The Midnight Pumpkin Blog

My honest review of Shay and Blue Lilacs and Gooseberries fragrance spray, after ordering the 10ml size. This fragrance is a best seller and TikTok viral fragrance, due to the connection between The Witcher and the scent of lilacs and gooseberries. Want to know the connection? Read on!

Shay and Blue Lilacs and Gooseberries Put to the Test

First, let’s cover the Shay and Blue Lilacs and Gooseberries review.

My package arrived a little squashed, just the fragrance spray container in an envelope. Nothing magical about the packaging.

The total for my order of the smaller size bottle came to $34, with shipping to the US. I found a discount code online that saved me $6- CART20.

My first thought after spraying it on was that it smelled a bit perfumey, like my mother-in-law’s perfume. I wasn’t entirely sure what lilacs and gooseberries were supposed to smell like, but I thought it would be a little different.

But if it gets Geralt all hot and bothered, I was curious to test it out on my husband.

So I sprayed a good bit on and walked past him to see if he noticed. Then I hovered around, trying to wave my arms a bit and see if he’d catch the scent.

I got nothin’.

Finally, I asked him to smell my wrist and tell me what he thought.

He took a big sniff and immediately said, “Kind of smells like my mom.”

BINGO. I knew it. Glad I didn’t get the full size!

After a bit the smell started to bother me and I washed it off. So unfortunately, the Shay and Blue Lilacs and Gooseberries fragrance was not a hit with me or my husband.

Let’s get back to Geralt.

Lilacs and Gooseberries and The Witcher

The scent of lilac and gooseberries in The Witcher universe is one of the most famous sensory details from the books, and it’s directly tied to the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg, Geralt of Rivia’s long-time love interest. It’s also mentioned on the Netflix show.

In Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher novels, Yennefer is repeatedly described as smelling of lilac and gooseberries. This fragrance becomes her personal signature — so distinctive that Geralt can often identify her presence without seeing her.

It’s not just a random perfume choice; it functions as a narrative shorthand for Yennefer’s arrival. When that scent appears in the story, readers (and Geralt) know she’s near.

A Quest for Lilacs and Gooseberries

The association is so strong that in the video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, one of Geralt’s first quests involves tracking Yennefer, and he tells an innkeeper he’s looking for a woman whose scent is “lilac and gooseberries.”

In the game, players even follow a literal scent trail during the search, a direct nod to the novels.

Symbolically, the fragrance blends softness (lilac) with tartness (gooseberries), mirroring Yennefer’s personality — alluring, elegant, and refined, but with a sharp wit and formidable will. I think the fragrance by Shay and Blue is missing the tartness. It’s just too floral for me.

Symbolic and Cultural Resonance

The choice of lilac and gooseberries wasn’t arbitrary — both have deep symbolic and cultural resonance in European traditions, which makes their pairing in The Witcher especially fitting for Yennefer’s character.

Lilac

In European folklore, lilacs often symbolize first love, fleeting beauty, and the bittersweet nature of desire. Their blossoms are lush, delicate, and intensely fragrant — but their bloom is brief, echoing the idea that beauty and passion are both intoxicating and transient.

The flower’s association with spring also connects it to renewal and rebirth, themes woven into Yennefer’s own story of transformation from a hunchbacked girl into a powerful sorceress.

Gooseberries

Gooseberries, by contrast, carry a more complex symbolic edge. In some European countries, they’re linked to nostalgia and the countryside, but also to tartness — both literally (their flavor) and figuratively (a sharp, sometimes biting personality).

In certain Slavic traditions, they can also represent the unexpected or the “wild” element in an otherwise cultivated garden, something that breaks convention. That rebellious note matches Yennefer’s refusal to conform to political or societal expectations, even among sorceresses.

Why They Work Together

By pairing lilac and gooseberries, Sapkowski creates an aromatic metaphor: lilac’s lush sweetness draws people in, while gooseberry’s tang keeps them on their toes. It’s a scent that’s alluring but never cloying — much like Yennefer herself, who can be tender and captivating yet fiercely independent and unpredictable.

For Geralt, the fragrance is a sensory shortcut to everything she embodies: beauty, power, wit, danger, and an emotional pull he can’t quite escape.

The Perfect Compliment for Your Yennefer Cosplay

Adding the fragrance of lilacs and gooseberries as the final touch on a Yennefer cosplay is a great idea, but you don’t need to order this particular one by Shay and Blue to get the scent.

A quick search on Amazon revealed several other options, so maybe one of those hits the tartness a little more and leaves the heavy floral notes to the 90-year-old mothers-in-laws.