With bottles that wouldn’t have looked out of place on Marie Antoinette’s dressing table, the French perfume house Parfums de Marly definitely have that aristocratic je nes se quoi about them, and the bottle for their latest fragrance, Delina Exclusif, may be the most ravishingly regal of all!
It’s to the famous ‘perfumed court’ of King Louis XV we are transported to…
Parfums de Marly say: ‘The XVIIIth Century was the indisputed reign of King Louis XV. France was the flagship of fragrances, with Grasse and Paris as its leading places. Everyday, the king requested a different scent for his apartments and streams of aromatic scents sprang from the royal fountains. Renowned for its scent extravagances, the court was named “la cour parfumée” (the perfumed court). The best fragrances of all time were invented during this era by the king’s dedicated perfumer ‘Jean Fargeon’.’
You can read more about that perfumed court, the history and inspiration behind the house of Parfums de Marly, on our page dedicated to them. But for now, let’s hit the (fabulously decadent) bottle…
The delicate pale matte-pink puts us in mind of rosebud lips and faintly flushing cheeks, and topped with a silken rope swag – tassled of course – it hints at the beguilingly feminine fragrance within…
Described as a grown-up twist on the original (which launched last year), the top notes shimmer with bergamot, pear and lychee (in place of the fruitier rhubarb) before descending elegantly to a veil of smokily refined incense, amber and vanilla in the base. From ten minutes in we found it transformed from a come-hither look across a ballroom to a swish of heavy satin across the polished wood and then a full-on candlelit encounter and the aftermath, with powdered wigs askew.
One to be worn by budding Courtesans and those well-versed in the language of fans, we feel – and firmly plant ourselves in this category.
Parfums de Marly Delina Exclusif £210 for 75ml eau de parfum
Exclusive to Selfridges
Written by Suzy Nightingale
