She would do anything to climb the social ladder still further. Her latest scheme is to poison her husband, Lord George, inheriting his wealth and burying his secrets for ever! Her fragrance reflects her very essence: a green floral narcotic. – Charmingly dangerous”

I will say this: If you are choosing a perfume genre to represent the sort of woman that would poison a loved one, then it better be a green floral. Personally, I adore green florals. But, they are so ridged, cold and aloof that they truly are villainous. Penhaligon’s rightfully gave Lady Blanche an icy green floral.

Lady Blanche is a cool, dewy spring floral. It opens with dew drops and daffodils…and lots of icy adlehydes. This becomes a cooler spring floral with hyacinth and lily-of-the-valley paired over a starched linen-like musk.The spring floral top notes that I adore fades rather quickly in comparison to the rest of the fragrance. Most of the wear of Lady Blanche is a soapy iris and laundry musk/spray starch (for linens).

Honestly, I’m disappointed that this isn’t more cool and icy. This is more of a clean, starched linen but maybe that is some sort of “Out, damned spot!” thing going on. Lady Blanche is the sort of fragrance that is tightly wound in a perfectionist sort of way…so it doesn’t come across as “charmingly dangerous”. It comes across as aggressively clean.

Notes listed include narcissus, iris and hyacinth. Launched in 2016. PERFUMER – Daphne Bugey

Give The Revenge of Lady Blanche a try if you like cool, spring florals (like lily-of-the-valley and hyacinth) or starched linen-ish perfumes. Or perfumes like Issey Miyake A Scent by Issey Miyake, Chanel Cristalle Eau Verte, Balmain Vent Vert, Eric Buterbaugh Florals Apollo Hyacinth, Dior Diorissimo, Estee Lauder White Linen and/or Hermès Eau de Narcisse Bleu.

Projection and longevity are average. At first, I thought this bottle was of a hippo, one of my favorite animals. Then I realized it’s a cheetah/panther/cougar (when I saw the side-angled pic). I liked it better as a hippo.

The 2.5 oz bottle retails for £178 at Penhaligon’s. 

Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Starched green floral. It’s one of those aggressively clean florals. It comes across as retro-ish but not in the way I was expecting (like an icy green floral of the 50’s/60’s).

Read more of the First Chapter and get to know this family here.

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*Disclaimer – Sample provided by the brand. I am not financially compensated for my reviews. My opinions are my own. Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce in Huffington Post.