We review Delina Exclusif, a darker, more mysterious, yet just as feminine take on the classic Delina by Parfums de Marly from the fragrance house’s The Exclusifs collection.
Parfums de Marly
Parfums de Marly is a haute-parfumerie house named after the French royal residence Château de Marly, situated west of the renowned palace and garden complex of Palais de Versailles.
Louis XIV, French King from 1643 to 1715, retreated to the château whenever he wanted to free himself from the formalities he had constructed himself in Versailles and indulge in the company and entertainment of close friends.
The Sun King is quoted for once saying, “I built Versailles for my court, Trianon for my family, and Marly for my friends.” In 1743, his successor and great-grandson Louis XV commissioned the Marly Horses, a full-size Carrara-marble sculpture showing two horses with their groom, for the trough at the entrance to the grounds of Château de Marly.
Centuries later, the Château, along with the Marly Horses, would serve as the inspiration and symbol for Parfums de Marly—one of the greatest niche fragrance houses of our time.
Parfums de Marly was founded in 2009 by nose and connoisseur Julien Sprecher who, as reported by our colleagues at L’Officiel report, fell into perfumes at a very young age. His father, who passed on to him a taste for the finer things in life, represented the house of Guerlain in the Middle East.
Delina Exclusif
Facts
| House | Parfums de Marly |
| Fragrance | Delina Exclusif |
| Concentration | Eau de Parfum (EDP) |
| Nose | Quentin Bisch |
| Released | 2018 |
| Family | Oriental floral |
| Description | A darker, more mysterious take on Parfums de Marly’s classic female fragrance Delina. |
| Sizes | 2.53 fl oz (75 ml) |
Ingredients
Denatured Alcohol, Fragrance, Water, Alpha-isomethyl Ionone, Limonene, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Linalool, Coumarin, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Ethylhexyl Salicylate, Citronellol, Geraniol, Citral
Source: Parfums de Marly, last retrieved December 26, 2021
Our Review
I have a confession to make: I have always considered myself the perfect embodiment of the femme fatale. Judging by my choice of men over the years, others seem to see me that way, too.
Picture Kathleen Turner as Matty Walker, the seductive man-eater in Kasdan’s neo-noir film, Body Heat. Or Brigette Gregory, the cosmopolitan brunette played by Linda Fiorentino in Dahl’s one-of-a-kind thriller, The Last Seduction.
Each of these dames has their thing going on. Sure, they love the thrill of the chase, and they do appreciate the good company of a skilled lover. But, at the end of the day, they crave their individuality and freedom more than they crave anything else.
Clearly, that goes against the traditional idea of femininity. “What are little girls made of,” asks a 19th-century nursery rhyme, likely authored by English poet Robert Southey. “Sugar and spice. And everything nice.”
As you can probably already imagine, the very thought of that makes me cringe.
And yet, here I am.
I’m holding a pink bottle of Delina Exclusive by Parisian haute-parfumerie Parfums de Marly—pink tassel and all—perfuming my hair and body with the most rosy, sweet, and powdery scent imaginable. Not only do I like it, but I honestly can’t get enough of it.
I find myself in the land of alluring innocence. I am in a garden maze surrounded by fragrant pink roses, ripened lychee fruit, and powdery musk, running around in a pink silk dress as I flirt with my lover and playfully try to find my way out, pretending as if I don’t know how.
My piercing-glazed, leather-jacket-wearing femme fatale seems to have disappeared without a trace, and she is nowhere to be found. Were she with me, she’d probably laugh and give me a hard slap to the face.
That’s what good perfume does to you.
With a Freudian ease, it brings out character traits you have skillfully, or not, been repressing for years—and entices you to indulge in memories so vivid and olfactory sensations so real, you can’t help but beg for more.
Behold Delina Exclusif, Delina’s older and, admittedly, sexier sister.
The top notes are pear, lychee, and grapefruit. The heart notes are Turkish rose, incense, and vetiver. The base notes are vanilla, musk, and veramoss.
The opening is one of pear and lychee sweet enough to eat with subtle, if barely noticeable, hints of grapefruit.
After about ten minutes, it’s followed by powdery Turkish rose, sticks of pink-colored incense, and a dry, leathery scent of vetiver.
Half an hour to sixty minutes in, and the fragrance settles on your skin as the most volatile fragrant molecules that make up the top and the heart notes oxidize, their scent slowly but surely fading away.
