Victoria’s Secret Vixen

Vixen was released earlier in 2011. I’m not sure if there was much fanfare over this one because I had no idea it even existed until I happened upon it in the store.

Vixen

Vixen

In Bottle: Really sweet, very syrupy apple fragrance mixed with an equally sweet floral scent and a lot of vanilla. It’s already cloying.

Applied: Extremely sweet apple note on the opening that’s also trying to be a bit sour at the same time. It’s not coming through very well as an apple fragrance because it just smells like that synthetic apple stuff that I usually get in fragrances like this. The sweetness only amps up as the florals and the vanilla roll in to give the fragrance a bit of a flowery gourmand personality that does nothing to make this seem less generic. The fragrance was already cloying from the first get go and it doesn’t get any better when it reaches the base either. All that’s at the base is a sweet vanilla bean fragrance.

Extra: So Vixen’s not very original or unique. She smells like any other apple-based fragrance out there. If you want an apple scent, this is good. You can also try DKNY Be Delicious, CB I Hate Perfume Gathering Apples, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Delirium. Heck, if you want an even simpler apple scent that focuses more on the note, get the double body mist from Victoria’s Secret called Appletini.

Design: Vixen comes with a balloon pump to add a sense of vintage to the fragrance. The one thing I noticed is the familiar shape. Reminds me a lot of a classic Guerlain Shalimar bottle except with a bit of a garish color scheme. The balloon pump does give the bottle a classic sort of look. But I can’t get over how much the shape of the bottle echos classic Shalimar.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Apple blossom, freesia, vanilla.

Not very interested in this. Mostly because it smells like so much that’s already out there. It’s a very sweet apple scent, and that’s about all I can really say about this one. I mean, it does smell good but it’s way too sugary for me.

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


Bath and Body Works Orange Sapphire

I had smelled Orange Sapphire a few months ago and thought it would be a part of Bath and Body Work’s regular collection. When I went back recently to freshen my memory of this scent, I found that it had been discontinued. That’s the thing with Bath and Body Works, they come out with some nice, wearable, easy fragrances that smell all right. Then when you go back looking for it again, it’s been discontinued. Talk about frustrating.

Orange Sapphire

Orange Sapphire

In Bottle: Clean, sweet citrus that reminds me immediately of summer and the tropics. Nicely done citrus-based fragrance that’s more interesting than White Citrus. Orange Sapphire is like White Citrus if the latter would loosen its shirt collar a little bit.

Applied: It’s like a sweet citrus party upon application as all the citrus notes flood up top and vie over each other for dominance. There’s definitely a distinct sweet mandarin scent amongst the various citruses. As the fragrance wears on, it gets a bit more floral and a lot more generic. Orange Sapphire’s citrus notes try to hold on in the midstage but the fragrance develops into a floral near the end of its midstage and when Orange Sapphire hits the endstage, it still smells like a sweet floral generic fragrance, the base notes don’t add much to the fragrance, as is usually the case.

Extra: Orange Sapphire was discontinued sometime in 2011. The last time I saw this on the shelves at a Bath and Body Works store was in 2010. You can still buy this on eBay and Amazon from third party vendors. But given the history of BnBW discontinuing scents then bringing them back under different names, I wouldn’t be surprised if Orange Sapphire resurfaced with a different name.

Design: All Bath and Body Works perfumes are pretty much designed the same way. I suppose the uniform design approach works for them. I mean, the design itself is easy enough to like and easy enough to rebrand for other fragrances. Orange Sapphire, appropriately enough, features an orange glass bottle with some sapphire blue elements on the design.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Blood orange, orange, grapefruit, bergamot, mandarin, cassis, raspberry, peach, jasmine, orange flower, freesia, lily of the valley, magnolia, orchid, vetiver, musk, patchouli.

It’s too bad this was discontinued because I think it did fill a niche in that it’s more playful than White Citrus but is still refreshing without being a full out gourmand. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought this back at some point.

Reviewed in This Post: Orange Sapphire, 2010, Eau de Toilette.


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.


Calvin Klein Eternity

Eternity is one of those classic smelling Calvin Klein fragrances with a ton of ingredients that kind of sends em off into ‘meh’ territory for some reason.

Eternity

Eternity

In Bottle: Spicy carnation with rose and lily notes there’s a hint of citrus up top with a bit of earthiness too.

Applied: Citrus opener that follows with a sharp green and clean note that fades away rather quickly to reveal very spicy carnation with a bit of sage and a lily and rose flowery midstage. This stuff smells like a spicy flower bouquet and if you let it keep aging on your skin, you’ll be treated to a woodsier interpretation near the end that falls into a warm spicy and earth fragrance that finishes itself off with a faded carnation note.

