Eric Buterbaugh Perfumes

Eric Buterbaugh perfumes are a new launch of 7 perfumes.

He is a snazzy florist to the stars (photo above are arrangements from Princes Beatrice’s 18th birthday party).  The background on the launch said that as he keeps working with flowers, more and more of the scent isn’t there anymore, which I agree with.  When I smell greenhouse floral arrangements, you really struggle to get any scent at all.  He says he missed that because he loves floral smells.

So… 7 perfumes in a new launch that center on florals – Velvet Lavender, Sultry Rose, Regal Tuberose, Apollo Hyacinth, Virgin Lily of the Valley, Celestial Jasmine and Fragile Violet.  He instructed the perfumers who crafted these to make them without regard to cost of materials or marketability.

When I got the nifty sample set (10 ml samples for $250), I was expecting some fairly straight-up soliflores, but they aren’t simple soliflores, and this set lends itself beautifully to some great scent combining.  It is on the pricey end of the spectrum, but we all know we’ve seen way worse pricing in the luxury perfume region.

I’m not going into great detail, other than notes, except  to say that I really loved them all for very different reasons.

• Velvet Lavender – Notes of lavender, apricot, bergamot, clary sage, armoise, bourbon vanilla, sandalwood and musk.  Warmed apricoty lavender with great vanilla and sage highlights. One of my favorite and most unusual lavenders I’ve smelled in a while.
• Regal Tuberose – Notes of grapefruit, pepper, papyrus, tuberose, patchouli, jasmine sambac, amber, oakmoss and musk.  A buttery tuberose sniffed up with some pepper and grapefruit.  I wasn’t convinced I’d love this combination of notes, but I did.
• Celestial Jasmine –  Notes of jasmine, amber, ambergris, linden blossom, Jasmine sambac, freesia, Jasmin de Provence, tuberose, narcissus, ambrox, silkwood and musk.  One of my favorites, but I’m a complete sucker for linden, and I love the ambergris/narcissus/ambergris enhancement to jasmine.  This isn’t a skanky poopy with indoles to burn jasmine – it’s much more on the beautiful jasmine to love instead of giggle about until it calms down.  Not that I actually do that.  I normally roll my eyes back in my head with there are indoles running rampant.  Regardless, I love the straight-up unusual beauty of this.
• Apollo Hyacinth –  Notes of hyacinth, lily of the valley, angelica seeds, Asian pear, neroli, galbanum, oakmoss, cedarwood and Haitian vetiver.  Alberto Morillas made this, and the pear, angelica and vetiver added to the green hyacinth is stunning.  Another one of my favorites.  I actually think I love this more than the jasmine.  Oh, maybe not. Tough to pick, love them both the best.
• Sultry Rose – Notes of pepper, passionfruit, Ottoman rose, vanilla orchid, saffron, ambrette, oud and ambergris.  I admire rose in theory, but only have a few that I love to wear.  This rose goes on the list.  I like the notes that differentiate this, softened by the vanilla and saffron with some kick from the pepper and ambergris.
• Fragile Violet – Notes of mandarin, tea, mulberry, violet, lotus, wisteria, cedarwood, amber and musks.  I love violet, and adding tea to this gives violet a unique twist that I really liked.
• Virgin Lily of the Valley – Notes include orange flower, bergamot, rosewood, muguet, ylang, amaryllis, sandalwood, ambrette and musk.  This is a straight-up beautiful and pristine Muguet, it’s almost crystalline in how it sparkles.  It hit the top of my fave list as well because I can never say no to a great Muguet.

Now, I have to tell you that in respraying these to do this review, combining all seven is pretty intoxicating. It’s how you think a greenhouse should smell but just doesn’t anymore. It’s the nose buried deep in an amazing bouquet of smelly flowers from a garden.  If you can get by with spraying all seven and not get booted from wherever you’re going, I recommend it.  Otherwise, just do it at home before you go to bed, you’ll thank me later.

So we’ll do a drawing for two sample sets of all seven of the Eric Buterbaugh perfumes.  Just comment on which one you think would be your fave of the seven, and you’ll be entered in the drawing.

Winners of the Hermes Jour d’Hermes Gardenia samples – Kingcav, Tiara, and KimB.  Just click on Drop Us a Note at the top of the blog, send me your name and address and remind me what you’ve won.  I’ll send you a quick “got it” e-mail so you know it didn’t drop into my spam filter and then get it sent to you.