Best Big White Floral Perfume – What are Yours?

Best big white floral perfumes was something a commenter suggested I do, and I keep rolling it around in my head as something I’d love to do, but the category is so big, it is daunting that I’m going to miss some ringers.

So here’s what I’d like to do.  Nominate however many big white floral perfumes you love. I’m not promising I’ll cover them all (may or may not have access to everything) in a comprehensive (OMG, I almost had a heart attack thinking about putting all these on, but it will be glorious!) big white florals post in a few weeks.  It will take that much time because I’ll have to space out my big white floral try-ons a few days apart and right before a long, long shower to keep my nose and my personal space from being overwhelmed.

Let’s think about the big white floral notes that go in singly or in combination to make a big white floral perfume – jasmine, narcissus/jonquil, ylang, gardenia, tuberose, frangipani, orange blossom, lily, tiare, magnolia, lemon blossom, linden, plumeria.  Am I missing any?  I’ve covered several of these in earlier posts (jasmine, gardenia, orange blossom), so I’ll likely just pull some of the great big ones from those and refer back, adding in a big section on tuberose and narcissus.  Any other white floral notes that fit?

What classifies as a big white floral perfume?  Think Fracas +/- 30%.  It can be bigger than Fracas by more than 30%, but I’m not sure how anything could be, or less than Fracas by about 30%, but not a genteel white floral perfume that is well-behaved. It has to be one that makes a statement when it enters the room before you and then surrounds you in an indolic cloud of tropical ferocity.  Get it?

Make your nominations in comments for your favorite big white floral, you can pick one or 100, don’t care, and make a brief argument for it.  You can include things that you know I’m going to include, like Frederic Malle Carnal Flower, Piguet Fracas, Serge Lutes Tubereuse Criminelle and Un Lys and Sarrasins, JAR Jardenia, Tuvache Jungle Gardenia, Caron Narcisse Noir etc., but you don’t have to make an argument for the obvious things.  Just help me make sure not to forget one of the most obvious ones!

Here’s what I’ll do for a drawing for commenters for today’s post.  I’ll give away 2 sample sets of whatever best big white florals I wind up putting in the post, and everyone commenting here will be entered, as well as the people who comment on the post I finally write in a couple of weeks (well, 2 or 3).

I do have the winners picked for the Eric Buterbaugh sample sets – CBSutcliffe and Recovering Perfectionist. 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.