Boadicea The Victorious Luxury Perfumes sample reviews

Boadicea the Victorious is a fragrance line I've been intrigued by for a while. I like the idea of another British fragrance house, and the celtic-inspired bottle design is gorgeous to look at. However there are thirty five fragrances in the line and that's just too many to narrow down at once in person for me. I pass by the fragrance counter in Selfridges, look at the bottles, sniff one or two and then get overwhelmed. Although I still curse Tom Ford a little bit for discontinuing Moss Breches, I can appreciate the discipline of having a very tightly edited line in his Private Blend collection.

This is why I think having sample sizes available for a reasonable fee at the new online boutique is a good idea. The online boutique is at www.btvboutique.com, and samples are £1.10 each. This gives an opportunity to browse the different fragrances at leisure and sample a few that appeal, rather than risk being confused at a counter. At this price (these start at £90 for 50ml) you'd want to make a well-considered choice rather than an impulse buy.

I was sent a handful of sample vials to try by the online PR officer for the brand, and here are my thoughts on the scents I've tried so far:

Energizer is a green citrus. As well as the grapefruit and bergamot, there's tomato leaf in the opening to my nose, and the heart and base have a good dose of vetiver as well as a clean musk note. This is a good Sunday morning fragrance for me - it's perky without being obnoxious. This would work just as well on a man.

Seductive - opens with herby camphor and eucalyptus notes on my skin (the top note is listed as rosemary). I then get a sweeter fresh pine and the pepper note becomes apparent after about 10 minutes on the skin, slowly morphing into a clean musk. After half an hour the warm amber and patchouli notes develop with the resins, although it's still not heavy on my skin. I don't get a lot of sandalwood, which I'm quite pleased about, as sandalwood isn't something I enjoy dominating a perfume (I can't wear Jo Malone Amber & Ginger Lily due to the heavy sandalwood usage). Overall, I find the effect of freshening an amber/resin blend with a pine/camphor top note very pleasing. Another good unisex fragrance.

Regal - very fleeting green leafy notes at first, then lots of warm floral jasmine and rose with amber. As it warms on my skin I get more rose than jasmine, and the agarwood becomes more apparent with a slight tobacco-y note to the warm woody base.  This is definitely an evening fragrance for me, and not an office one; it has serious throw and lasts all day. This is a more feminine fragrance to my nose.

Immortal - well I get bubbles, but unfortunately on my skin they are very soapy. This one doesn't agree with my body chemistry at all, but stayed very soapy-smelling for at least half an hour until I finally had to wash it off. This is a bit odd, because the notes from the description sound very similar to those in Regal: a green opening, rose heart and agarwood base. I suspect it is the aldehyde in the opening that disagrees with me.

Changes I'd like to see on the website: clearer, more consistent fragrance descriptions/note breakdowns. Some of the scents have essays written on them (Immortal), others are so abstract as to be unhelpful; e.g. Pure: 'An innocent fragrance with a twist. The initial simplicity is deceptive as it grows into a perfume for all seasons'. That doesn't tell me what it actually might smell like. It's not until you click onto one of the bottles to buy it that you get a breakdown of the main top, heart and base notes in a particular scent.

Disclosure: sample vials were provided without charge.