Playboy VIP For Her

Seems like I’ve been on something of a niche and vintage bender lately and have been immensely enjoying it. But it’s time to pull things back a little and take a sniff of this Playboy VIP for Her sample I got in the mail one day.

VIP for Her

VIP for Her

In Bottle: Fruity and floral with a slightly woody element to it. Smells a bit like jam, I get a big apple presence.

Applied: Fruity, clean and sweet on the opening. It’s not overpowering, and actually kind of pleasant. Not interesting, just pleasant. Like a non-offensive shampoo kind of smell. The apple isn’t bothering me too much though it smells quite synthetic as apple notes tend to do. It’s not a screaming, overbearing synthetic apple though. It’s just a hint of plastic and that’s a good thing because apple notes don’t often agree with me this well. VIP for Her’s midstage is a fairly bland affair of florals and sugary fruits followed by an equally bland sandalwood, vanilla and white musk end cycle that doesn’t do too much to excite, but does do a lot for the wearability of the fragrance. I’m not going to pick this one out if I had a choice, but I’m also not going to be too disappointed if I had to wear it.

Extra: I was actually rather amused by the Playboy VIP for Her commercials more than anything else. The absurd humor is getting to me, I suppose. And I have a weakness for adorable animals–but then, who doesn’t? Playboy VIP has a men’s counterpart called, Playboy VIP for Him that also features a set of amusing commercials.

Design: I’m not a big fan of Playboy, their publications, their fragrances, or their paraphernalia. Growing up, I always thought of the Playboy bunny logo as a sign of things I wouldn’t be interested looking at and the same remains true today. I don’t like the design of the bottle and don’t like the Playboy aesthetic in general. Different strokes for different folks.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Nectarine, peony, orange blossom, apple, berries, heliotrope, vanilla, cashmere wood, sandalwood, white musk.

Fairly bland showing for VIP for Her, but it’s miles better than other Playboy fragrances I’ve sampled in the past. Not a bad thing to pick up if you like fruity florals, but there are definitely better ones out there. I think the best parts of VIP for Her is its inoffensiveness and it’s reasonable price.

Reviewed in This Post: VIP For Her, 2012, Eau de Toilette.


Paris Hilton Passport Tokyo

As I’m looking at the couple of drops I have of this thing, I’m currently contemplating the amazing fact I just read on Perfume Posse. Paris Hilton–she of the Reality TV, zany antics, and Hilton Empire stardom–has sold $1.5 Billiondollars of perfume. That makes me just a little bit sad.

Passport Tokyo

Passport Tokyo

In Bottle: Light and citrus with a  bit of cedar and a little touch of sweet flowers. Whoo hoo.

Applied: Forgive my lack of enthusiasm for this one. I’m still reeling (two days after the fact) over the sum of money Hilton’s made on stuff like this. It’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but in the same vein, it’s not good either. In fact, it’s only not bad because it strikes a dull chord in my nose and tells me it’s all right, but if I want to be wooed and I’m not already swooning then I ought to get out of its way. Passport Tokyo’s mild and sheer citrus layer is joined by a sweet apple-like scent that blends into a really limp sweet floral woodsy fragrance that smells like it’s been diluted a couple of times. On the one hand, I’m glad the cedar isn’t assaulting my nostrils. On the other hand, I’m really disappointed by how toothless this is. Don’t let the repetition of the word ‘sweet’ fool you into thinking this is going to give you amazing amounts of sweetness. The whole affair is really light and mild.

Extra: Passport Tokyo was released in 2010 as a part of the Passport series of fragrances. The other two in this line were Paris and South Beach.

Design: Kind of garish and seems to be marketed at a much younger crowd. The bottle is clearly not aiming for luxury, but rather for fun. However, I just don’t think an EDT should ever look like that as it’s much more of a body spray packaging choice than something for an actual perfume.

Fragrance Family: Citrus Floral

Notes: Lemon, apple, frangipani, orange flower, jasmine, iris, sandalwood, cedar,musk.

