Boadicea the Victorious Explorer

The Bottle

Explorer flattens the usual perfume silhouette into a broad circular form, then covers its front with a dark interlaced medallion. Pale yellow-green liquid softens the black-and-silver contrast, while the clear-looking rectangular lower support gives the bottle a neat stopping point. The rounded dark cap is deliberately quiet beside all that decoration. It’s ornate, distinctive and a little old-fashioned, though that’s part of its appeal. If you like Boadicea’s recognisable house style, Explorer feels made for display rather than for disappearing into a bathroom cabinet.

Original or Clone

The case for buying Boadicea the Victorious Explorer is helped by a bottle with genuine presence, especially if the amber-green-woody character appeals to you. Its credited perfumer, John Stephen, gives the release a named authorship that an interpretation cannot share. Two houses have tried to reproduce this particular fragrance, which confirms that it has attracted attention without telling us how closely either attempt resembles it. On the evidence available, the original earns the stronger case for readers who care about the object and its authorship.