Some of the most exuberant ingredients in perfume tend to defy description. That’s not really true. What I mean is the biggest powerhouses can smell different depending on who is encountering it. One ingredient I have heard the most different descriptions for is the queen of white flowers, tuberose. This kind of malleability can be used to the advantage of a perfumer.
Romano Ricci
I had never noticed it until another perfume lover pointed it out to me. Tuberose can smell a bit like a stick of bubble gum. Once that thought was planted in my head, I have been open to experiencing that when the floral is used. Most of the time it is a facet which is not deliberately enhanced. Juliette has a Gun Lili Fantasy decided it was time to give it a try. Romano Ricci has never shied away from making these kinds of confrontational choices from the beginning of his brand. In this case he creates a bubble gum accord to go with tuberose.
If you’ve ever unwrapped a piece of bubble gum it is coated in a sugary powder. You get the confectionary scent underneath. M. Ricci fashions a realistic version of this. From out of the candy comes the tuberose. It is as if you were holding a piece of gum and a flower blooms from inside of it. Because of the bubble gum accord a lot of the other pieces of tuberose aren’t prominent or even noticeable. As it develops one of the hallmarks of the brand is its use of ambrox. Because he has relied on it so often M. Ricci has become adept at using it. In this situation it adds an ambery wrapper for the candy.
Lili Fantasy has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
There is a brand of bubble gum called Double Bubble. As I wore Lili Fantasy I kept thinking about that. The only thing missing was the comic which accompanied the real thing.
Disclosure: This review was based on a sample I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
