# Crabtree & Evelyn — Caribbean Island Wild Flowers

> Caribbean Island Wild Flowers is Crabtree & Evelyn's 2014 reissue and rename of the discontinued India Hicks Island Living "Spider Lily" fragrance, originally from 2007. It carries the same olfactory 

## Essence
Caribbean Island Wild Flowers is Crabtree & Evelyn's 2014 reissue and rename of the discontinued India Hicks Island Living "Spider Lily" fragrance, originally from 2007. It carries the same olfactory bones under new branding after the India Hicks collaboration wound down. Built around spider lily and night-blooming jasmine over a citrus-and-sea-air opening, it was pitched as a Caribbean-vacation white floral at an accessible price, and it now survives only on the resale market.
## Scent Profile
The opening is a brief mandarin-and-bergamot flash that fades quickly into a sea-air accord: a salty, watery transparency that sets the tropical scene. It is bright and aquatic rather than sweet, and it does its work fast.
The heart is the point of the fragrance. Spider lily dominates, though the note is really a creamy white-floral accord built from jasmine, lily, and tropical-floral materials that approximate the visual idea of the plant rather than any single extract. The result is a creamy, slightly narcotic white floral with an aquatic-citrus halo and a faint plum-sweet edge underneath.
The drydown is quiet: a soft woody base, sometimes read as a warm tropical spice or a hint of musk, that frames the floral heart for a few hours rather than developing into a distinct event. The signature lives in that spider-lily, jasmine, and sea-air center; the opening and base are secondary.
## Performance
Performance is moderate at best, with light-to-moderate projection and a soft, close finish. Expect roughly three to five hours on skin, with the floral heart fading faster than the slight musk-wood base. Hot weather suits it because the aquatic-citrus opening pops and the white florals get tropical lift; cold weather flattens it. Mid-day reapplication is necessary for all-day presence.
## Wearing Context
This is a warm-weather daytime scent: summer days, beach, pool, vacation, garden settings, casual lunches. Spring shoulder-season works; winter does not. It is office-safe to a fault and age-flexible, reading as a fresh tropical on younger wearers and a clean white floral on older ones. Evening wear is possible but the fragrance lacks nighttime gravity. Its social read is relaxed, vacation-coded, and unpretentious, slightly preppy in the Caribbean-resort sense that fit the brand voice. The strongest use case is exactly the launch concept: warm-weather travel where the scent matches the setting.
## Comparisons & DNA
The obvious anchor is Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue: both occupy the citrus-aquatic-with-white-floral space, but Caribbean Island Wild Flowers is warmer, less metallic, and more genuinely floral. Issey Miyake L'Eau d'Issey shares the white-floral-over-aquatic structure, in a cooler and more transparent register. Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess sits in the same tropical-floral-aquatic territory with a beachier, suntan-lotion warmth. The closest relation by identity is its own predecessor, India Hicks Island Living Spider Lily, which several wearers find similar but not identical, suggesting the 2014 version drifted from the 2007 original.
## Reception
Coverage is genuinely thin, but what exists is warm. One extended review calls it "a special fragrance; a rare pearl among typical tropical florals," praising the spider-lily and jasmine heart, and an evocative review of the original Spider Lily version reads it as a beach-walk-and-plum-cake narrative. Praise centers on a convincing, escapist tropical floral that stands out in the brand's range. The criticisms are consistent: it is short on skin, pricey on the secondary market for what it is, and not identical to the older formula. The axis of disagreement runs from "best summer scent in my collection" to "doesn't last." It is a blind-buy only with a clear warm-weather use case and a reasonably priced bottle.
## Versions & Reformulation
This release is itself a rename and reformulation. The 2007 India Hicks Island Living "Spider Lily" was the original; it was renamed and, by some accounts, slightly tweaked when relaunched as Caribbean Island Wild Flowers in April 2014, replacing the India Hicks Island Living Collection entirely. The EDT was offered in 30 ml and 100 ml, and a full body-care range shared the scent. It was discontinued during the brand's later restructuring; the exact date is not documented. There are no flankers.
## Acquisition Notes
The fragrance is discontinued and circulates only secondhand, with prices that vary widely from the low double digits for a partial bottle to the higher end for a sealed 30 ml; larger 100 ml bottles are pricier and rarer. Hand therapy and body wash from the line still appear at lower prices for those who want the scent in a non-fragrance format. Counterfeit risk is low because the fragrance is too obscure to be worth faking, and the small, informed collector audience keeps surviving stock honestly represented.
## Notable Facts & Lore
- The rename followed the end of Crabtree & Evelyn's collaboration with India Hicks, granddaughter of Lord Mountbatten and a longtime Bahamas resident.
- The original India Hicks Island Living collection launched in 2007 alongside the brand's Uncharted, in the same product wave.
- When the collaboration wound down, the brand preserved the line's most popular scent, Spider Lily, by renaming it Caribbean Island Wild Flowers.
- One wearer cites a store employee confirming the rename directly: "this was the same as their old India Spider Lily — just renamed."
- Reports vary on whether the 2014 formula was truly identical to the 2007 original or subtly altered.
- Neither the 2007 release nor the 2014 reissue had a celebrity endorsement, viral moment, or notable critical reception.