Description
Floral Curiosities is the new fragrance collection created by Ineke Parfums exclusively for Anthropologie
stores.
Four flowers with distinct personalities are represented in the collection. Each flower’s unique character is
expressed through the artistically rendered packaging which will make the Anthropologie customer eager
to showcase them on her vanity. Beautifully presented clear cylindrical glass bottles are enclosed in
boxes decorated by prose in hand-drawn calligraphy. Soft watercolor paintings wash over the packaging
and hint to the hues inside.
Scarlet Larkspur (Delphinium cardinale) Floral Oriental
The scent deepens with notes of claret wine, nutmeg, saffron, amyris wood, tonka bean and bourbon
vanilla after a bright fruity opening consisting of blood orange, red currant and morello cherry. Scarlet Larkspur was launched in 2011. The nose behind this fragrance is Ineke Ruhland.
lakost230 – :
I wish I could write a review to describe this scent, but unfortunately, I can only say it’s not too sweet, not too sour, and the longer I wear it, the better it smells. Sillage and longevity are simply perfect. I bought this one blind, and what a lucky find it was. Seldom do I wear the same scent in a week, or even in a month, but I’ve been wearing this one at least every other day for the past month. I also bought a back-up bottle, which I almost never do. I don’t know that I’d describe this as an Oriental, but for me, it’s a perfect floral, non-sweet fruity scent I’d love to bathe in. I don’t think I could love it more.
Quad – :
What an interesting use of cherry! Rich and creamy blending with powdery saffron notes but still mainly a floral scent.
I’m thinking I may like this better in warmer weather. As it settled it became a nondescript floral but the cherry and warmer notes came back when I breathed on it.
lequh2 – :
Frankly, bad. No cherry, no hint of gourmand, just a horrid, thin, chemical cleaning formula. It’s awful, really very bad and I long to wash it off. I have bought disinfectant with nicer aromas.
sasha4com – :
This is beautiful, it’s not a cough medicine cherry, it’s like wine that settles into a balmy, sweet sangria aroma that smells luxurious and unique. It’s quite different to other cherry fragrance offerings that I have come across and it’s at a fantastic price on Amazon at the moment!
Foepulttola – :
What an unusual scent. I’ve worn this a few times and I still don’t really know what to make of it. During the opening, I smell a fruity-floral sweetness, but it is much more refined than a celebrity fruity-floral. I really enjoy how the cherries are not like cough syrup here, which is unfortunately how I found them to be in Guerlain’s Petite Robe Noire. They still are very sweet, but here they have more of a natural fruitiness, which I find to be more tolerable.
As the scent mellows into something more fluid and velvety, what starts to bother me most is the general very “perfumy” sort of smell that this has. I have no idea what this indicates, but my guess is the red wine. It’s a sweet, tenacious “perfumy” smell, that really crowds out everything else for me, because, in addition to the fruits, I can only otherwise detect some sort of unfamiliar floral in the background. I really wanted for it to stop. The overall impression was just too much for me.
The sillage is moderate to heavy and far stronger than I had anticipated. It smells rather translucent to me, and I actually preferred the smell of the sillage to the scent on my wrist. This scent is like a painting much better admired from afar, but not as good when examined in close detail. Longevity is for about 4-5 hours.
genakokt – :
Claret wine dominates Scarlet Larkspur with the opening notes of blood orange, red currant and morello cherry lending a tart juicy counter to the melange of spices developing in the heart. As the vanillic woods seep in softening the spices and fruit, this fragrance transitions from a deep red wine to a balmy sangria.
alekAAA – :
Fantasia Larkspur transmogrified to reality by the worth of a womans’ kiss.
sasha2011 – :
Scarlet Larkspur… I want to be wearing you while my beloved and I are laying on a blanket in a field of wildflowers. Drinking pomegranate wine between kisses.
This is going to be a wonderful scent for an evening in late spring or summer. I can really understand what others are describing as its’ translucency. It is a touch sweet, a bit sour. I’ve never seen Larkspur in real life, but now I want to. This is a unique fragrance that I’m glad to have in my collection.
nebourround – :
Very nice scent, but for me, it’s missing something.
I was looking for this one for ages, as the notes listed implied to something I would very much enjoy.
Yet somehow, on my skin this is more of a flowery, powdery sort of fruity scent, with no wine whatsoever.
This scent is nice, sweet and inoffensive, something I can wear almost everywhere, yet it lacks that certain “je ne sais quoi” to make it a real winner.
Angedhornedug – :
Fruity candy, too sweet and lacking in depth.
ArtNika2011 – :
This is described as a spicy fruity fragrance. Normally this type of fragrance would seem too sweet or too heavy for me, but this scent is light and heavenly. Sweetnspicey described it as translucent and I think that is the perfect description. It does not have any of the syrupy sweetness that I associate with many cherry scents or wine based scents. Nor is Scarlet Larkspur too tart like many currant scents. It is a perfect mix of fresh and outdoorsy with spice and a bit of more floral sweetness that is just beautiful. It also lasts well. I could smell it very well today after swimming in chlorinated water for an hour and the beauty of the scent was not diminished at all.
