Spinning around [reviewing Darling 2021 edp, by Kylie Mnogue]...

“Darling holds a special place in my heart. I’m so happy to be able to share this beautiful scent with my fans once more.” - Kylie Minogue 

The original Darling was launched to great success in 2006 and with Kylie’s continued success, it is no surprise that Darling is making a comeback.

The bottle and pack design reimagine the original through a modern lens, a shimmery pink, sleek shape with a lace-textured cap and all the glamour of the original. Perfumer Ilias Eremendis captured the beauty of the original scent architecture but in a modern, vegan formula.

Darling is a floral fragrance as thrilling as the pop darling who inspired it...

I was a huge Kylie fan through her Parlophone era, and I remember Darling really well; it was an edt and a had really poor aura  & very weak longevity, but I convinced myself that it was great and went through several bottles really quickly, as you practically had to bathe in the stuff and reapply it every couple of hours. As a result of the poor longevity & weak aura, I wouldn't detect much, other than passion fruit, vanilla and sandalwood.

Fast forward to 2022, when I discovered that Darling had been re-released last year, in a new edp formula; I was actually really excited to receive my online order, and started the testing & note-taking period immediately upon receiving it.

I'm expecting to discover a whole new fragrance, as a more intense formulation & improved longevity should help me to separate more individual notes. Ready to find out how it went?

Like the original Darling, the first scent note that I can separate is the passion fruit, but it is not nearly as strong as I remember it being in the original edition. The lychee is so mild that it is something that I can't always separate from the passion fruit, sometimes it seems more like pomegranate to me?

I'm not familiar with bonoria and could never separate any florals whatsoever in the original, but I'm guessing that it is the nicotine-like scent here. I really like how this rich & darker floral bounces off of the sweet fruits and freesia. The listed lily and vanilla notes are also detectable in the background; I usually find lily chilly, but the gentle vanilla warms it up a touch.

The narcotic darkness, patchouli and hint of vanilla dominate Darling, before it all gradually fades into a faint scent of something herby, envoloped in a musky sandalwood. I quite like the traditionally masculine feel of the base blend, which reminds me of one of my brother's favourite body sprays when we were kids - he'd practically bathe in it, and the bathroom would have the lingering scent of woodsy notes for hours.

 The longevity isn't anywhere near as bad as the original's poor 1-2 hours body splash-like performance; it's still nothing amazing at 5 -6 hours, but when compared against the original, it seems like a designer perfumeThe bottle and cap changes in this edition are subtle, but overall everything looks & feels much more nicer & more expensive, when compared against the original one - the original clear & opalescent bottle and ill-fitting cap shape just looked & felt cheap in hind sight, despite what I used to tell myself about the playful & cheeky features [the bottom of the bottle is contoured like Kylie's famed rear end].

Scent notes; Passion fruit, freesia, lychee, lily, bonoria, sandalwood, amberwood and vanilla.

Darling 2021 is something that I enjoy much more than I remember enjoying the original. The fruit isn't so strong,  so I can actually detect the boronia now - one of my biggest complaints with the original was with the underwhelming floral notes, so I'm thrilled that I can now get much more of an impression of them. I can't say that I'm enjoying it enough to feel the need to buy a backup whilst it's on offer right now, but I'm liking it enough to say that I'll be considering keeping an eye out for future offers when my bottle is empty. 

Darling 2021 will make a nice present for Kylie fans, as it's mild & contains multiple majority-pleasing notes, to the point that I don't feel that there is anything for wearers to find disagreeable about this fragrance.  

Darling 2021 is sold exclusivly through The Perfume Shop in the UK. It is only £38 [currently £18 on offer] for a 75ml bottle.

Apparently Darling 2021 was meant to become more widely available at the start of 2022, but I've never noticed it anywhere.