Cacharel Scarlett

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Cacharel Scarlett happened upon my cluttered desk a while ago, it was a little sample knocking around from some of the circles I used to frequent back when perfumes were I hobby where I had time to indulge. I really miss it–the perfumes, I mean. So I gave Scarlett and a few others a whiff to see how things stacked up. And to dust off that long neglected notebook.

Scarlett

Scarlett

In Bottle: A light floral, a little pungent upon first whiff but I fear I may have smelled it a little “too hard”. Nothing really fancy about it yet.

Applied:  Bright and floral, a little juicy upon first application. There’s a sharp citrus to this at first that smells into a more rounded white florals style of scent. It’s very classically flowery and pleasant enough to wear. Scarlett isn’t really light, and nothing in it really reminds me of Scarlet O’Hara. But then, my vision of her doesn’t paint her in a dainty, floral at all and I expected something headier if it was to truly represent her. After a while of the white florals, the scent mellows into a mild warmed amber, honey and floral scent.

Extra: Scarlett was dedicated to the famous Scarletts in past and present including O’Hara and Johansson.

Design: I was actually surprised to see the bottle when I looked it up. It’s definitely not your typical curvy flacon and I actually kind of like it, though it clashes with my usual tastes. It’s different, and I guess that’s plenty to lend it credit to me.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Lemon, pear, jasmine, orange blossom, honeysuckle, amber, sandalwood, honey, white musk.

So I mentioned this didn’t really remind me of Scarlet O’Hara, it’s close and I understand where they’re trying to take it. To me, O’Hara is a heady, dark floral with a distinctive tuberose and a flash of something sharper and tangier like a cedar. I don’t know much about Johansson. In the end Scarlett is a nice, grown-up scent. It’s not groundbreaking enough to really set it apart from many of the other florals I’ve experienced, unfortunately.

Reviewed in This Post: Scarlett, 2015, Eau de Toilette.

Cacharel Liberte

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Liberte is a beautiful and vastly underrated fragrances. I don’t hear much about this one, but if you can find it, it’s quite a beauty in a girly, sweet scented way.

Liberte

Liberte

In Bottle: Somewhat harsh with the orange scent mixed with a very sweet note. Reminds me a bit of orange marmalade of which I’m not a very big fan of.

Applied: The orange marmalade scent throws me off for a bit and has me a bit worried but it goes away rather quickly. What replaces it is a beautiful crystal clear honey scent with a delicate floral heart. I haven’t smelled mainstream this good in a while. It reminds me a teensy bit of the more complex Aftelier Honey Blossom. Honey Blossom still has this stuff beat in terms of authenticity and complexity, but Liberte has a more delicate scent after its initial wave of citrus jam. If you don’t want to get too complex and if you want something flowery and honey-like then Liberte is a good catch. It’s dry down introduces a bit of spices and vanilla to join in the honeyed florals. There’s a bit of patchouli, but it adds rather that distracts from the rest of the fragrance. Very nicely done!

Extra: Liberte doesn’t seem to be too hard to track down. I’ve found it on at least two discounter sites and for a fairly reasonable price too. Liberte was released in 2007 and composed by Olivier Polge and Domitille Berthier.

Design: Bottle simply in a tall glass flacon. Liberte sports one of the better designs from Cacharel. It’s nice and elegant with a sophisticated look. The bottle itself is easy to hold and use. I couldn’t be happier with the design choice for Liberte.

Fragrance Family: Chypre Oriental

Notes: Bergamot, lemon, orange, bitter orange, mandarin, sugar, freesia, frangipani, gardenia, heliotrope, honey, marmalade, spices, vanilla, patchouli, vetiver.

All in all, I would still pick Aftelier’s Honey Blossom over Liberte, but it all depends on what you want in a fragrance. Liberte is certainly beautiful and shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s miles better than most fragrances that claim to be honey-based.

Reviewed in This Post: Liberte, 2007, Eau de Toilette.

Cacharel Amor Amor

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Some days I like Amor Amor. Other days I think it’s a soapy mess. It ultimately comes down to my mood and Amor Amor has good days more than bad days, though it’s so far the only perfume I hate one day and love the other.

Amor Amor

In Bottle: Sweet and floral, a bit sharp, with a very strong soapy undercurrent. There’s a ton of white musk in this to me.

Applied: Sweet and clean with a bit of fruitiness that eventually evolves into a sweet and clean floral mid-stage. There’s something in this that’s sharp–I think it might be the white musk–that rears its head in the mid-stage and sticks around until the very end of the fragrance. Amor Amor is a bit of fun and girly balanced with sharp clean musk. The mid-stage reminds me of a bunch of fruity florals mixed together with an extra heaping of sugar slapped into the mix. The dry down gets a bit less sweet and a bit cleaner as the white musk takes over and sweeps the fragrance into a vanilla woods with a scrubbed amber scent.

Extra: I don’t know what to think of Amor Amor. Some days I think it’s one of the better fruit scents out there. Other days I think it’s just too sweet and too typical.

Design: I don’t like how Amor Amor looks. It feels like it wants to be a gimmick and reminds me too much of the rose under glass in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The bottle itself is easy to hold and use. I just don’t care much for the aesthetics.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Blackcurrant, orange, mandarin, bergamot, cassia, grapefruit, apricot, lily, jasmine, rose, white musk, amber, tonka bean, cedar.

I’m writing up this review from a set of notes so I haven’t smelled Amor Amor in a while. I do wonder if my opinion of it has changed since I wrote the review. I guess I can try to smell it some time soon and see if I’m having a good Amor Amor day or a bad one.

Reviewed in This Post: Amor Amor, 2007, Eau de Parfum.