Burberry
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The rhubarb hits with startling tartness, green and almost unpolished, whilst the mandarin struggles to impose sweetness against it. Jasmine blooms alongside, slightly peppery and caught between floral femininity and that sharp fruit assault, creating immediate tension rather than harmony.
As the rhubarb's aggressive edge softens, the ginger steps forward with genuine warmth, and the composition rebalances into something almost savoury-spiced. The patchouli emerges as a grounding whisper beneath a rose that's taken on a dried, almost herbal quality—less perfume counter, more vintage spice drawer.
Vanilla and gingerbread create an almost biscuity sweetness, supported by benzoin's resinous embrace, whilst faint echoes of the spiced florals linger at the skin's edge. The fragrance becomes intimate and quiet, more comfort than statement, though that tart rhubarb DNA remains subtly detectable.
Brit Red occupies an intriguing liminal space between gourmand comfort and tart, unsettling fruitiness. The rhubarb opening is the revelation here—not the candied rhubarb of desserts, but that peculiar sharp-green bite of the raw stalk, which immediately complicates the mandarin's sweetness and prevents this from becoming a straightforward fruity fragrance. There's an almost savoury quality to how the rhubarb and ginger interact in the early stages, like someone's added an unexpected spice to a fruit compote.
The heart's patchouli is notably restrained—it doesn't anchor the composition so much as provide subtle earthiness beneath the spiced florals. The rose here reads more as dried petals steeped in warming spice rather than a classical floral statement; it curls around the ginger's warmth rather than standing apart from it. This is where Brit Red reveals its true character: a fragrance caught between afternoon tea and evening cocktail, neither fully sweet nor fully savoury.
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4.0/5 (112)