Design
Paul Sebastian (1985)

Design is an 80s floral bomb, on the line of other floral bombs of that time period, though this is softer and not as in your face, at least as it wears on and the musk becomes more prominent. I see this fragrance on a beautiful and elegant women. perhaps an older socialite who enjoys grand events and wearing gowns.a woman who is admired and respected.

It is almost the antithesis of modern perfumes, the edps of which are so watered down it's shameful. It is full bodied, cloying without any synthetic notes, but also just complex enough to keep it from being cheap. First spray of the heavy decadent smell of succulent over-ripe jungle fruit. In the heart the gardenia is like a woman in a white gown who invites her other girlfriends in white gowns to an exclusive dinner party. Her girlfriends include tuberose, jasmine and carnation. There's ylang ylang as well. The dry down is musky with a civet which may or may not be real. It is musky and soapy with a bit of powder. It's spicy and has a bite. If you spray liberally the civet lets out a shriek and does not smell good.

Design is one of those fragrances that is demanding but beautiful, intriguing but unmistakably floral, a bit mature but still wild at heart. Well as they say... In life, all good things must come to an end. It is unfortunate that future generations shall be missing out on this elegant perfume.

What a beautiful powerhouse of a women's fragrance! It smells wonderful, like roses, carnations, and chrysanthemum! I had a small vial in my t-shirt pocket and kept wondering where that beautiful smells was coming from. I realized it was coming from the vial which had warmed up due to my body heat. I then realized how much I LOVE Design by Paul Sebastian. I hope they NEVER discontinue this gem, because I have started wearing it on a regular basis. Thank you to the vial in my pocket that made me realize how much I truly LOVE this fragrance. Luckily, it is still readily available online. A+!

I owned and wore this for a year or so back in the mid-80s. I remember really enjoying the way it worked with my chemistry. It was neither flowery nor sweet for me, but somewhat red, sharp and woodsy.

Would love to experience it again, but doubt I'd purchase anything except a sample.

Updated from Neutral to Thumbs Up:
Found this in a shop and asked to test it on my skin. So nice and familiar. I just want to keep smelling my wrist - warm and spicy and would be great for chilly weather. A few hours later it's sweeter, lighter and so very nice. This lasted for hours to my delight. I definitely plan to buy this again :)

Bought a bottle of this while on vacation, and I associated it with floods of wonderful memories. I got a bit of tropical with this, and a whole lot of carnation and honeysuckle. Every time I wore it I thought of what a good time I had and
I was in a really good place at that time of my life.

But all good things come to an end....I later had a boss who would drown in this fragrance then would call me to her (Design saturated) office while I was suffocating in a perfume inferno she would "ream me a good one", which, unfortunately is what I associate this fragrance with now.

I still gave it the thumbs up it deserves.

The subject of most reviled fragrances was posed in an online forum and someone mentioned how despised her beloved Design was. She gallantly defended its compositional honor, both in her forum post and in her online review. She also sang the praises of Revlon's Ciara and as a fellow lover of Ciara–another vilified perfume–I trusted her opinion. I promptly picked up a bottle that I was sure had been languishing upon the shelves at TJ Maxx for several months.

I spritzed my wrist at close range as I sat at my desk. I felt the vapors of this scent take over the room like a fog and I got scared. First thought: “Oh damn, this s**t just got real!” Second thought: “Alright, now that I can breathe, it's very much like Ciara with a big bouquet of loud white florals.” The second thought brought on a sigh of relief. Just get past the first ten minutes and do not spray at close range–this has the potential to be great keeping those two tips in mind. After the first ten minutes this mellowed out and transmuted into a white floral powerhouse. An hour after that, and for several hours thereafter, Design mellowed once again but became sharp and waxy, like an old school bar of soap. (I'm thinking of Camay or Caress, sharp white florals and detergent.) Depending on your take of vintage soap scents, this is either heaven or hell.

Design is a top-heavy fragrance; the civet base, which is at the beginning, is anything but smooth and subdued but it fades in time. For a fleetingly brief moment it resembles 1980s queen of over-the-top perfumes, Giorgio. It's shockingly not a sillage bomb nor is it a projectile missile of a scent unless it is overdone (and with a vintage such as this, it is a very real hazard here). I love soapy scents and I secretly love Ciara so this is an underappreciated work of vintage art that I am proud to have in my collection.

Good GOD, what a stink! Not only is this crap cloying and sickly sweet, but it has a repulsive hint of plastic to it. My great-grandmother hates the stuff, and she's a 90-year-old who wears White Diamonds. THAT says something. It doesn't matter if a woman is hot or not. If she wears this, I WILL run for my very life.