Floris — Malmaison Encore
Essence
Malmaison Encore is Floris’s 2013 reconstruction of its discontinued carnation soliflore Malmaison, a scent that had to be retired because the clove oil at its heart fell foul of IFRA restrictions. Rather than pretend the original could be revived, in-house perfumer Shelagh Foyle built a new, IFRA-compliant spicy-floral interpretation and, tellingly, gave it a new name. It is a warm spicy-carnation EDP, an encore in the literal theatrical sense: the same star, carnation, returning for a softer, rounder second bow.
Scent Profile
The structure opens spicy and zesty, with bergamot, black pepper and cardamom over a clove-and-cinnamon warmth that reads immediately as the carnation’s signature spiciness. The carnation accord itself is built from clove-and-nutmeg spices laced through rose and ylang-ylang, producing the velvety, slightly powdery floral that carnation lovers chase. The drydown turns soft and ambery: heliotrope and tonka lend an almond-like, powdery sweetness, vanilla rounds it, and cedar, olibanum and amber give a gentle woody-resinous floor. Compared to the original Malmaison, which was remembered as a sharp, near-medicinal clove-bomb soliflore, Encore is markedly tamer, sweeter and more rounded, trading bracing spice for a comfortable floral-amber softness. Several longtime fans of the original feel this softness costs it depth and richness.
Performance
Performance is the most contested aspect and the most common criticism. Multiple buyers describe the EDP as surprisingly weak, with one finding that after ten minutes no one could smell it, and another getting only one or two hours before it went barely detectable, likening it to a fragrant lotion. Other readings, by contrast, list projection as above-average, so experiences clearly vary by skin. The fair synthesis is pleasant but soft, with longevity and sillage that many find disappointing for the price point. It is best in cool weather, where the spices and amber have room to bloom.
Wearing Context
This is a cool-weather, autumn-winter scent by both heritage and profile, with the original always considered wintery. It works daytime or evening, smart-casual to formal, and its restraint and powdery softness make it office-safe. Officially unisex, the carnation-clove DNA has a genuine unisex history, since the original was marketed to men via the Oscar Wilde connection, though several reviewers feel Encore leans more feminine, reading as a soft, lotion-like floral on skin. In practice it is a gentle, refined comfort-floral rather than a statement scent.
Comparisons & DNA
The essential comparison is to its own ancestor, Floris Malmaison, with Encore the softer, sweeter, more amber-forward, less clove-sharp descendant judged to have less depth and richness. Within the carnation genre, Guerlain L’Heure Bleue is repeatedly invoked as both a relative and a more rounded alternative, since Encore’s heliotrope-and-powder drydown echoes it. Other carnation reference points raised around the lineage include Caron Bellodgia, Comme des Garcons Carnation, and Etro Dianthus. Floris itself positions Encore alongside its newer Oscar Wilde-themed Wilde and notes shared facets with its Bergamotto di Positano.
Reception
Reception is polarized along a clear axis: those who love a soft spicy carnation enjoy it, while devotees of the original feel let down by its weakness and its departure from the sharp clove soliflore they loved. The recurring criticisms are weak performance and a lotion-like softness; the recurring praise is its pleasant, well-mannered warmth. Floris also won broad goodwill for honesty, drawing applause for clearly labeling it a reworked new version rather than passing it off as the original.
Versions & Reformulation
Malmaison Encore is itself a reformulation-by-reconstruction of the discontinued Malmaison. It was later folded into Floris’s Ledger Series, a collection of nine historically significant Floris fragrances spanning the house’s nearly 300-year history, with a 2024 Ledger Series eau de parfum cataloged as a concentration variant of the line. The 2013 EDP is the ground-truth identity here. Floris itself states that the original recipe is no longer possible to create due to restrictions in ingredient use.
Acquisition Notes
This sits in the upper-mid heritage-niche pricing band, launched at 139 pounds for 100ml EDP. It is available directly from Floris and via the Ledger Series, with availability fluctuating as it has been intermittently listed as discontinued and then resurfaced. Counterfeiting is not a meaningful concern for a low-volume British heritage scent; the bigger risk is paying full boutique price for a fragrance with widely reported soft performance, so sampling is strongly advised.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The Malmaison carnation was the fashionable buttonhole flower of late-19th-century society.
- Oscar Wilde was famously associated with Floris and with wearing a green-dyed Malmaison carnation in his lapel.
- The original Malmaison reportedly dates to the 1830s.
- Encore exists because IFRA clove-oil restrictions made the original impossible to reissue, and perfumer Shelagh Foyle described creating it as a fragrance for today built on memories of the past.
- Floris’s By Request service revealed that Malmaison was the single most-requested discontinued Floris fragrance, which prompted the project.