If there is a consistent criticism I carry of the mainstream fruity floral perfumes it that they are overwhelming. Worse is it isn’t usually one or the other it’s both working in concert. It is part of my general antipathy to the genre. I usually try all the new ones which come in with the similar thought that I wish they just dialed it back a bit. I like sweet, it is cloying I am not fond of. I generally file them away with the damning classification in my spreadsheet of “typical fruity floral”. When I received my sample of Anna Sui Fantasia just after Labor Day I expected it to join the others department store fruity florals with the same description. Turns out this was a fruity floral with the right balance to stand out.
If I was going to point to a brand which exemplified much of what I disliked about fruity florals Anna Sui would’ve done the trick as well as many others. Then about a year ago they began working exclusively with perfumer Jerome Epinette. The change was heralded when I received my sample earlier this year of M. Epinette’s Romantica Exotica. Romantica was so overwhelming to me on a strip I didn’t even give it a patch of skin. Romantica Exotica was a set of crisp accords that carried a focus through each stage of the development. Fantasia is an even better example of how to do fruity floral right and that is with including a gourmand praline accord right in the heart. Except M. Epinette is nothing if not a master of keeping all his raw materials in their lanes only crossing over when necessary.
Jerome Epinette
He starts Fantasia with grapefruit, baie rose and a green underpinning of blackcurrant bud. That green goes especially well with the herbal nature of the baie rose and the slightly sulfurous nature of the grapefruit. This provides a shimmery opening which raspberry shades a bit. I braced myself for the raspberry to become too loud but M. Epinette never lets that happen. He adds in a deep Bulgarian rose as support turning the raspberry into jam. This then coats a praline accord which is designed to have a slighter sweet quality than you might expect. The raspberry does supply most of the sweet through the heart without becoming out of control. The base is a clean woody combination of cypress and cedar which also provides some contrast to the sweetness, too.
Fantasia has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
Fantasia is a different kind of fruity floral for the department store counter. I wonder if fans of the genre will gravitate to its less intense style. It could also draw in new fans like me because it finds just the right sweet spot for those who have stayed away in the past.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample provided by Anna Sui.
–Mark Behnke
