Organza (1996)
by Givenchy

Organza starts off very powdery, and strong. For me the rose scent stands out from begining to end, making it very much a sigular note on me. Tends to be very old fashioned. A mature fragrance. Reminds me of Boudoir but lighter and less offensive.

This is not the first time I've had to eat my words regarding a perfume I tried years ago. I wasn't into it then. Today it is beautiful; soft and powdery, sweet, spicy, and floral, refined, elegant, and assertive. This one is special. I don't see this as an everyday scent, either. It is also very strong, something that out me off it those years ago, but that I love about it now, that I have learned to fear no sillage!

The bottle of this givenchy gem is quite elegant, as is the perfume itself. Honeysuckle and gardenia gently sweeten its smoldering sultry base of nutmeg vanilla and amber. I find Organza to be absolutely an evening fragrance. Rich and very different. I have noticed people occasionally wearing this as a daytime/casual scent which totally puts me off! There is a time and place for everything ~ including Organza!

This is my signature scent and why is that ? It is because its the one perfume i wear that i regulary get compliments on. It is a powdery jasmine infusion and it is covertly sexy.
Organza is a warm floral explosion and i love it.

Givenchy Organza EDP

Notes: Honeysuckle, Rosewood, Gardenia, Ylang-Ylang, Peony, Cedar, Vanilla (from Sephora)

I have read that some people find Organza to be "gourmand", even though my memory of it is more as an oriental, and somewhat reminiscent of Chanel Coco. I used to wear Organza daily when it first came out. In a way, it was my replacement for Coco, which was my signature scent. I love Organza, but never really went head over heels for it. These days, compared to the other woody orientals on offer (Armani Mania, for example), I feel that Organza outdoes most of the newer fragrances in the same genre. It is interesting that I seem to appreciate it more today than I did when I wore it more frequently!

On first spray, Organza is floral and powdery, with a hint of peppery spice. There is no particular flower that comes forward for me, but the bouquet tends more toward the "white" side of floral, and has some kind of synergistic effect that recalls spicy carnation. As the top notes settle, I smell creamy wood and sweet vanilla, although the floral notes are really much louder than the base at this point. Regardless, the base seems to deepen the brightness of the floral notes--heady flower nectar meets soothing woody amber. This is one of those fragrances that smells different depending on what distance I take. If I sniff very close to my arm, the florals become intoxicating. If I sniff a bit further away, I smell more of the powder, vanilla and spice. Either way the fragrance is STRONG...not quite the powerhouse that Coco is, but very close.

Eventually the floral notes mellow, and the powder retains a sort of astringent, biting quality that gives the composition some sharpness. The vanilla comes out more at this stage and is soft and sweet. I hesitate to say it is an edible vanilla, but it seems to walk the line--probably a little more vanilla and the fragrance would fall onto the spiced cookie side of the fence. The creamy wood I smelled earlier is not so apparent, although my experience with some orientals is that the woods become so much part of the amber base that they almost can't be distinguished. I actually like when this happens, as I really don't enjoy cedar fragrances that smell like pencil shavings or a hamster cage. In Organza, the wood is smooth and subtle, and probably has some sandalwood sweetening the cedar. I also wonder if there is patchouli in the fragrance, even though it is not listed as one of the notes. Sometimes patchouli has a peppery quality to it that is almost-but-not-quite spice. I keep smelling this peppery note, but it really does not smell like pepper spice.

As I move around, I catch whiffs from a distance, and the vanilla is so lovely--in the drydown it is the central attraction but does not become syrupy or go toward vanilla extract. Since my skin really dries things out, it is possible this could go very sweet on some. As for me, the sweetness is muted, and the vanilla has a fluffy cloud-like quality. The woods continue to be creamy and also a bit sweet. This is where the family resemblance to Organza Indecence comes out, and I love this part of the fragrance development.

In the late drydown, the floral notes are mostly faded, leaving behind a sweet vanilla amber that is soft and a touch powdery. The development went faster than I expected--about 2 hours to get to the base notes, and 6 hours later, the fragrance is mostly a skin scent. I think this is what Estee Lauder Amber Ylang Ylang really wants to be--a soft floral over sweet vanilla amber. To me, Organza does this far more successfully, although the top notes are rather penetrating at first. It is also at this late stage that I can say the vanilla becomes slightly more edible and custard-like, but still keeps arms length from being foody because of the light powder.

I would expect honeysuckle which is weak and transparent in nature would be shadowed by gardenia. But some how it stay there equally. These two are parallel notes and the scent is balanced with two other focuses; jasmine and amber. The result is a very feminine wonderful classic.