Launched in 1926, Le Gardénia is considered as one of the most prestigious of its kind in the world. Among the rarest sixty fragrances in the book “Scentfully Precious” of J-M Martin-Hattemberg, Le Gardénia is known for its distinguished match of bottle drawn by Julien Viard and jewel case-like box elaborated by Sorys. Isabey Gardenia is the ultimate, splurge-worthy, Rembrandt of Gardenia Scents. Luminous and sensual, this captures the true essence of this bewitching bloom.
Talking about niche perfumery we can discover Gardénia by the historical French perfume house: Isabey, I have to say that marketing wise they don’t do much just like the vast majority of niche houses, and doesn’t hold a great selection of fragrances either, they reformulate a bit to the new times they perfumes and changed sometimes their bottles designs but they do stick to the old school perfumery which is basically: originality and quality.
Never tried anything from Isabey before so decided to start with this one for a simple reason, many brands claim to have gardenia on their fragrances but very few are capable to obtain a proper gardenia oil with the proper smell of it, instead we are so full of extra synthetics ones, so when I saw the beautiful and elegant bottle calling itself just “Gardenia” I knew I needed to test it out. As any expensive niche perfume it comes in a very fancy box that would make it the best gift ever. the bottle is a perfect gold square with a purple ribbon on the lid, before I forget this is an Eau de Parfum.
THE NOTES
Top Notes: Italian Tangerine, Essence of Ylang Ylang, Absolute Orange blossom
Heart Notes: Bulgarian Rose, Jamine, Gardenia, Iris
Base Notes: Musk, Indian Sandalwood Essence, Grey amber
What can I say? I try my best to be neutral on my reviews but sprayed I let it settle down and die, like die… I haven’t tried something so unique in a long time, my goodness the gardenia smells like proper gardenia, easy to detect. But let’s start saying that we are in front of a slightly sweet white floral fragrance, it opens like a clean floral bouquet, as it dries down it becomes more a very creamy gardenia and the ylang ylang shows up but not in a harsh way it gets a bit sweeter with the tangerine and the amber, and clearly the woods do a wonderful job to make the fragrance last.
Talking about sillage would say that 2-3 meters would be the radio, obviously a true white floral is supposed not to have an overwhelming sillage it has to be very gentle, the longevity would be 4-6 hours so performance wise is quite satisfactory.Clearly we are in front of a true gardenia, a great white floral and quite important a very unique perfume, I don’t find anything I could compare it with, if I go out I won’t find anyone that would smell similar.Without a doubt is a very feminine and elegant fragrance capable to create memories of a particular person or moment, actually I wouldn’t doubt to suggest it as a wedding perfume, it clearly goes well with a romantic memorable moment. Truly gorgeous, with personality and great quality on the accords and performance, a hidden gem of the luxury perfumery for all those who are looking for an option for the all the same massive production ones.
Gardenia by Isabey is available in 50 ml, also comes a 10ml one but is bit hard to find at least in the UK
I hope you enjoyed the review and would love to hear from you.
Evelin x
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Pink Wall Blog 
This is a classic and beautiful white floral composition much in the vein as Fracas but minus the heaviness and minus vetiver. It is creamy and develops that same clean vibe as Fracas does on my skin but it is not as per namesake – a gardenia fragrance. We have to close our eyes and imagine this as a gardenia scent as we must do with all others like it.
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