Tuberose is one of the most powerful ingredients in all of perfumery. It is the queen of the white flowers. it is also a versatile ingredient having many aspects for a perfumer to seize upon. One of those aspects which has been seeing more presence lately has been the creamy nature. This is because of the newfound popularity of floral gourmands. One which does it well is Bulgari Splendida Tubereuse Mystique.
Sophie Labbe
The Bulgari Splendida collection began in 2017. I found last year’s Magnolia Sensuel to be a particularly nice study of that floral. What I liked most about it was the use of a high concentration of the floral keynote. That is repeated in Tubereuse Mystique. Perfumer Sophie Labbe takes that concentration and then finds the right ingredients to find the creaminess at the core of tuberose.
Mme Labbe lets her tuberose take center stage. In the early going she uses blackcurrant bud to strum the green chord within. Just as quickly vanilla comes along to allow the cream to rise to the foreground. It keeps it at that level while davana adds a subtle woodiness. The final ingredient which makes this come together is the resin myrrh. As the myrrh oozes into the accord it tunes the sweetness to a warmer level while the vanilla keeps it traditionally sweet. A lot of times myrrh can make a sweet perfume seems medicinal, like cough syrup. Mme Labbe finds the balance which keeps it far away from that.
Tubereuse Mystique has 14-16 hour longevity and average sillage.
If you like your tuberose sweet and creamy this is a perfume you should try. Mme Labbe manages to tease out all of those facets while still retaining a bit of the green and indolic nunaces. It makes for a different take on tuberose.
Disclosure; This review is based on a sample supplied by Bloomingdale’s
–Mark Behnke
