Tocca Laundry Delicate Florence, Orris Rose Fine Fabric Wash {Perfume Review} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 21}
Tocca offers a line of more sophisticated scented detergents mirroring their collection of perfumes that is called Laundry Delicate. They are meant to be used for your lingerie, hosiery, cashmeres,... anything delicate really. Florence in particular rests on an accord of rose and orris root.
According to the press fact sheet, it is about,
"The sophisticated essence of the old European Garden rose known as Centifolias combined with iris root anchoring the scent." ......
The detergent itself is described by Tocca as,
"a gentle wash for fine fabrics. Ideal for lingerie, hosiery, intimate apparel, silks, cashmeres and bed linens. Easy to use for hand-washables or in the washing machine on delicate cycle."
We a priori love the concept. Introducing more diversity and refinement, more perfumey sensations in usually mildly boring detergent scents is a great idea and a worthy cause. We also like the feminine aspect of it; the packaging is pretty and a definite change from the experience of having to flex your biceps in order to lift a gallon of laundry liquid or even is a departure from your bottle of Woolite with its unassuming blue stripes.
On to the scent and the contents. Your laundry once washed with Laundry Delicate feels soft enough and the scent definitely lingers on. Hand-washing is the best way to have an impression about the perfume itself, and here we note that the rose smells more on the side of a peony flower with an aquatic facet. The iris root is also perceptible through a discreet powdery impression. There are green grassy accents. The base of the scent consists of white musk. The scent - just using one capful of Florence - is quite strong, so it seems that going for the maximum of two that they recommend might be overdoing it. We would actually recommend using less than a capful, perhaps half of it, to render the scent more subtle.
We tested this proposition and can report that using half of the recommended capful makes the scent smell more like a fruity tea rose with grassy nuances, but that the orris becomes less noticeable too.
It seems that Laundry Delicate Florence as a scent might primarily appeal to younger women who are often seen as the prime recipients for this type of aqua rose perfume. The composition is very much in keeping with a current mainstream aquatic peony-rose and musk accord in fragrances. Because white musk is used a lot in more common detergents, Laundry Delicate draws a common bridge with less upscale detergents instead of more radically breaking away from the pack. However, one must say that the lingering scent of refined iris on your clothing is a real treat and that the next day, it is very pleasing to be surprised by a delicate scent hovering above your bathroom basin.
The price point of $15 is not excessive as far as perfume products go. It is a true feminine pleasure to use the Laundry Delicate bottle and in the end, forgetting all about art-for-art criteria such as originality - it is a fabric wash after all - it smells really good. We plan to explore the rest of the collection.
There is also a Delicato da Viaggio set with travel-size bottles of all four scents in the collection - including Touch, Cleopatra, Stella - which includes a lacy lingerie bag, all for $48.
They are available on the Tocca website.
You can check the rest of our rose-challenge series.
