Viktor & Rolf

Flowerbomb, Spicebomb, and the Dutch Duo Behind Them

Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren are couture provocateurs who have sent models down runways wearing what amounts to sculpture. The fragrance line is far more approachable than the clothing, but the wit survives the translation: Flowerbomb arrives in a faceted pink grenade, and its men's counterpart is called Spicebomb and comes in a hand grenade proper.

Flowerbomb has been a fixture since 2005 and is the reason most people know the house at all. Jasmine, freesia and patchouli wrapped in caramelised sweetness, it is enormous, unmistakable and hugely persistent. This collection carries the original eau de parfum plus the variations that let you dial it in: Flowerbomb Bloom, a lighter eau de toilette in both 100ml and 50ml, Flowerbomb Tiger Lily, and Flowerbomb L'Eau for the sheerest reading of all. Two travel gift sets round the family out.

Bonbon takes the house's sweet tooth somewhere else entirely, into salted caramel over peach and orange blossom. Good Fortune is the more recent addition, plum and jasmine over a woody musk, in a bottle shaped like a knotted talisman.

On the men's side, Spice Bomb Extreme is the standout and arguably the better of the two Spicebomb formulations: cinnamon, black pepper, tobacco and vanilla, dense and warm, designed for cold weather and adopted enthusiastically down here regardless.

Viktor and Rolf perfume rarely whispers. Anyone who has stood next to someone wearing Flowerbomb knows how far it carries, which makes the 5ml and 10ml decants offered across this collection more than a formality. A week with Bonbon or Spice Bomb Extreme tells you what a blind buy never will.

You will find the range on the shelf at our Miami Gardens store, and you can buy Viktor and Rolf online for shipping anywhere in the U.S.