I must admit to being a bit of an expensive perfume fan and if I had more expendable cash I suspect my perfume shelf would be further brimming with Designer brands, I do find you tend to get what you pay for in the frangrance market.

So imagine my excitement when my fella bought me Burberry Brit for my Birthday last year. Having never tried this particular brand fragrance before I was intrigued to see what it was like and must admit to being a little disappointed (but please don't tell my other half!)

** Burberry the Brand **

Burberry is a British fashion design label that specialise in clothing, handbags and perfume.
They have a distinctive trademarked Tartan pattern theme running through their designs.

Thomas Burberry founded the company in 1856 opening a store in Basingstoke, Hampshire specialising in outdoor wear. Its current headquarters are in London and Burberry now have over 70 stores worldwide as well as online stores which provide product purchase facilities in the UK, USA & the EU.

The Burberry Classic Check Tartan was first used as a lining for the Burberry trench coat in 1924 but it was not until 1967 that the design was widely used within the brand. Since then the Burberry Classic Check has become the defining feature of Burberry's lines (it is however a little unfortunate that Buberry became synonymous with Chav fashion in recent years).

Burberry is now a globally recognised British Brand and has itself well established with the the fashion industry.

** The Perfume **

Burberry Brit won the FIFI award in the Luxe category in 2004, this is an annual event in which the Fragrance Foundation provides awards for achievements and creative excellence in the Fragrance industry. The Luxe award is for the Womans fragrance of the year.

Released in 2003 the Perfume is described by Buberry as "an intriguing green oriental frangrance that features a surprising mix of sugars and spices". According to their website this perfume is sold from in 50ml size for £40 and 100ml size for £50 (which clearly makes the 100ml version far better value). Bought in either size it is fairly expensive and holding out to find it on special offer is probably advisable. You can currently purchase a 30ml bottle from Boots for £25.34

The perfume comes in a squared shaped bottle and is covered in the easily recognisable Burberry Tartan pattern in white against a heavy glass bottle. Not a bad looking bottle, feeling well made and easily identifiable as Burberry however not the prettiest design I have seen.

The packaging claims that this frangrance contains scents including Pear, Green & sugared Almond vanilla beans, lime and mahogony wood. Thankfully I have to say when wearing this perfume which claims to have two types of Almond scents I did not smell like a lump of Marzipan (not that I don't like Marzipan, I just wouldn't want to smell like it!).

** My Opinion **

The perfume itself has quite a distinctive smell however I am not sure I would consider it as "green oriental" (although if I am honest I am not entirely sure what "Green Oriental" is meant to imply?). I would describe the scent as slightly vanilla, quite spicy and sweet and extremely strong when first sprayed. There are also hints of citrus thrown in to the mix to make this quite an interesting and unique aroma although it may not be to everyones taste.

I do find this quite an overpowering perfume at first and having learnt my lesson the hard way (almost suffocating myself with the strong aromas on a crowded bus) I tend to apply this sparingly. This does mean that a 100ml lasts well and I still have plenty left having owned this for over a year.

The sweet perfume does die down fairly quickly and becomes quite a pleasant odour where the vanilla aromas shine through with a hint of spice. Having said that it does seem to have quite good lasting power and I do not need to reapply this regularly once on.

I do not find this perfume particularly feminine (probably because it is lacking the floral ingredients that so many womens perfumes contain) however this can make a refreshing change once in a while. I do like the vanilla undertone and the spicy hint stops you smelling too much like an icecream.

I do not wear this for special occasions but rather use this occasionally for more standard purposes (as an occasional change to my everyday perfume just to mix things up a little). I do not think the impact of the perfume is good enough to be saved for special events.

I personally am not very keen on the simplistic design of the bottle and think a little more creativity could have been utilised in the making of this, especially considering the retail price of the perfume. However I expect the clean and simple design will appeal to some and the Tartan pattern makes it easily identifiable as a Burberry product.

My other half claims that this is his favourite of all of my perfumes, although whether this is just because he spent so much money on it as a gift to me I can not be sure? As alot of my other perfumes are floral scented when changing to this one it is easily identifiable.

When wearing this I do not receive many compliments on the way I smell which I think says a lot about its lack of impact in general of this perfume however no one has ever said they do not like the smell either.

** In Conclusion **

Not a terrible perfume although I tend to prefer something a little more feminine and flowery. Although initially quite overpowering the perfume does settle down leaving a spicy vanilla scent which is quite pleasant.

The scent is distinctive and unique however this means it will probably not be to everyone's taste therefore if you are considering this as a gift it might not be the safest choice.

Considering the retail price it is not something I would consider purchasing again unless I found it at a bargain price during my shopping endeavours. The bottle has lasted me a long time but that is mainly because I do not wear it very often and only apply sparingly.

I would not go out of my way to recommend this to friends but it can add a little variety to your perfume collection.