Notes: Galbanum, Grapefruit, Violet Leaf, Jasmine Absolute, Broom Absolute, Orris Butter, Patchouli, Vetiver and Styrax
Puredistance put the class back into luxury perfumery. It seems these days that a number of brands in this exclusive niche are focusing on the blinged-out packaging, with the fragrant contents coming as something of an afterthought. Puredistance have elegant, covetable packaging but more importantly, meticulously composed, high quality scents.
Warszawa is their eighth release and the third authored by perfumer Antoine Lie. It promises to transport the wearer to “a dreamy world of old-time chic” and seeing as this is one of my favourite types of fragrance, I’m feeling hopeful…
Warszawa is an uncommon boudoir scent. It’s a powder puff of creamy florals with a glints of galbanum and citrus to start. This allows it to take off without the powder dragging it down. Through its development, it moves from bright green to deepest velvety emerald.
It’s a modern interpretation of the Roaring Twenties with all the glamour and dizzyingly good times that encompasses. Sometimes powdery perfumes can feel dated but Warszawa feels beautifully retro.
Boudoir perfumes are often reminiscent of vintage cosmetics and Warszawa also mines that seam. Picture a woman with Marcel Waves in her lingerie and stockings, who is attending to her toilette before an evening of decadence. From her vanity, she applies rose-scented blush, waxy lipstick and an iris face powder. As a finishing touch, she dabs on a rich jasmine perfume, creating a cloud of lusciousness.
What sets Warszawa apart from most other boudoir/cosmetic fragrances however, is that it has a smooth green overlay. I’ve come across broom absolute in perfumes like Amouage’s Opus III. It’s redolent of overgrown meadows of wildflowers and heaps of honeyed hay. Antoine Lie takes these untamed aromas of nature and moulds them into something incredibly warm, intimate and refined. Vanessa summed up Warszawa perfectly in her Bonkers post as a “forest green corset”.
It’s a full-bodied, kaleidoscopic fragrance that doesn’t have clear demarcations of individual accords or a top/heart/base. Puredistance fragrances tend to be supremely well blended and this is no exception.
Warszawa feels feminine in an entirely grown-up way; it doesn’t equate femininity with syrupy sweetness. This is a ‘heels and winged eyeliner perfume’ and veers nowhere near the nebulous pink fluffiness aimed at the youth market.
Of course a guy can rock anything he chooses but I love it when a truly womanly fragrance is released. Even long-established perfume houses like Guerlain and Chanel are clamouring to woo Millennials, thereby making women over forty feel invisible. Therefore, it’s good to find that Puredistance isn’t chasing the latest trends and has made a perfume that feels like me.
Warszawa is now my favourite fragrance from the collection and with 25% parfum oil, you only need a single spray for knock ’em dead sillage and all day longevity.
Do you long for more fragrance releases that feel like they are aimed at you?
A Bottled Rose 
I love your take on this ‘full-bodied, kaleidoscopic, boudoir scent’. I am mixing and matching from different parts of your review. 😉 The green hints really set it apart from other, sweeter fragrances in this style. And I agree that it is great that PD are thinking of a more womanly customer. I learnt the term ‘Marcel Waves’ too! And thanks for the link to Bonkers.
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You have to admire a well done fragrance that does something a little different with a familiar genre.
Always a rare treat to teach you something new, V!
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Yes, to answer your question straight, I do!
This one does sound great, but I stopped following the puredistance fb profile when year after year a picture of a child won their Xmas competition. I felt offended!
However, Warszawa should come at my local niche perfumery, so I’ll definite give it a sniff, I do so long to fall for a perfume again… and who wouldn’t want to sport “ heels and winged eyeliner”?
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I thought we’d be singing from the same hymn sheet, Asali 🙂
I’ll look forward to your opinion of Warszawa.
I had no idea about the yearly Xmas FB picture competition!
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I don’t like the parfum (too much budoir for my taste) – but I love your exquisite review, T.
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Thanks, M. This one is much more my style than yours.
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What a synchronized timing. I wrote about Warszawa yesterday
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I love perfumeland synchronicity!
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I really really want this. I don’t blind buy very often, but I can see it happening with this one. It sounds so perfect. The image you’ve painted here has upped my wanting significantly. And I too “love it when a truly womanly fragrance is released.” Sigh. Am I delusional to think it’s true love when we haven’t even met yet?
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Don’t do it Lizbee! Blind buys are for cheap thrills only. This is way too expensive and it’s quite unusual. People react differently to green accords so please see if you can try it in a store or order a sample. I hope it lives up to expectations though!
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I quite like this too : just wondering how strong its character actually is though.
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Sure. Maybe time will tell.
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Hi Tara, Wow! Your wonderful review has me placing a Warszawa sample on my next sample order. Love your description. Wishing you a great weekend. Sandra xo
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Really hope you enjoy trying it, Sandra!
Wishing you and yours a wonderful weekend too.
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This sounds so good, Tara. Absolutely, to answer the question at the end of your post. There are some very good crowd-pleasers. But nothing like a fragrance that feels like yours alone! Thanks. R
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We don’t want to feel one of the masses, do we R?!
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