Every year I go through my Seasonal Rose Curmudgeon Disorder. It’s because the lack of imagination in spring florals bothers me. There are a ton of fresh florals other than rose. There are lots of examples of amazing fresh florals which do not rely on rose; 2004’s Philosophy Amazing Grace uses muguet. It is one of my favorite perfumes to recommend because it is super easy to wear on a spring day. This year it gets some competition from in-house with Philosophy Amazing Grace Jasmine.
Perfumer Cecile Hua-Krakower was behind the original Amazing Grace and she has returned for this new version. What she does is do a subtle reworking of ingredients as jasmine takes precedence over the muguet. She also adds in a new ingredient which makes this even better.
Cecile Hua-Krakower
The sunny citrus top accord remains. This is that feeling of standing in your door as a sunbeam hits you in the face. Lemon has an uplifting effect as it does here. Now we get to the floral core. Jasmine, muguet, and orange blossom made up the heart of the original. They also comprise the heart of this new one. The difference is Mme Hua-Krakower amplifies the jasmine while still giving significant roles for the other two florals. The transparent jasmine is given more substance as the orange blossom adds a deeper tint of white flower. The muguet is used for a fresh green grounding of the accord. It is a beautiful evocation of spring. Then Mme Hua-Krakower adds in a splash of coconut water. It is a surrogate for the watery dewy accords found in less engaging spring florals. Here it adds a dew with a slight tropical kick finding a partner with the jasmine. It all finds itself on an expansive flying carpet of white musks adding lift to everything.
Amazing Grace Jasmine has 8-10 hour longevity and average sillage.
For anyone to whom I have told to give Amazing Grace a try. You should give this a try for this spring. It is different enough to justify owning both. For anyone looking for my 2021 answer to what spring floral can I get without rose. Your answer is right here.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample supplied by Ulta.
–Mark Behnke
