Hi there Hot Posse! Thinking of you all caught up in the summer heat in the Northern Hemisphere. We are just starting to warm up down here and I’m wearing an old favourite quite a lot. Divine EdP is one of my go-to glamour scents. My first whiff of Divine EdP came from a sample I bought at Surrender To Chance years ago. When I used it up I went straight to Divine and bought their parfum, which has nearly a fingers width of air in it nowadays. The perfume is richer and wears closer so though I loved it the perfume really did not get the wear. So recently I decided to host a split here in Australia of the Divine EdP and we got together enough people to warrant the purchase of the 200ml bottle and I have been wearing it quite a lot since.
Divine EdP by Divine 1986
Divine EdP by Richard Ibanez and Yann Vasnier
Parfumo gives these featured accords:
Top: Coriander, Peach, Tuberose
Heart: Jasmine, Orange blossom, Patchouli, Rosa centifolia
Base: Oakmoss, Musk, Sandalwood, Vanilla
Coming from the 1980s you expect Divine to be outrageous. It is assertive and super fragrant compared to most of today’s releases in the mainstream but compared to Giorgio, Opium or Poison it is relatively tame. Even in its modern incarnation Divine has managed to keep loads of its golden years of fragrance personality and wears like a totally dressed up glamour girl. Feeling confident, or wanting a fragrant veneer of confidence, then Divine EdP could be the one for you.
How does it smell? As far as notes go I’m not picking them apart today because Divine EdP is not about deconstructing the magic. Fruit and white flowers, sweet, rich, animalic, glittering aldehydes and golden gorgeousness. It’s big and bold but not outrageous, though you can overspritz if you’re not careful and then it does become a wall a fragrance. A few minutes in and the fatty, breathy, deliciously naughty white flowers have taken full possession with only the merest hints of anything else and they are all in supporting and building roles. You’d think that this note list would read wet and moist but no, there is a dryness, a lightly sunburnt quality about Divine EdP that stops it being too much and keeps it grounded.
The closest fragrant analogy I can give you is vintage Rochas Femme, a fruity aldehydic floral, but Divine EdP is much heavier on the white flowers and lighter on the animal. For me that means that the whole fragrance feels less dated and more like a modern interpretation of an 80s powerhouse.
Divine has EdP in €70/30ml refillable spray to €179/200ml splash and myriad other sizes
Surrender To Chance has a few of Divine’s other releases
If you have enjoyed this then please pop over to Australian Perfume Junkies and continue the scented conversation. We love visitors, say HI while you’re there
Do you know this fragrance or house? Do you like a bit of old school big time fragrance? What’s your favourite?
Portia xx
huh. See, this is why it never pays to presume. I thought Divine was a knockoff house but that’s because I Made That Up. Now you come along, with your ‘fatty white flowers’ (oh, I was hooked right there and then) and now….well, I’ll just have to try them!
In fact, I may have some in the Messy Armoire. Will see…
love you, darling!
xoxoxoxoA
HAH Musette! Not a knockoff house, a really lavish french house. I think they purposely try to keep it a bit “In The Know” and 5+ years ago they would have been considered expensive. Nowadays they are very affordable, and still really good.
Love you too sweet cakes.
Portia xx
Howdy, Portia! What a great blast from the past today! I remember sampling and enjoying the Divine line early on in my perfumistahood. I can’t remember exactly which one it was, but one of their scents reminded me greatly of my much-loved Ysatis. Yum!
Heya Ann,
Yes, I think the original could very well have a similar feel to Ysatis but less OTT, and I find satis a little high octane in comparison. They are certainly cousins though.
Portia xx
I’m pretty sure I had a sample of Divine and loved it. I’m a lot of old school chyres and the like.
Aromatic Elixir, Orris Noir, Eau du Soir and Andy Tauer’s Le Maroc and the original Miss Dior. Are you familiar with Tauer’s perfumes?
Heya BevFred,
Andy Tauer was the first niche I came across when the world of online scentbloggosphere first opened up to me. He will always be my benchmark for niche.
Portia xx
I am a huge fan of the Divine house, and always wonder why it is not more popular. Divine EdP, L’Homme Sage, and L`etre Aime Femme are three of my favorites. Their scents are well crafted and beautiful – there’s a certain sense of “fineness” about them that I really appreciate.
Hey LisaD,
“Fineness” is a perfect expression of how they feel. Though they are bold and confident it never feels like they’ve stepped across the line in gauche. So glad you love them too.
Portia xx
I have a large sample of Divine that I’d almost forgotten about. It is lovely, but I have to use a light touch with it. The one I love is L’âme Sœur. I have a decant of this one. The strange one is L’Inspiratrice. I sniff the wand of the vial and it’s lovely, but a strange thing happens with it. I put it on my skin, close the vial, sniff my arm and there’s nothing there, absolutely nothing, ever. I have tried it many times with the same result, but others can smell it though. I have never had that happen to me before. It’s weird.
Hi Maya,
WOW! That is interesting. Clearly one of the big ingredients is something you’re anosmic to, and it acts as a masking agent for the rest. That would certainly have my interest piqued.
Portia xx
Hi Portia. I am VERY curious and want to know what it is. I think as you do on what’s happening, and would love to know what the ingredient is. I wonder if it’s some synthetic molecule. It did have a funny aspect to it – me trying soooooooo hard to smell something that wasn’t there.
I love your description! And yes, based on the list, I would have guessed it would be a very wet, moist BWF, so I’m intrigued by the dry, sunburnt quality. Maybe the wood and coriander keep it on the dry side? I don’t know, but this is a perfume and perfumer I’ve never heard of — I’ll have to check it out!
Hey there HeidiC,
No idea really why it has the dry quality, I’m often not quite sure exactly what is making things smell like they do to me. Good for descriptions but bad for details.
I hope you do get to try it.
Portia xx
Old school big time 80s is me, Portia but I don’t know this Divine and Yann Vasnier is one of my favorite perfumers. I wonder how I missed it!
Hey Azar,
They are a small house, don’t advertise much and keep a pretty low profile. Their range is all beautifully curated and produced. I think you’ll find more than one winner among the,. The original Divine is my favourite by far.
Portia xx