Anna Sui is so far still my favourite from this house. It has the melancholy romantic pretty Anna Sui style in a bottle. Finding the perfect signature scent is hard. It can take hours of spritzing samples at stores before we are able to narrow the search down to a few, and then choosing just one takes time too. Before you get spray-happy with the sample bottles, I’m here (as a professional astrologer) to help guide you towards finding the most ideal scent for you, based on your Sun sign’s personality, inclinations, preferences, and DNA. Yes, the cosmos can help provide insight into the type of perfume that you are drawn to and will fall in love with at first smell. Aries Update: Maybe this used to last years ago; but sadly not any more because this is one of the fastest disappearing scents I own. Tested this again from another store; with a new tester bottle. At first I thought it smelt a little stronger on the paper strip and on skin; but when I got home and compared the two, both fragrances had this unfortunate disappearing act. Sprayed onto clothing it lasts a bit longer. So must be a skin thing. Tried layering with a rose scented body lotion; same problem. I must confess I rejected her at first, she was a gift that gathered dust on my shelf for about a year. (Shhh, I do not care for her looks, I admit, I have been shallow).

Soon it goes softer, smells like sugar water, rose water and soap combined; it makes me feel cold a little bit, I guess it’s due to the iris, but this is not the coldness which makes you feel uneasy or sad, instead, it makes me feel calm and thinking about having a cup of tea while watching the snow falling from the sky in a silent winter night, when it’s warm and fuzzy inside. The fragrance seems to project more than I initially thought. When I used it before, I got the impression that it sat very close to the skin, but now I can smell it wafting about. It lasts longer than I thought too. I sprayed this about nine hours ago or so, and although the smell is now softer on the skin, it still wafts up from my shirt. Very pretty and comforting.

It may be considered "gothic" and decadent because of the colours of the bottle and/or maybe its design (beautiful, but doesn't it owe more to Sui's Chinese origin?), or maybe because it smells like vintage cosmetics (?) Anna Sui starts with lemon (as in lemon biscuit or lemon cheesecake) and light rose scent, it’s not uplifting, but pretty enough, and projects well the purple characteristic of Anna Sui juice inside the gothic bottle; it is not a immediate ‘wow’, but instantly like and I feel nothing against it at all (unlike some other perfumes, I would smell something too ‘plastic’/synthetic). I think this can be worn by a woman/girl of any age, but it is a female's scent in my mind, for certain. I think it’s most suitable for Spring/Summer. It's not serious, but it's not silly either. At this point in my life, this is a "mood fragrance". But no lie...I've been spraying a little obsessively since I got my new bottle. And YES, it's because there is little to no longevity. (The only downside imo) Just like all the other Anna Sui fragrances I’ve tried, it doesn’t last long. Within two hours, what I can smell is something really close to the skin, powdery, cosy, slightly rosy, a tiny bit almond-y, pretty and feminie, but no sillage at all.

Let me preface this review by saying I love all things Victorian, as I think the fashion and architecture of the era was just plush and beautiful.What makes this fragrance more special for me is the way in which the iris-rose combo, which makes this juice powdery and somewhat mysterious, combines with the more refreshing, luminous and uplifting nuances provided by the fruity notes. This is what makes me want a bigger bottle, but it's going to be difficult because since its discontinuation in my country we can only find 30 ml bottles like mine. Sadly, not many of her perfumes live up to that aesthetic. Many of them are insipid watery "fruity-floral" concoctions that smell more shampoo than perfume. Perhaps one of the only ones that smell "Anna Sui" to me is the original Anna Sui. I agree that it is a sweet, fairytale scent - but not one for a pretty pink glittery princess. This is a haunted castle, a poisoned apple, a purple rose whose thorns drip blue blood from wounded wood nymphs.