BOADICEA THE VICTORIOUS
LANNOSEA

2025

PERFUMER
Celine Herbette

lemon
bergamot
date
pink pepper
rum

coffee
litsea cubeba
fir balsam
orange blossom
wild elderflower

clean leather
Cedarwood
guaiac wood
labdanum
Oakwood
Smokewood

‘Created for Boadicea The Victorious by perfumer Céline Herbette, Lannosea balances luminous brightness with earthy depth. Bergamot and confit lemon open the fragrance with sparkling clarity, while roasted coffee bean, litsea cubeba, and elderflower absolute lend a wild, sun-drenched heart. The base of soft leather, oakwood, and whispering smoke grounds the scent in a rich, smoky elegance that lingers like a hidden forest at dusk.’ – Harrods

I really wanted to like this, and I do, for the first… hour. The opening is excellent; with a lot of citrus, a hint of aromatics and that ever so slightly boozy quality. It reminds me a bit of Guerlain Homme‘s mojito vibe, but instead of lime, it’s a sweeter, candied lemon.

A bit sweeter than I’d like, but this is only the precursor to what Lannosea ends up as. For a moment, I felt like it became more aromatic and rather nice, but it delves back into an amber-woody sweetness for the remainder of the wear. In a way, it reminds me of Kilian Angels’ Share On The Rocks; I feel like the way it goes from citrus to sweet woody, doesn’t fully work. It’s fine, but it’s missing something.

And maybe that could be coffee. Because I do not really smell coffee at all in Lannosea, while it was something that I was anticipating and hoping for. I guess I could picture it and it does recall a bit of Balint Balcafe, which is a fun citrus-coffee combination, but it doesn’t come to fruition in the Boadicea for me. A more roasted, bitter, pronounced coffee scent, would have elevated it.

Frankly, after the opening, I was left rather dissappointed. Especially given its price (€600), it comes across too simple and it feels all a bit… fuzzy and vague. Now I actually often enjoy abstract compositions, but that’s not what I mean here; it just feels like it lacks clarity and precision. The citrus freshness quickly becomes hard lemon candy and that quickly becomes non-descript sweet woods, becoming a sweet random feeling cloud. Actually, with its scent, it reads more like a (much much more affordable) Arabian dupe of something like the aforementioned Angels’ Share On The Rocks to me.

Not bad, and definitely not an unpleasant scent, but at the same time, not a fragrance that has much to offer in my opinion.