Gilded is a woody spicy fragrance that launched in 2020. Created by Joshua Smith, it features top notes of cardamom, ginger and cinnamon; middle notes of orange blossom, immortelle and brown sugar; and base notes of frankincense, opoponax and pale woods. Gilded is an eau de parfum, edp.
Libertine Fragrance is an independent North American perfume house, blending, bottling and labeling perfumes by hand in Canada. All Libertine Fragrances are vegan and cruelty free and are unisex.
Fragrantica: This is by far my favorite Libertine perfume. I love what this house is doing, but unfortunately most of their scents don’t mix well with my body chemistry. Gilded is the biggest exception. Both longevity and projection are absolutely beast mode on me; I easily get 10+ hours. I don’t get a lot of the sweetness listed in the scent profile. On me, Gilded is mostly woody and spicy, but I don’t mind that. The longer it’s on my skin, the better it smells, especially in warm weather.
Fragrantica: A unique and very special fragrance. The cardamom / immortelle combo is *chef's kiss*. After exploring the discovery set, I split a full bottle with a friend and we both love it. Performance isn't amazing, but for this, I wear it more for myself anyway ... when I need to feel truly "Gilded". I can understand why it's not for everyone, but I cannot find anything about it to dislike! I encourage anyone curious about Libertine Fragrance to pick up the sampler set. There's a unique approach to perfumery here that I haven't experienced elsewhere.
Fragrantica: A truly sublime opening on first spray, like standing on the dry pine needle covered floor of a forest east of the rocky mountains in the summer and the heat from the sun strikes the beads of golden sap trickling down the side of a tree onto the bark. It settles quickly from there and the flowers start to rise up out of this arboreal first impression. And then the spice, the cardamom, a bit like crushing a green pod in your hand. What I love about this composition is that, much like Kerosene's fragrances, this smells like real things from the real world layered on top of one another to paint an olfactory image. But unlike Kerosene the inspiration here is clearly nature and being with nature, rather than the human-built environment and the cultural productions of our activity. This is fragrance as the plant world would design it, and I love it. Masterful work.
Fragrantica: If you're worried about smelling like a pastry while wearing Gilded, don't be. The spice notes are warm - I didn't get bitter like other reviewers - and the sweetness is just right, meaning hardly sweet at all. There's a definite sweetness to it, but it's not cloying like lots of "sweet" perfumes. Comparing the cardamom vs cinnamon notes, the scent skews hard to cardamom as the primary spice. The spiciness is smooth and not peppery. I bought 1.5 ml spray and will soon be getting a bottle.
Fragrantica: Holy. I LOVE this fragrance. It is warm, spicy, sweet, sticky, and woody. It's perfectly unisex, personally I think leaning more feminine but I am a woman if that makes any difference. It lasts around well over 12 hours on my skin. Sillage is within arms length. Dry down is a little creamier and woodier, less of the sharp aromatic notes that you get at the beginning. Perfect for cold weather and rainy days. It feels like wearing a warm wool blanket. EDIT: I’ve been wearing this in warm weather this summer and it’s just as good as in cold weather. Beast mode performance. Lasts 15+ hours on my skin easily, even in hot weather.
Fragrantica: This perfume plunged me right back to my undergraduate memories of being awoken on an Indian night train to a man selling me piping hot chai in a dixie cup, on my way from Goa to Mumbai. Milky, spicy, warm, metallic. Absolutely delicious, and lasts forever. Can't wait to buy a full bottle.
