Empire Boadicea the Victorious for women and men

This has been such a tough line for me. Empire is a beautiful and feminine peachy scent. Unfortunately it is short lived and light so I am finding it difficult to justify the price point.

A pink cloud of sweetness. No discernible notes except for a synthetic, powdery fruitiness.
Pass.

This was a nice fruity sweet (but balanced) fragrance on the opening and drew attention. I only tested it on my hand to test up close, so I can’t comment on the silage or projection. Compared to other Boadicia’s, I think it wears softer. I don’t think it’s as interesting as some of their other range, but I think it is very nice and quite a safe buy.

Empire leaves me confused; it plays "hide and seek" with me. At first, I really like it. I mean I REALLY like it. It's a gorgeous bright fruity floral that makes you want to eat your arm. It sits relatively close to the skin but for those who have practiced the art of tolerance in fragrances with poor sillage and projection, this is not an automatic deal-breaker. It reminds me a little of Milady which is not a bad thing at all. Same house, great quality, 1/2 the price?! I'm liking this even more. I should totally buy this right now.

Then after about 30-45 minutes, it disappears and I can't smell it anymore. Well, that sucks. Then after a while, it comes back again, almost like it took a nap. Now it's even closer to the skin. Okkk, still not a deal-breaker, I can play. Then it goes away again. I mean...I don't have time for this. But wait... after a couple of hours, it's "oh hello, I'm still here" but clearly even more of a skin scent...SMH! I look at the name again--Empire. Nope, it's more of a lost Empire ..maybe it should be named Atlantis (?!).

When I can smell it, it's really nice. Am I going to buy a full bottle? Probably, because it's still really good. Should I? Nope, I really shouldn't, but I'll most likely do it anyway because in my mind I will be convinced that the full bottle will have a little more dedication. That's what I'm going with.

I got a decant of this in an unmarked bottle, so i had no idea what it was. Like blind wine tasting..

Burst of green floral, limey bergamot, citrus, orange blossom at the beginning, so heavy on the gardenia that i thought it was Chanel's gardenia for ten minutes. You can tell it is very well made like a Chanel fragrance, but there is more than just gardenia and citrus.

Wafts of heavy ripe peach and indolic indian jasmine also which made me rethink, it started to dry down with a white floral musk so i wrongly thought maybe Dior's sakura, because gardenia mimics the nature of jasmine I never got the vanilla, it felt like i was in a garden of flowers, heavy on the white floral.

There is something 80's Jovan musky about it on the dry down, sophisticated older woman, spring or summer scent. The more I wear it the more i like it. My friend told me after an hour of guessing that it was Victorious by Empire Boadicea. It is masterly made.

1st 5 minutes; I got the best fragrance in the World. No, simply out of this world; luscious fruits, sparkling - the notes above without me looking at first conveyed the image of a bright, sweet green apple, full bodied and rich in it's juicyness.

I was this '' close to making a call to save for the month for the £260 gold flacon but then, the monster reared it's head - that very odd 'dragon-blood' flower, a sort of weird honeyed peach spiked with that prehistoric and powerful nectar.

As mysterious and elegant as the package is, the floral (not even very feminine) scent that has cropped up twice now in Bodeacia's perfumes makes me have a nauseous reaction - it's very very rare for a Niche to wreck me in the mid-drydown but this is exactly what happened.

I was kicking, and fuming. But , the one thing I guess is at least my wallet remains fat and healthy, until maybe another one of these wonderful but many a times plain weird creations of luxury can tempt once more.

My rating: 5/10

Way way too feminine.....Gardenia note crushes the other notes by bending the whole fragrance to it's will.

Opening is very fruity with the peach and plum added with some citrus but not overly sweet. Few minutes in the raspberry really starts to pop while being tamed with the florals and sandalwood. I don’t get much patchouli or vanilla. This is a really nice floral raspberry