Atropa Belladonna
Shay & Blue (2012)

You've escaped to the woods with your lover for a picnic and it starts to rain. Together, you laugh and giggle as you splash your way over to some leaning trees for shelter. It turns out that she had grabbed dessert before leaving your spot: fresh blackberries dipped in vanilla creme. After you both stop laughing and you eventually catch your breath, with the rain still dripping from your faces, she looks deep into your eyes, puts one of the blackberries in her mouth, and shares it with you through a kiss. Atropa Belladonna by Shay & Blue London.

Get into your time machine 17 years, go off to a perfume counter and go gaga over the newest fragrance in the red plastic cuboid packaging by Tom Ford - namely Gucci Rush.

This has distinct notes of the same fragrance and I can't quite work out what it is because according to the accords in the magical perfumers pyramid the only thing they have in common is vanilla in the base!

There is a definite similarity in the fruitiness and whereas Rush bases itself on the fruit of the millennium the peach, this has attempted to use blackcurrant (as belladonna was unavailable due to a previous engagement with the FDA) under the stagename of cassis liqueur.

Longevity is average, and sillage moderate.

It's one of the better Shay & Blues, not offensive, not rave worthy but certainly not up to the hype it seems to be building for the brand.

This little pack of EDPs is proving disappointing - and on we go with reviewing...

A lovely blackcurrant opening leads to a white floral drydown, with narcissus and hits of muguet on my nose. Later a rich jasmine emerges that is well executed, quite natural and of good quality. A soft patchouli rounds it off, leading into a woodsy tonka base that avoids excessive sweetness.

A pleasant combination with moderate sillage, good projection and a superb longevity of nine hours on my skin. 3.5/5