Boudoir (1998)
by Vivienne Westwood

Boudoir is a tuberose and amber assault on the senses. After loosing some teeth, my dentist advised me to refrain from wearing this again...

Boudoir is certainly not the opulent, powdery, Amouage interpretation of sensuality that I expected. The opening is heavy, thick, darkly floral, hinting at a plush, musty sexuality: It is powdered and ambered, but earthy and readily obtainable, still… it’s far from being skanky. It’s sweet but it is more opaquely intimate than it is sweet. The tobacco note comes through strongly for me and carries the heavy red rose, the cinnamon, and the patchouli with it to achieve its uniquely indulgent warmth. It’s a fragrance potent and shameless in its implications, and it’s entirely feminine.

It doesn’t smell at all like them, but it provides the same innuendos and suppositions as those old civet laden chypres of the past. Just as with those old chypres, I love the sensual, earthy sophistication of this one… It is a remarkable scent.

Within minutes, this turns into an overwhelming scent reminiscent of Tuberose, which I cannot tolerate though I wish I could. This tenacious scent eventually evolves into something that reminds me of what new lingerie should smell like--pink, mesh, woven with ribbons. It lives up to its name. It smells like a Boudoir strewn with lingerie and feminine frippery. Not for those who prefer Oriental or Woody scents.

This is my very first scrubber! I was so looking forward to trying it, but it was just so sweet, with an underlying *something* that actually turned my stomach. The whole effect made me feel irritatable and sick. Just awful sweet powder and sickening something. Like perfume sprayed on something dead to ward off the smell.

Heavy, a luxurious, intimate & very elegant of fragrance with viburnum, marigold, rose & orange blossom. My husband does not like it but I start to like it. This is different smelling. not sweet at all but sensual femininity.

It’s not that I don’t like this, it smells good, it’s rich, and has an intriguing vibe of ‘c’mere, baby, and let me hold you close’, combined with, ‘I’m too hot for you, boy, you’re going to have to work very hard to get into my arms’. Perhaps that’s an attitude I can’t carry off, or maybe it was revealed as a poseur all along, but I don’t find it very wearable. I swear, it gets stronger and more aggressive on me as the hours pass, I start to have regrets, and it’s all a bit ‘the morning after’. I do find it well done; it’s reputed to have a ‘ladies’ parts’ note, which may be the viburnam, viburnam has a ‘fleshy’ quality, although orange blossom sometimes smells that way to me. For anyone with the enthusiasm to wear it, go ahead, but it demands more energy from me than I’m up for.