Seringa (1992)
by Floris

I was surprised at my first sniff of this: At one and the same time It seemed very familiar and also very old fashioned (in a not-so-good way). Seringa is a big floral, soapy and a bit green. To my nose the dominant flower presented is lily; the lily is backed up by a slight musty-dusty rose note. I think I get the mock orange (seringa) note, too, but I can’t be sure of that. As a lily fragrance, Seringa is not so very special. The lily that comes across to me is screechy and I suspect the violet leaf note is responsible for the screechiness. Although the rose should help mitigate the screechiness, it doesn’t… The rose doesn’t seem to be integrated with the other notes – especially the lily, and this lack of integration is too bad because this fragrance needs a lower-vibrational warmth in its delivery (I don’t smell the incense, musk, oakmoss, or patchouli which would warm the fragrance if they were there…). The fragrance doesn’t seem to develop much farther from the original big floral attitude of that lily / rose accord… the attitude just softens and gets more powdery. I have searched for a drydown in my several testings of Seringa (Floris provides generous samples), but I haven’t found any… I just get this big, soapy, sortagreen old-fashioned floral… I rather disliked this when I first tested it… Since then, I’ve gotten more used to it and now I feel genuinely neutral about it. …Firm sillage and very good longevity.

6th April, 2011.

A one note wonder, and a pretty harsh one at that. If you are going to produce a fragrance with one dominant accord, it should be one that is beguiling and alluring. Sadly, Seringa produces a sharp, astringent note from the outset that lacks subtlety and nuance. It collapsed on me after a few hours, depositing a vague, whisper of sweet powder for me to mutter at for the remaining hours of its life. This was at the back of the queue when Floris were having their better ideas.

6th July, 2009.