Flowerbomb Tiger Lily
Eau de Parfum, Viktor & Rolf (2024)

This is much too sweet for me. I don’t like it at all. The first 15 minutes or so are excruciating, so much so that I almost scrubbed it. This was after a small spray on each wrist from the sample I received with a purchase from Macy’s. It calmed down but it is still not something I will ever wear again.

If this contains mango, it isn't ripe one whatsoever, because there's a truly unexpected sour, nearly bitter edge to this fragrance that is utterly unexpected. V&R perfumes have all (including the men's line) been quite sweet to me. This is by far the outlier.

Real lilies have a bitter facet to their fragrance, and I'm impressed by how this manages to accurately display it. It's really quite good perfumery at play. The other florals are supportive, but on my skin it's mostly true lily. Actually...if anything, lily and tuberose (which it doesn't profess contain) because that coconutty note adds a creaminess to the florals. Because this is so well-blended, it tricks the mind into believing there's tuberose.

This honestly is lovely, and I enjoy it more than the original (B&BW's "Sensual Amber" is a better alternative to Flowerbomb in my opinion anyway). It has a distinct heady, tropical vibe, and it's warm in it's drydown, it feels like sunset.

But...this is the *back* of a tropical island. It's a little rougher and less manicured, the flowers are more bitter, and there's less tourism. This is not a generic frangipani+coconut (not that I have anything against those fragrances), it's more wild and unexpected.