Extra: Eternity was composed by Sophia Grojsman who also did fragrance such as White Linen for Estee Lauder and Lancome’s Tresor.

Design: Eternity is bottled rather simply in a tasteful shape and with subdued design elements. It’s a rectangular glass bottle with a metal topper. Very nicely done, Calvin Klein. But then again, CK has always been pretty good about its bottle designs. Kudos.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Floral

Notes: Citrus, mandarin, green notes, freesia, sage, lily, carnation, violet, rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, marigold, narcissus, heliotrope, sandalwood, musk, amber, patchouli.

I’m not wild about this fragrance for some reason. Maybe it’s because I used to smell this a lot when I was around this one woman who swore by her Eternity and wouldn’t wear anything else. It’s been almost a decade since I was around her but maybe that’s why I feel like Eternity just isn’t exciting to me. You smell a perfume for a certain amount of time and it just ceases to be amazing, I suppose.

Reviewed in This Post: Eternity, 2002, Eau de Parfum.


BnBW Paris Amour

Another new-ish release from Bath and Body Works, Paris Amour is supposed to be a sophisticated, romantic fruity floral scent. I already have my doubts.

Paris Amour

Paris Amour

In Bottle: Very fruity, the strawberry is really present along with this peach and apple combination. Everything is also very sweet.

Applied: Strawberry all up in my face. There’s the apple blossom kind of waffling about with the peach note as the big fruity opening starts drying off in the mid-stage where the floral notes start to come up. We got a little bit of something green but there is a lot of frangipani to my nose and an equal amount of cleaned up lotus mixed with a tiny hint of cleaned up jasmine. The dry down is not too much more interesting as the floral midstage gives way to a vanilla sandalwood scent that’s been bathed in white musk.

Extra: Paris Amour, like pretty much all other Bath and Body Works fragrances comes in a variety of different products. You can get a lotion, body mist, body cream, shower gel. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a candle version of this scent.

Design: Designed in much the same way as other Bath and Body Works fragrances. Essentially, you’ve got a square bottle with some cute pastel colors and the Eiffel Tower. Nothing too exciting though the design of this particular fragrance is a little unbalanced with the tower standing out a little too much in my opinion.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Mandarin, strawberry, cassis, freesia, apple blossom, peach, jasmine, lotus, frangipani, tulip, musk, sandalwood, amber, vanilla, coconut.

Paris Amour is pretty generic for what it is. I don’t know, Bath and Body Works seems to have one hit fragrance and that was Japanese Cherry Blossom. Everything else is kind of like this, “It smells all right” kind of affair with no real sense of the dramatic or the unique. As for whether or not Paris Amour is the sophisticated and romantic scent it was toted as being–eh, not really. This makes me think, “fun”, “girly”, “happy”. Romance and sophistication don’t come into the picture.

Reviewed in This Post: Paris Amour, 2011, Eau de Toilette.


Gucci Rush

I tend to gloss over Gucci Rush every time I get near it and I can only attribute this phenomenon to one thing–that ugly packaging. I see that big, red, square thing sitting on the shelf and wonder to myself what it is I’m looking at. When I gravitate closer, I realize it’s Gucci Rush once again, blasting red into my retinas and generally turning me off.

Rush

Rush

In Bottle: Smells fake and isn’t afraid to admit it. Rush smells like my childhood days spent sitting in a corner reenacting fairy tales with plastic dolls that wore cheap, fruity perfumes.

Applied: I didn’t think that plastic, synthetic smell was on purpose. Evidently it was! Very brave of Gucci, but at the same time I question their sanity to be this forward about the synthetic quality of their scent. Still, I can appreciate a fragrance that doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. It smells like plastic on application, mixed with over-the-top fruity notes. I notice the peach most of all, it’s a bit nauseating to be honest and the plastic stays on me for the rest of the fragrance’s lifetime–which is not necessarily a good thing. The scent has some florals in there to help balance it out but Rush is like a discordant piece of music written by a madman. The midstage is an equally hilarious blend of  white florals that smell like they rolled around in a pan of powder. As the fragrance dries down I get a hint of spicy plastic on florals and a powdery sort of vanilla base mixed with an earthy patchouli note that’s been warmed and dried by a bit of vetiver. The vetiver gives this a bit of a golden feel at the very end of the fragrance, I rather like that last little bit.

Extra: I tried looking around the internet to see what other people would lump Gucci Rush into in terms of fragrance family. I think the consensus was that this stuff was a modern chypre. I can see how it would be considered that with the use of the earthy patchouli, but if I had my way I wouldn’t so much call this a modern chypre than a synthetic chypre. That plastic note is still wigging me out months after I tried this stuff.