Passport Tokyo’s a bit forgettable and I wouldn’t even really recommend it to anyone interested in a light citrus scent. It just smells watered down. And, come on! $1.5 Billion! Sorry, still can’t get over that.

Reviewed in This Post: Passport Tokyo, 2010, Eau de Toilette.


Victoria’s Secret Love Bitten

I was actually attracted to this because of the packaging. Something about lace makes me feel better. One of those odd character quirks I have, I guess.

Love Bitten

Love Bitten

In Bottle: Apples with a clean soft white musk and a load of woods.

Applied: Pretty much what I got in bottle, I got on my skin. It smells of apples and clean musk and wood. It’s like a basket of apples sitting next to a pile of wood. But this isn’t a great apple note as there’s nothing authentic to how these apples smell. These are artificial apples, the flavoring kind you get from a Jolly Rancher candy and not like an actual apple that you pick in an orchard. It’s serviceable though and it works well with the two notes it was paired with. The woods give the apple in this a more grownup feel as plain old fake apple fragrances to tend to project an air of carefree youth and candy. I don’t dislike this, but I also don’t like it. It’s certainly not one of the best apples I’ve smelled, but it’s a pretty good scent if you can work your way around the fake apple.

Extra: Love Bitten is a member of Victoria’s Secret’s Attractions Collection. It was released in 2011 and is no longer available because Victoria’s Secret–like Bath and Body Works–has this terrible habit where they introduce a fragrance, get a bunch of people hooked, then pull the stuff off the market.

Design: The lace was what drew me to the fragrance. I can’t help it. I love lace. The design itself is pretty good. The lace looks a bit out of place on the bottle at times, but it is eye-catching and effective in that sense. The bottle itself is pretty standard size and shape. It’s easy enough to hold and pretty good for a body mist.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Woods

Notes: Apple, woods, white musk.

Love Bitten, while it was still sold by Victoria’s Secret, had an entire line of body care items in addition to the body mist. If you’re still interested in Love Bitten, it’s available on eBay and through resellers on Amazon.

Reviewed in This Post: Love Bitten, 2011, Body Mist.


Heidi Klum Me

If I were ever in the position to have a fragrance made for me, I’d probably be unimaginative enough to just call it, “Me”. It’s really too bad Heidi Klum already beat me to it.

Me

Me

In Bottle: Fresh is probably the one and only word I’ve got for Me. The melon is pretty prominent to my nose along with the clean florals in the middle.

Applied: It’s got a nice blast of fruitiness that mellows into this juicy, clean melon scent which does a nice job eventually moving into an also pleasant and clean floral mid-stage that’s marked with a bit of sparkle and shine. There’s nothing so bold as an aldehyde in this, but the musk couldn’t be anything but white and the woods and vanilla couldn’t be anything but scrubbed with all impurities removed before being bottled. Me is quintessentially young, clean, and fresh. It’s a nice, mild-mannered scent for everyday wear.

Extra: Me was released in 2006 and hasn’t really garnered as much success as some celebrity perfumes. It seems to occupy that dark corner of celebrity fragrances where the lesser known perfumes with celebrity names hang out.

Design: Me isn’t very pretty. It’s actually rather bland in aesthetic and a little bit clunky too. It’s bottled in this roundish container with a standard baby pink cap that doesn’t do much for it’s appeal. It’s not ugly, not pretty, and ultimately not very memorable.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Fruity

Notes: Blackcurrant, apple, melon, pepper, violet, water lily, jasmine, plum, woods, sandalwood, vanilla, musk.

If you want a well done fresh melon and floral scent, then Me is your stuff. You can actually buy this stuff on the Heidi Klum website. Enjoy.

Reviewed in This Post: Me, 2006, Eau de Parfum.


Playboy Play It Rock

Apparently Playboy didn’t stop at the last trilogy of “Play It” fragrances that included in Play It Sexy, Play It Lovely and Play It Spicy. Play It Rock is a new fragrance that’s built on the same concept as the previously mentioned three scents.

