The Penhaligon's Series: Ellenisia Review

I discovered Penhaligon's Perfumes by accident. It was a brand that I had never heard of until one day when I purchased a DJ's tote bag (you know the ones - spend over $50 and buy a tote bag filled with samples worth $200 for $19.95...or something along those lines), and in it was a 2ml sample of Penhaligon's Ellenisia. I was slightly intrigued, although distracted by all the other new goodies I now had to play with, so the perfume got put aside. A few days later, as I was heading out, I grabbed the sample. The second the fragrance touched my wrist, and the intoxicating aroma hit my nose, I was smitten. It was love at first sniff. This was the most beautiful, heady, intensely feminine fragrance I had encountered. To breathe it in made me feel euphoric. This was unlike any fragrance I had ever experienced.

According to Penhaligon's, Ellenisia is an 'extravagant floral with armfuls of heady white blooms wrapped in swathes of sweet plum and vanilla. As the green shock of the violet and mandarin settle you can close your eyes and just picture the bouquets of gardenia, jasmine and tuberose; a tumble of scented petals. Then the slow simmering sugared plums appear, whipped through with sweet and creamy vanilla. Elegant and utterly magical'.

Ellenisia has head notes of mandarin zest and violet leaf, though I personally couldn't detect the mandarin zest. To my nose, there is no hint of citrus but this is not a bad thing as I am not a huge fan of citruses. The middle notes are gardenia, rose, tuberose and jasmine. These notes can be detected within about five minutes of spraying the perfume and are what I love so much about it. It really is a bouquet of white flowers. Finally, the base notes are plum nectar and vanilla. While the perfume never loses its floral notes it does settle down into a delicious, sweet, creamy floral.

This perfume is incredibly versatile. I find that it works equally as well as a day or night fragrance and surprisingly I crave it in both summer and winter. I think that in summer I am attracted to the fresh florals whilst in winter it is the creamy vanilla dry down that I love so much. I am a massive floral fan and this is one of my favourite perfumes of all time. Within days of testing this sample I had purchased a full bottle and I hope that it never gets discontinued as I can't imagine my life without Ellenisia in it.

Do you have a perfume that you can't live without?

All opinions stated in this blog are my own. I have no affiliation with Penhaligon's. I purchased this perfume with my own money.