Floris — Tuberose in Silk
Essence
Tuberose in Silk is a 2020 tuberose-centric eau de parfum from Floris London, the British house founded on Jermyn Street in 1730 and recognized as the world’s oldest independent family-owned perfumer, now run by its ninth generation. Composed by in-house perfumer Penny Ellis under perfume director Edward Bodenham, it began as a tiny hand-poured, signed limited edition, sold out, and was brought back into the permanent collection by popular demand. Its signature trick is a camphor note that adds intrigue and a darker, greener edge to an otherwise refined tuberose, a deliberate move toward the flower’s animalic side rather than away from it.
Scent Profile
The composition is a fresh-to-creamy tuberose framed by orange blossom, a camphoraceous green top, and a powdery iris, with jasmine and a piquant pink pepper in the heart, settling onto musk, benzoin, and a touch of amber. There are two readings worth holding together. The mainstream Floris read is the tamed and polite tuberose: radiant and warm, with iris adding powderiness as a backdrop, turning silky and creamy, enveloping but never heavy, and good for those who dislike strong scents. Cafleurebon’s Michelyn Camen pushes back and hears something gutsier, with the Indian tuberose amplified by additional camphor, favoring the dirtier, more animalic camp of tuberose, showy and willful and glamorous, never quite relinquishing its growl yet combining it with a silkiness. The camphor itself is contentious, loved by some for its realism and disliked by others.
Performance
Performance is solid for a niche release, with restrained sillage by design: good but not beastly. The house and reviewers frame it as quiet luxury through premium ingredients and subtle sillage, a fragrance to be enjoyed chiefly by the wearer, like carrying a secret. Cafleurebon notes it is easy to overdose and advises applying sensibly, suggesting the material has more punch up close than its polite reputation implies. Built on a high concentration of natural tuberose absolute sustainably cultivated in southern India, it wears like a refined, close-to-skin EDP rather than a 1980s tuberose bomb.
Wearing Context
It is versatile and season-agnostic in a way big tuberoses usually aren’t, described as elegant and wearable in any season and time of day. Its fresher, greener, less indolic profile makes it day-wearable and even office-plausible, while the creamy drydown gives it evening credibility. It is pitched feminine and reads as the tuberose for people who normally find tuberose too much, with even tuberose refusers appreciating its delicate beauty, though purists may find it lacks drama.
Comparisons & DNA
The single most-cited comparison is Diptyque Do Son, with Tuberose in Silk reading as similar but much less in-your-face, where Do Son is oily and high-pitched and this is soft and alluring. Cafleurebon also places it near The Merchant of Venice’s Tuberosa India as a fresh-cut, lifelike tuberose distinguished by its subtly powdery and dry facets and its camphor realism. One wearer compares it to Creed’s Iris Tuberose for being light, airy, refined, and dry. It is explicitly unrelated to Floris’s own earlier Tuberose from around 2000, and within Floris it is grouped with White Rose and Night Scented Jasmine as a trio of florals worth wearing.
Reception
Reception is warm but niche, anchored by Cafleurebon’s enthusiastic feature and generally positive notices, balanced by a real anti-camphor minority and tuberose purists who find it too mundane or austere. It had no user reviews on some sites at last check, a marker of how niche it is, and the major critics have largely not weighed in. The honest summary is that it is well-liked by those who have found it and under-documented by the major critics.
Versions & Reformulation
It was first released in early 2020 as a hand-poured, perfumer-signed limited edition in a white bottle exclusive to 89 Jermyn Street and the UK Floris site, then reissued into the permanent collection in updated packaging after selling out. There is some note-list drift between sources, with the original announcement citing a bergamot top while the established pyramid leads with orange blossom, camphor, and iris, both tracing to Floris’s own communications. The house consistently attributes it to Penny Ellis as perfumer under Edward Bodenham as perfume director.
Acquisition Notes
It is now a standard-collection EDP available through Floris London in the UK and US and a scattering of niche retailers, in 50ml and 100ml, far easier to obtain than the original limited edition. Pricing sits in the established-niche bracket, commonly around 150 pounds or roughly $185 to $225 for 100ml depending on market. Because the camphor and the tuberose’s residual growl are polarizing, sample first: some experience it as serene and silky and others as headache-inducing.
Notable Facts & Lore
- Bodenham chose the camphor note to bring intrigue and draw out the flower’s sensuality, giving the fragrance its darker qualities.
- The brief imagined a powerful, sultry spirit content and delicately wrapped in gentle silk.
- Floris’s tuberose pedigree is genuine, a raw material with a strong historical link in the house’s perfumery books.
- The house was founded in 1730 by Menorca-born Juan Famenias Floris and still trades at the original 89 Jermyn Street address.
- It received a fresh royal warrant from King Charles III in 2023, and each original bottle was hand-poured and personally signed and dated by the Floris perfumery team.