Play It Rock

Play It Rock

In Bottle: Citrus and fruit. Lots of fruitiness in this actually with a little bit of vanilla.

Applied: Citrus up top, rather loud and harsh at first and makes me think that’s where the rock is coming from. The sharpness goes away rather quickly though and I’m introduced to a fruity mid-stage that makes me think of apples and berries mixed together in a bizarro cupcake. The fruitiness is tempered a bit by a pretty benign layer of generic, but soft and yielding florals. As the fragrance ages the vanilla note arrives making Play It Rock smell more and more like a fruity cupcake. Nothing wrong with that. The fragrance is rather soft at this stage and doesn’t smash you in the face with its sweetness. It’s actually pretty decent when you get to the dry down. It’s not unique, but it’s perfectly wearable after the opening.

Extra: Play It Rock was released in 2011. I’m not sure where Playboy is going to take this line. A part of me wonders if they’re going to be releasing two more Play It fragrances or if they’re just going to leave it at Play It Rock. I just hope they get a bit more creative in the future.

Design: The design is essentially the same as the other Play It fragrances with a round bottle and a nozzle cap that features the Playboy Bunny. Play It Rock sets itself apart by having a red topper as opposed to a black top like the other Play It fragrances and does not have the little jewel on the bottle.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Oriental

Notes: Blood orange, apple, orange flower, saffron, frangipani, passion flower, ebony, patchouli, tonka bean.

Play It Rock doesn’t do what it’s meant to do badly. It’s not exciting, but it’s a good competent fragrance for a younger audience or for someone who wants a nice sweet fruity scent that isn’t too strong. Granted, if you wanted something light and sweet you could get the body spray version of this stuff.

Reviewed in This Post: Play It Rock, 2011, Eau de Toilette.


Vera Wang Preppy Princess

Am I alone in asking myself, “What? Another one?” when I saw Preppy Princess on the shelves? How many princesses does the Vera Wang line have now? I think we get the theme, especially seeing as most of the Princess fragrances tended to smell really similar so that if you owned the original Princess, there really wasn’t much point in owning most of the others. But hey, Preppy Princess is another smelly adventure.

Preppy Princess

Preppy Princess

In Bottle: Sweet red berry-like scent. There seems to be a lot of berry openings in my reviews lately, what is up with that? In either case, the fact that Preppy Princess opened with a sweet berry scent doesn’t set it apart from the other berry scents I’ve reviewed lately.

Applied: Berries with a splash of citrus up top. Everything is sweet and girly and rather dull at the moment. Not exactly a good first impressions of Preppy Princess but it isn’t an unpleasant experience. I just feel like I’ve done this a hundred times already. So as the fragrances ages further and heads toward its midstage, I get a little bit of a floral kick only there’s jasmine in this and some equally non-descript florals. So all I get in the end is a generic flowery smell that doesn’t help Preppy either. The dry down smells like a mild coconut note mixed with sandalwood and amber  or something.

Extra: So we’ve got five princesses now, I think. I can only hope things stop here. I can’t imagine what other princesses there could be that would inspire someone to compose another generic fragrance and slap it into a heart-shaped bottle.

Design: Preppy Princess, aside from the stripey lines on the glass and blue cap, is pretty much the same design as the other Princess fragrances from Vera Wang. It’s, once again, aimed at a younger audience than me and I can’t see the aesthetic appeal of the bottle. But at least you can use the cap as a very pointy ring.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Tangerine, apple, berries, jasmine, honeysuckle, woods, coconut.

Hooray, I survived another Princess fragrance. It’s as generic as it can get. The opening smelled generic. The midstage smelled generic, and even the coconut in the base couldn’t help this one out. If you already own one of the other Princess fragrances–and unless you just love collecting the bottles–then I’d say skip this one. There’s far better fragrances out there.

Reviewed in This Post: Preppy Princess, 2011, Eau de Toilette.


