The Botanical Garden (Perfume Review: Florabotanica, Balenciaga)

The concept of "Florabotanica," the House of Balenciaga's latest scent is very alluring: Nicolas Ghesquiere envisioned  a floral garden filled with flowers, and he says they are random flowers, including some dangerous and wild florals. That, coupled with a beautiful bottle, made me want to try this perfume right away. Plus, I was looking forward to this, their follow up to Balenciaga Paris, which is one of my favorite commercial releases of recent years. I haven't had a chance to sample this until recently, and I was so excited that I gave my whole left arm to it, even spraying liberally as would normally wear perfume. It opens floral, alright, citrusy, stems, petals, even leaves. Then it blooms to a floral heart of carnation, and rose. The greens and slight bitters that made it somewhat interesting abruptly leave, and then it turns linear hereon - that soapy generic floral that is interchangeable with any other perfume out there. It is boring, it is generic, it is disappointing. It veers into clean territory for the rest of the journey. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster with one big swoop, and then turns straightforward. I wonder why this is so boring: is it because it is marketed to the  Twilight audience, as it is fronted by the almost sourpuss Kristin Stewart? At this point, I may have preferred a sour fragrance, to the facial expressions of Ms. Stewart.  As I think about it, I have another scent that is evocative of Mr. Ghesquiere's idea: Wild Of Flowers by Philosophy.  Maybe I should revisit that one next. It's a shame with this one, though. I wanted very much to like this.