# The Merchant of Venice — La Fenice Pour Femme > La Fenice Pour Femme is a 2016 feminine Eau de Parfum from the Venetian niche house The Merchant of Venice (a Mavive/Vidal-family brand), built as a soft, powdery, gourmand-leaning floral: a creamy al ## Essence La Fenice Pour Femme is a 2016 feminine Eau de Parfum from the Venetian niche house The Merchant of Venice (a Mavive/Vidal-family brand), built as a soft, powdery, gourmand-leaning floral: a creamy almond-heliotrope-tuberose heart melting into vanilla and tonka, lit by a sparkling mandarin top. It is dedicated to and named after the Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice's famed opera house, and is the feminine half of a two-fragrance La Fenice pair (with a Pour Homme). Among the house's catalog it is one of the more affordable and accessible scents, and a quiet wearers favorite for fans of sweet, milky, powdery vanillas. ## Scent Profile The opening is a sweet, slightly fruity mandarin - "not sharp or tart," more juicy-sweet - alongside a honeyed hawthorn that several wearers say "smells more like honey than the honey note in many fragrances" and persists through much of the wear. The heart is the signature: a creamy, powdery blend of almond blossom and heliotrope (which reads as the classic vanilla-almond-cinnamon piperonal accord) with a soft, buttery tuberose that stays well-blended rather than soliflore-loud. The drydown is a fluffy, marshmallow-like vanilla and "chocolatey" tonka over a whisper of cedar, with a faint boozy/malty nuance some compare to Xerjoff Dama Bianca or Guerlain Tonka Imperiale. The brand calls it "highly powdered... based on an enticing Oriental structure with a definite poudree character." It is largely linear after the citrus top burns off, settling into "mostly honey, almond and vanilla." Heliotrope-sensitive wearers are warned the note is clearly perceptible (though less intense than Initio's Psychedelic Love). ## Performance wearers signal is genuinely split - a notable axis of polarization. Some report excellent performance: "projects very well for the first hour, then settles to just past arms length... lasts an extremely long time," with one wearer still getting "decent projection 11 hours later," and "love at first sniff and still a love after 8 hours." Others find it weak and close: "the sillage is kinda poor," "a fleeting light scent that I doused my arms with the entire 5 ml decant and still a light skin scent." The middle-ground consensus on multiple sources is "medium to high" sillage and longevity. Practical reading: performance appears strongly skin-chemistry dependent; apply generously and treat variable longevity as expected. The related higher-concentration flanker (My Pearls, an EDP Concentree) is the route to more projection. ## Wearing Context Best in spring and autumn, with broad any-season flexibility; wearers describe it as fresh enough for spring/summer yet warm enough for cooler months, and "very suitable for daily use and for wearing in the office." It leans daytime and skews soft, feminine and "ultra feminine," reading as elegant rather than juvenile despite the sweetness - "gourmand, yet incredibly elegant and classy." It shines as a comforting everyday or "to bed" scent and a likely crowd-pleaser; it would feel underpowered as a bold formal-evening statement. ## Comparisons & DNA The dominant DNA comparison is the heliotrope-almond-vanilla family anchored by **Hypnotic Poison (Dior, 1998)** - La Fenice occupies the same creamy almond-vanilla-heliotrope territory but is softer, more floral-powdery and less boozy/anisic; it is a gentler, more "blossom" reading of that accord rather than a true dupe. wearers who love it cross-reference **Dama Bianca (Xerjoff)**, **Rolling in Love (Kilian)**, **Cassili (Parfums de Marly)**, **Heliotrope (Etro)** and **Kiss Me Tender (Nicolai)** as kindred almond/heliotrope/vanilla scents. Within the house it is the feminine counterpart to **La Fenice Pour Homme (2016)** and was later joined by the higher-concentration flanker **La Fenice My Pearls (2020)**, a floral-powdery-musky violet/white-floral EDP Concentree inspired by pearls and the soprano Maria Callas. There is no designer clone of La Fenice itself; budget seekers in the broader almond-vanilla lane gravitate to Hypnotic Poison dupes (e.g., Tesori d'Oriente Fiore del Dragone). ## Reception Reception (multiple sources) is warmly positive and slightly under-the-radar; wearer "Popular Perfumes for Women" chart lists it at #89 with a rating of 8.2 from available responses, and reviewers lament that the house "somehow not many people seem to know" it despite "spectacular perfumes" and gorgeous bottles. Praise: a delicious, well-blended, "fluffy cloud" of creamy vanilla, powdery heliotrope and buttery tuberose; "absolutely delicious without being too juvenile"; and relative affordability versus the rest of the line. Criticisms: weak/inconsistent sillage for some, and a minority finding it "a little bit generic... like some Avon/Oriflame fragrance" before the drydown wins them over, or "overly sweet... candy tonka sweet." One vivid wearer description: "If mandarin cheesecakes grew on trees and these trees had blossoms, they would smell like La Fenice Pour Femme." Blind-buy verdict: a safe yes for lovers of sweet, creamy, powdery almond-vanilla florals, especially given grey-market discounting - but temper expectations on projection. ## Versions & Reformulation La Fenice Pour Femme is an Eau de Parfum, sold in 50 ml and 100 ml; there is no "Concentree" version of the Pour Femme itself. The 2020 flanker **La Fenice My Pearls** is the higher-concentration (EDP Concentree) sibling and a distinct composition (violet/cassis/pink-pepper top; rose, white florals; tonka-cedar-sandalwood base), sold in 10/50/100 ml and as a gift set with body lotion. No significant reformulation of the Pour Femme is documented. Note an authorship discrepancy: most databases (multiple sources) and brand materials list no perfumer for La Fenice Pour Femme; the Firmenich-affiliated database reference materialis the only source attributing it, to Firmenich perfumer Ane Ayo - a single, uncorroborated attribution that should be treated as unconfirmed. ## Acquisition Notes A niche fragrance at the affordable end of its house. Official RRP runs roughly €120-150 / 100 ml per European wearers, but it is widely discounted on the grey market: wearer price widget shows roughly $65-110 (FragranceNet ~$65.64-110.49), Jomashop ~$95.99, and Maxaroma ~$98-105. Sold in 50 ml and 100 ml bottles decorated in the La Fenice theatre's blue-and-gold livery with a small chain bearing the theatre's symbol and a satin blue cap; decants circulate widely and several owners buy via the "grey market" specifically because of the price. Authentic channels include the brand's own boutiques/site, Selfridges, Harrods and Harvey Nichols. Counterfeiting is not a prominent concern; the main caution is sourcing from reputable discounters. ## Notable Facts & Lore - La Fenice ("the Phoenix") is named after and dedicated to the Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice's historic opera house - the brand's flagship boutique sits in Campo San Fantin, steps from the theatre. - The La Fenice Collection is framed by the house as "a cultural project that connects the image of the brand... - with an internationally renowned institution," with the Pour Femme and Pour Homme launched in 2016 as a matched pair in the theatre's blue-and-gold colors, later joined by My Pearls (2020). - The broader house lore is significant context for the release: The Merchant of Venice was founded around 2013 by the Vidal family's Mavive (Massimo Vidal Venezia), Venetian perfumers for over a century (originators of Pino Silvestre), and is the appointed fragrance collection of the Palazzo Mocenigo perfume museum - making La Fenice's opera-house dedication part of a deliberate program of Venetian cultural patronage. - No celebrity association or viral moment is documented for this specific fragrance.