This is a very versatile scent and could easily be worn in summer as long as you don’t overspray. It has an ethereal and floral essence to it that is truly gorgeous. I don’t know how I had let his beauty languish on my shelf. I’m wearing it often!
TarSaftirrapy – :
I SO wanted to fall in love with this perfume, but sadly it just was not for me. All I got was staight up wine with thick cherry syrup. It was cloying and overwhelming on me. I smelled like a child that threw up cough syrup. My chemistry just got it all wrong. The bite of the wine turned into stomach acid and any sweet notes turned into cough syrup. It may be nice on someone else, but boy did it smell terrible on me! I’m getting nauseated just remembering how it smelled.
OnekHeins – :
I just received it in a swap and I have to say this is not what I expected. A couple of years ago I grew these flower from seed, they are spectacular in every way except scent , haha. But I associate the color scarlet with something fiery and exuberant, and so I was beyond excited to try Ineke s interpretation on the subject.
Well, my skin rethinks everything in its own terms. All listed notes smell differently on me. The fragrance begins fresh and fruity, but with a strong minty undercurrent , mint is not listed anywhere . In the middle notes I get something that reminds me of fresh coffee and in particular Jo Malone Black Vetyver Cafe! The fragrance becomes warmer and spicier, before turning cool and flowery fresh and lightly vanillic in the end .
The bottle is charming with its fabric label just like they all are in the line. I love the way the notes are presented on the box, with their particular colors the lasting power and projection are both moderate to average, just fine for. A spring or summers day.
All in all a lovely, fresh and adventurous scent , that will take you in a soft and happy journey, a journey that is more about well being than it is about being memorable
owu6ka – :
This perfume is so many (beautiful) things all at one time–sweet, fruity, spicy. I love the combination of sweet cherry and nutmeg, which is unique and phenomenal. Scarlet Larkspur’s notes seem like they could be heavy, but despite the spice and everything else going on, it retains a certain translucence, a quality that all of the Anthropologie Ineke perfumes seem to possess.
Could work for hot or cold weather–fruitiness coming out more in the heat, and spice coming out more in the cold.
Scarlet Larkspur is so unlike anything else I’ve smelled that I am having a difficult time coming up with further words. All I know is that I really, really like it!
I think I am going to need to own the whole series. Two down, two to go!
xander40 – :
I have been meaning to review Ineke SCARLET LARKSPUR for quite some time now, having acquired a bottle back in September 2011. Each time I wear this perfume, I find myself unable to grasp exactly what it is. The first time I donned it, I was sampling the Floral Curiosities series (of which this is one member) at an Anthropologie store in Boston. I had vowed not to buy any more perfumes scent unsniffed, so I made the trek downtown to give these special limited edition creations a try.
It was a hot day outside, and I had walked a few miles, so when I got inside the store I basically doused myself with the tester bottle. The perfume was not too loud or strong, and it both felt and smelled refreshing, so that was part of the reason. But I returned to the tester bottle again a couple more times because I just couldn’t figure out what this was supposed to be.
SCARLET LARKSPUR is not exactly gourmand but also not exactly fruity floral. Instead, it falls somewhere in between. I would compare this to the better members of the Salvatore Ferragamo INCANTO series, because this fragrance, too, has a brightness and conveys a sense of cheery optimism. The difference is that the components in this SSRI launch seem entirely natural to my nose. The problem with BLISS and BLOOM is that although on good days they smell great, on bad days they become vaguely annoying. No such problem with this Ineke creation, I am happy to be able to say.
The tightly blended notes are not easily disentangled, but there is an overall feeling of reddishness. This composition is fruity without really seeming fruity, as contradictory as that may sound. I really don’t know how to describe the scent, but I like it, though I usually do not like fruity-floral compositions all that much. I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes bright, optimistic fruity floral fragrances, but I think that some who usually shun that category may like it as well. SCARLET LARKSPUR is an affable, pretty creation. It is at once both inoffensive and strangely appealing.
Kedyjoype – :
So, I’m wearing Scarlet Larkspur on the inside and outside of my arms, as well as my décolletage.
Am I crazy for preferring what I’m smelling when I stick my nose down the front of my blouse, compared to what I’m sniffing on my arms?
What I smell on my arms is a light boozy, fruity mix: pleasant enough, but nothing to write home about. On my chest: it’s a soft powdery floral dry-drown. (Maybe it’s a combination of fragrance plus my clothing’s fabric softener that I’m experiencing.)
Lovely. Glad I tried it. Thanks for the sample. onaona!
Raik88ru – :
Scarlet Larkspur – you saucy minx! When I walk up to a display of perfumes that I don’t know, I generally avoid the one with the “sexy” name and bright red packaging. That usually hints at a spicy oriental fragrance that will make my wrist smell like I dunked it in red curry.
Not so with Scarlet Larkspur! Velvety, soft and decadent – this is a winter evening scent that I can actually get behind. I want to wear this one with a cashmere sweater, while eating a red velvet cupcake with one hand, and petting a sleeping kitten with the other. Can we all get behind the idea that in-your-face, stiletto stomping scents are not always the sexiest? Sometimes, it’s the simple things that count.