The Perfect Summer Scent? Liz Earle Botanical Essence Eau de Parfum No 1

I was sent Liz Earle Botanical Essence Eau de Parfum No 1 for consideration a couple of months ago, and it has become a bit of an everyday staple for me since then.  In fact, I've nearly used up the bottle, so I have requested a second bottle for my birthday in a couple of weeks.

Like all Liz Earle products I've used to date, this is beautifully designed.  The Eau de Parfum is contained in a class and chic square glass bottle, with a chunky stopper.  It comes packaged in a sturdy pull-out cardboard drawer, so it looks good on your dressing table, whether you keep the outer packaging or not.  The packaging is very solid  - I took in on holiday with me without the cardboard drawer, and it survived two long-haul flights without breaking - quite a risky thing to do really!

I find it so hard to describe the smell of perfumes, but I'll give this one a go.  On first spray, it smells like a combination of mown grass and a forest in the rain - it's quite powerful, but this quickly subsides, and a more richer and deeper smell is detectable, with a hint of sweetness.  The richer smell then develops further, combining a very slight sweetness, with a deeper, yet somehow fresher smell, with a hint of citrus.  After a while, the scent develops to a slightly nutty aroma, with a herby, pine smell also detectable, bringing out fresher notes in the perfume.  Finally, once the scent has settled on the skin for an hour or so, I swear it smells lightly of chocolate, but with only the slightest hint of sweetness. This is how it reads on my skin, and I love it.

It's not a strong or heady scent, and I would definitely class it as more suitable for day wear rather than at night.  As I mentioned, I used it on holiday, and it was the perfect summer daytime fragrance.  It's the sort of smell that wouldn't offend anyone by being too strong, or catch in your throat.  However, it provides a relatively long-lasting daytime scent.  If I apply it first thing, I can still detect it after I've finished work.  However, it does wear off eventually, and you would need to top up if you were going out in the evening.  I have got through my bottle of this pretty quickly, as I've been quite liberal with its application.  I'm not sure if this is because it is quite lightly scented, or whether it's because I've abandoned most of my other perfumes in place of this!

I'm personally not a fan of grand, sickly sweet and artificial scents.  I generally tend towards fresher and more citrus note fragrances, such as my all time favourite Paco Rabanne XS Pour Elle, or Boss Orange Sunset.  Therefore, the Liz Earle Botanical Essense Eau de Parfum No 1 could be a fragrance designed specifically for me!

I've deliberately written this review without looking at the ingredients list.  However, looking at the list now, it contains the following ingredients:

Bergamot Essential Oil, Geranium Essential Oil, Lavender Essential Oil, Coriander Essential Oil (perhaps this is the herby smell), Vetiver Essential Oil (the grassy smell?), Tonka Bean Absolute, Patchouli Essential Oil, Mandarin Essential Oil, Bitter Orange Oil (those are the citrus scents), Cardamom Essential Oil, Nutmeg Essential Oil (the nuttiness and chocolate?), Cedarwood - Texan Essential Oil and Damask Rose Absolute.

This can be purchased from the Liz Earle website for £40.35, or from other Liz Earle stockists.  As I've said above, I have requested a second bottle of this, as I think I will get a lot of use out of it over the summer.  If you're after a light, delicate fragrance for day wear, I would recommend you have a sniff of this!

DISCLAIMER: This item was provided free of charge for review purposes.  This has not influenced my review in any way - I always express my honest opinion on any product I review.