Creed Aventus

Creed’s gone tropical with Aventus but doesn’t dive in immediately into the fruity tropical pool. There are elements of sophistication still associated with Aventus.

Aventus

Aventus

In Bottle: Fruity opening with a smoky leather background that has a certain earthiness to it too.

Applied: Fruity, almost tropical and probably helped along in that direction thanks to the pineapple note. The opening smells rather familiar to a women’s fragrance actually with a deeper masculinity that comes up smelling mostly like fresh fruits and a bit of tar. Tar being that smoky–sometimes plastic–smell that I don’t particularly find enticing if not mixed well enough. Aventus does a good enough job of keeping it in check so that it enhances the fragrance for me instead of takes away from it. As the midstage wears on, there’s a little bit of floral but what I mostly get is this sharp earthy  scent that dwells on in the fragrance way into the end where it fades with a bit of sweet vanilla.

Extra: If you were afraid of other Creeds and those smelling a little too classic for you then Aventus is probably a good Creed starter. It’s got excellent projection and power but is an easy to wear fragrance. It is, however, a bit of a departure from how Creeds used to be. It is, nevertheless, still a competent fragrance.

Design: Bottle design is similar to other Creed bottles. The niche houses tend to keep their designs fairly uniform and Creed’s not much different in practice. The bottle has a nice weight and is easy to hold and use. It also looks quite sharp with its clear glass elements combined with the black and metal treatments.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Modern Chypre

Notes: Bergamot, blackcurrant, apple, pineapple, jasmine, rose, birch, patchouli, musk, oak moss, amber, vanilla.

I’m not that big of a fan of Aventus on my own skin but it is a funny fragrance that starts off a bit feminine then nosedives right into a masculine scent. It’s playful then sophisticated at the same time.

Reviewed in This Post: Aventus, 2011, Eau de Parfum.


Betsey Johnson Perfume

Betsey Johnson’s fragrance is a polarizing affair with fans and dissenters alike. I just happen to be on the dissenter side. Even though I see what Betsey Johnson is trying to do with the kitschy design and equally kitschy fragrance, I just  can’t say that I like it.

Betsey Johnson

Betsey Johnson

In Bottle: Incredibly sweet and floral with a bit of musk. A rather discordant fragrance with a fruity hint and a strange medley of scents that don’t play nice with my nose.

Applied: Opens with a very sweet blackcurrant and citrus fragrance that quickly introduces the florals and a very sweet and very obvious freesia note. The apple wiggles in with the midstage and turns up the fruity side of this fragrance a few notches. It’s sweet and flowery and smells a bit synthetic and cheap and very cloying as the fragrance just continues to amp up on the sweetness the longer it sits on my skin. When the base notes arrive there’s a bit of sugary woodsiness that mingles with the equally sugary floral.

Extra: Betsey Johnson’s style has always been bright and colorful and pop artsy. I can’t say I’m a big fan of it, but the fragrance and the design itself do reflect these aesthetics. This particular perfume was created by noses Mathilde Bijaoui and Bernard Blanc.

Design: The bottle for Betsey Johnson is just about everything I don’t like in a design. It’s big and girly and flashy and bright and pretty much the epitome of kitsch. I don’t like the aesthetics and think they are a little ridiculous but rest assured, the bottle was designed to look like this. I just don’t like the look at all.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Grapefruit, blackcurrant, tangerine, pear, freesia, lily of the valley, apple, sandalwood, amber, musk, cedar, praline.

So all in all, this fragrance just isn’t for me but that shouldn’t stop someone else from looking this one up. It’s got a nice fruity floral with a very sweet tooth. If you love fruity floral and sweet scents, try this stuff out.

Reviewed in This Post: Betsey Johnson, 2008, Eau de Parfum.


CB I Hate Perfume Gathering Apples

I remember when I was in an apple binging mood where I wanted to smell like apples all day long. Then something in my mind clicked into place and I started to see–or rather smell–just how synthetic apple notes tended to be. Thus began my apple falling out. Unfortunately for Gathering Apples, it arrived after my infatuation with the note had blown away.