The drydown is one of earthy vanilla, clean and soapy white musk, and veramoss, a floral muguet similar to oakmoss and treemoss but with a softer scent. Throughout the entire time, the sweetness of the lychee fruit and the powderiness of the rose petals remains.
With Delina Exclusif, Parfums de Marly have achieved the impossible. They have taken Delina, the most girly and feminine scent of them all, and have made it moodier, more mysterious, and a lot more sophisticated than the original.
Delina Exclusif is youthful, but not childish. It is flirtatious, but not giggly. It is accessible, but not defenseless. A female goddess, if you will, forever at her peak, forever seductive and desirable, openly hated by all other goddesses.
Not every day would be a day you want to wear Delina Exclusif. You will smell unlike any other woman in the room. You must be in the mood for a radiant fragrance that’s seductive and, in a way, esoteric.
When I wear it, I feel unstoppable and magnetizing. It evokes a feminine superpower I didn’t even know I had in me. Come to think of it, my inner femme fatale is with me. Perversely, she enjoys very much that I spritz on this fragrance.
Delina Exclusif is most suitable for night-time wear in fall, winter, and spring. As long as not oversprayed, as the scent can get cloying, it could also be worn on cool summer nights.
It’s perfect for special occasions, be it an after-even cocktail, dinner at an upscale restaurant downtown, or an invite-only party with the BFFs and the target of your affection at a face-controlled club.
It is a dressy perfume; it tempts you to wear your best clothes and bring your finest self to the party.
Longevity
Delina Exclusif is one of the longest lasting perfumes in my collection. And it will be in yours, too. When I apply it to my pulse points, where the scent is amplified by my body’s warmth, it lasts upward of 10-12 hours.
When I apply it to my clothes and hair, it lasts even longer. It has happened that it has stayed on me even after showering (and I don’t say this lightly; when it comes to my beauty routine, I do take my time).
You asked, we answered: Why some perfumes last longer than others
Sillage
Delina Exclusif by Parfums de Marly has a strong sillage that lasts between 4 and 5 hours. That being said, its projection is weaker than that of Delina, a beast of a perfume that turns heads for 8-10 hours after being applied to the skin.
Sizes
A flanker of Delina, Delina Exclusif by Parfums de Marly is sold only in one size: a 2.53 fl oz (75 ml) bottle. The bottle is has a pink tassel, and the top of the cap is fitted with a Swarovski crystal.
The cap is heavy and clips in place. Even though this fragrance is not exactly convenient to carry in a handbag (a small handbag is really out of the question), the chances of it opening accidentally are slim to none.
Read our guide: Which size perfume to buy?
Price Tag
The price of Delina Exclusif is not for the faint-hearted. On the day of publishing this review, the 2.53 fl oz (75 ml) bottle sold for $340 in Parfums de Marly’s online store.
In case you’re wondering, a 2.53 fl oz (75 ml) bottle of the original Delina cost $320. In other words, the price difference between Parfums de Marly’s Delina and Delina Exclusif is miniscule.
Frequently Asked
Yes, Parfums de Marly’s Delina Exclusif is an Eau de Parfum (EDP) that’s powdery, creamy, floral, and sweet (in a fruity, pear and lychee way). It will appeal to the wearer who’s into rosy and musky, lightly milky, scents.
Delina, an Eau de Parfum (EDP) introduced in 2017 by Parfums de Marly, is sweet and sensual, and girly in character. Delina Exclusif is a flanker of Delina, an innately feminine scent, that’s darker and more mysterious than the original.
At first, Delina Exclusif smells like a pear cocktail with a rosy undertone. As it dries down, it gets progressively rosier and creamier, and ends with a musky vanilla scent reminiscent of clean, freshly-bathed skin lathered in the most lavish body milk.
Apart from Delina and Delina La Rosée, its sister scents by Parfums de Marly, fragheads who like Delina Exclusif should consider Roses Vanille by Mancera, Roses Musk by Montale, and the scandalously-named Rose Prick by Tom Ford.
Delina Exclusif is a flanker of Delina from Parfums de Marly’s The Exclusifs collection and, as such, buying options are limited. There’s only one size for the bottle (2.53 fl oz / 75 ml), and the scent isn’t offered as a body cream or hair mist.
In Conclusion
A sexy and feminine scent by Paris-based haute-parfumerie Parfums de Marly, Delina Exclusif is an Eau de Parfum (EDP) for the female wearer who likes rosy and powdery scents and who isn’t afraid to feel unique.
