Volupté Oscar de la Renta

Volupté Oscar de la Renta arrives as a densely floral composition that eschews subtlety in favour of immediate, almost aggressive pleasure—a fragrance that announces itself rather than whispers. Sophia Grojsman constructs an opening dominated by freesia's sharp green minerality crashing against watermelon's juicy sweetness, creating an unexpected tension between fruit and flower that's both arresting and slightly discordant. The heart unfolds into a baroque garden where heliotrope and tuberose wrestle for dominance, their almondy warmth mingling with the powdery brightness of peony and the green snap of lily of the valley. This is where the fragrance's personality emerges: opulent without restraint, feminine without apology, though the woody undertones from patchouli and sandalwood prevent it from becoming entirely saccharine.

This is a scent for the wearer unafraid of olfactory presence—someone drawn to full-throated floral declarations rather than measured elegance. It suits the maximalist, the romantic, perhaps the showstopper who treats fragrance as costume jewellery rather than a whispered confidence. Worn in cooler months when its sweetness won't become cloying, or in smaller doses as a bedroom fragrance, it offers genuine comfort in its voluptuous excess. Yet beneath the generosity lies a certain dated quality—a distinctly 1990s sensibility where restraint had not yet become fashionable. The fundamental flaw isn't in composition but in execution: an Eau de Toilette concentration that renders this already-soft composition nearly ephemeral, transforming ambition into frustration.