Gathering Apples

In Bottle: Very faint sweet apple scent. It reminds me of juicing my own apples.

Applied: Pretty much what I smelled in the bottle is what I got on my skin. The apple scent is a little plastic but it has a leg up on most of the other apple scents out there in that it’s not quite as sweet. It’s a tad tart, a little bit bitter, rather sugary but it’s about as authentic an apple note is probably going to get–or at least, it’s as authentic an apple note as I’ve smelled. The description for this fragrance claims there a hint of wooden basket in this. Try as hard as I might I can’t get any of the woods to come up, maybe it’s a part of that faintly bitter smell I got? I’m a little bit disappointed in this, but at the same time think it’s an accomplishment when it comes to making a usually very synthetic note like apple a bit more authentic.

Extra: So, if someone wanted to smell like apples would Gathering Apples be a good choice? In my opinion? Yes. If you want a light, more authentic, and a bit of an artistic interpretation of apple then Gathering Apples is fabulous. If you want a completely silly fragrance that’s strong and candied and don’t care if it smells of extremely synthetic apple then anything like DKNY Be Delicious will be good.

Design: You can get Gathering Apples, like most of CB I Hate Perfume fragrances, in two forms. A water sprayable form in a tall glass cylinder. Or an absolute form in a cute glass vial. The design is simple, the concept is simple, but it has a very scientific yet chic aesthetic to it.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Apple, woods.

The more I progress in this review the more sold I am on Gathering Apples. I wish it smelled a bit more authentic to my nose. I wish I wasn’t blind to the wood notes that are supposed to be in this. But in the end, it’s the strongest apple fragrance for authenticity that I’ve smelled.

Reviewed in This Post: Gathering Apples, 2010, Eau de Toilette.


Donna Karan DKNY Be Delicious

I was really wary of trying DKNY Be Delicious thanks to my less than warm reception to DKNY Delicious Night where I pretty much experienced it as a drowning episode in an ocean of sugar. But I tried Be Delicious anyway since a lot of people seem to love this.

DKNY Be Delicious

DKNY Be Delicious

In Bottle: Synthetic apple. That’s just about all I smell, there’s some sharp little citrus notes in the opening but this stuff is mostly synthetic apple.

Applied: More synthetic apple bubbling around up top with a very sweet and sort of cloying personality. Beneath it are some citrus notes that try their best to make themselves known but the apple in Be Delicious is just way too strong for any of that “balance” and “blended” nonsense. The fragrance doesn’t really age well either, I get some floral hints as the wear goes on but everything is being obscured by the big fat apple that’s sitting in the foreground. It’s like I went to see a play and someone that’s wearing an obnoxious hat is seated right in front of me. That’s the apple in Be Delicious. It’s not a good hat. It’s not stylish. It’s just fake and gaudy and loud. The dry down sees a fade on the apple a bit, where I get some florals mixing it up a bit. I would have liked for the apple to go away a lot sooner but hey, I think we’ve established that Be Delicious isn’t my kind of ride and no last minute florals can help that.

Extra: So there’s apparently an entire line of Be Delicious flankers that I have yet to try but if I don’t even remotely like the original, I wonder how I’ll do with the rest of them. Probably not well if they’re anything like Delicious Night or Be Delicious.

Design: Shaped like an apple. I kind of like how the Be Delicious line is shaped though the construction leaves a lot to be desired. I thought the metallic cap on Be Delicious work in an aesthetic sense far better than the plastic cap on Delicious Night. So the original has that going for it.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Green notes, violet leaf, apple, grapefruit, magnolia, tuberose, lily of the valley, rose, violet, sandalwood, amber, musk.

I don’t know where the rest of those notes where. All I smelled was apple and then much later on some rose and lily.

Reviewed in This Post: DKNY Be Delicious, 2010, Eau de Parfum.