Penhaligon's Gardenia - My New Favourite Perfume

I don't know where to begin with this post. I feel like I have SO much to say about Penhaligon & their amazing Gardenia perfume, but I'll try not to ramble on ^.^

From the first time I saw a Penhaligon's store, I was captivated by just about everything in the store; from its beautiful displays, its traditional perfumes, the originality... I was entranced.

Founded in 1870 in Mayfair, Penhaligon still sells original compositions from that date. It has other compositions on future dates such as 1872, 1902, 1927, 1930, 1949 all the way to (currently) 2009 !
I like the fact that the interior of the store and the design of its bottles stayed old fashioned, as they were. Preserved through time.

I knew that one day I definitely will be getting a Penhaligon perfume. I smelt so many of their perfumes. Most of them are mature, some are very strong and all of them are completely unique in their own way.
But when I tried Gardenia, it was like magic created - like a genie appearing from a lamp; almost like I was transported to a mystical surreal garden.
It caught me by that big of a surprise that the first time I sprayed it on two years ago, I kept bugging a friend of mine to smell it continuously and couldn't stop talking about how wonderful and unique it smells.
It's absolutely spell-bounding...
With a price tag of £98, this was way out of my range. As much as I wanted it, I couldn't allow myself to spend that much!

So I was so excited when I got this as a present. I immediately pushed all my collection of perfumes further back on my shelf and put Gardenia right at the front in its box.

It has become my favourite perfume.
The more I smell it, the more I discover something about it and I like it more and more.

Gardenia was launched in 1976. This is one perfume that I have a hard time describing (I tried to think about exactly how to describe it before this post, but couldn't come up with suitable descriptions), so I have taken most of its descriptions from Penhaligon's site. It's very unique, complex...truly one of a kind.

Its composition is the following:

Head Notes
Violet, Rhubarb, Bergamot, Hyacinth, Magnolia, Green Leaves

Heart Notes
Gardenia, Rose, Ylang, Orange Blossom, Tuberose, Jasmine, Clove, Cinnamon, Lily of the Valley

Base Notes
Benzoin, Sandalwood, Musk, Vanilla

One of the most striking and amazing thing is that you can make out each and every one of these notes when you smell Gardenia. They're all distinguisable, something that, I think, is very rare. I also like the high composition of Jasmine in it.

Penhaligon notes:

Our fine fragrances are made in England using the finest rare ingredients; from hand-squeezed bergamot, to jasmine at twice the price of gold. Our signature Penhaligon’s fragrance bottle is to William Penhaligon's original design: clear glass with a distinctive ribbon-wrapped top.

Inside Penhaligon. I captured these pictures to show you how one of their stores look like. I admire the timeless designs and bottles of perfumes...

Even their wrapping paper is amazing (yes. I kept it haha!)