Design: Gucci Rush turned out to be a more interesting fragrance experience than I thought it would be. The packaging makes a bit more sense to me now but that doesn’t change the fact that the packaging has been a major turn off for me for many years. I understand what Gucci may have been going for there, but when it comes down to it, Gucci Rush’s aesthetic just looks cheap, lazy, and bad. As much as I appreciate its connection to the scent itself, I can’t get over the basic hideousness of the thing.

Fragrance Family: Modern Chypre

Notes: Freesia, gardenia, peach, coriander, Damask rose, jasmine, vanilla, vetiver, patchouli.

I kind of like this. It’s fascinating in that macabre way. You know when you’re flipping channels when you happen upon one of those live operations where they film the gory bits of surgery for some sort of educational purpose? And you’re thinking to yourself, “Ouch. This poor person. This is terrible. I shouldn’t be watching this. I haven’t got the stomach for it”, and yet thirty minutes later you’re not only still watching it but you’re on the verge of entertained. That’s Gucci Rush.

Reviewed in This Post: Rush, 2009, Eau de Toilette.


Guerlain AA Jasminora

It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Guerlains. I figured a few months worth of a break is a decent time period so I’m heading back slowly with Guerlain’s newest Aqua Allegoria; Jasminora.

Jasminora

In Bottle: Clean citrus with a jasmine and soft floral heart.

Applied: Sharp green citrus up front that quickly fades into a scrubby clean floral scent. The jasmine is easy to distinguish from the other florals although it is struggling a bit due to the amount of clean white musk that was dumped into this fragrance. The mid-stage is a lovely floral and airy thing. A bit of a wilting daisy when it comes to fragrances but this is an Aqua Allegoria after all. Guerlain’s done jasmine better in some of their other fragrances but this one is a nice departure from their usual. It’s a lighter, more youthful interpretation. I just wish there was more to it than jasmine and clean. The dry down is not too much more complex as the jasmine and florals fade away leaving you with this generic clean smell on your skin.

Extra: I’m not overly impressed with Jasminora. It suffers from that “Doesn’t smell like a Guerlain” syndrome. But one could argue that most Aqua Allegorias suffer from that. Still, Jasminora is easy to wear and easy to like. She’s not interesting at all and she’s a bit of a disappointment from one of my favorite fragrance houses.

Design: Bottled in a similar way as other Aqua Allegorias, in a pseudo-bee bottle flacon with a hive cage over the top half. Although these aren’t quite the full deal bee bottles, I bet they’d look beautiful all lined up in a row.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Bergamot, cyclamen, galbanum, lily of the valley, freesia, jasmine, musk, amber.

Ultimately, I looked at Jasminora and compared it to Thierry Mugler’s Alien. And I know, it’s a bit unfair. Alien is a powerhouse jasmine and Jasminora is an approachable jasmine. There’s just something weak about Jasminora that makes me say you’re better off going light with Alien.

Reviewed in This Post: Jasminora, 2011, Eau de Toilette.


Hello Kitty

I don’t know why I expected anything else but sugar and sweet from a fragrance put out with Hello Kitty’s name on it. Or expect anything from a perfume that comes out of a cartoon cat’s head. But hey, it’s just fun.

Hello Kitty

In Bottle: Sweet, candy, and quite synthetic smelling. There’s not much to this perfume aside from candy-like with a little touch of apple and other fruits to cut the tedium a little.

Applied: Initial flare of sweet fruit with an apple note that’s very synthetic. This is the apple that I smell in DKNY Be Delicious. Too sweet, a little plastic, not very attractive but it does its job as a fruity opener. The fragrance heads into its mid-stage with an equally sweet showing, amping up the sugar even more while it takes on a bit of a vanilla and fruity flowers mix. There’s no really good florals in this, just vague perfumery flower scent that smells as nondescript as the rest of the fragrance. The dry down is a typical sweet vanilla with a cleaned up white musk finisher.

Extra: Hello Kitty’s had a few perfumes named after her over the years but I believe this one is a part of the Hello Kitty beauty line that’s now available at Sephora. I never quite understood the Hello Kitty craze, though I do own a few pieces of Sanrio merchandise and remember a vague time in my tween years when I thought some of the characters were cute. I can appreciate this for the fun factor at least.

Design: The bottle is essentially Hello Kitty’s head with a balloon pump coming up the top. It’s cute at first glance but when you settle down and think about it, it’s a bit macabre. Here you have Hello Kitty, with a sprayer nozzle coming out of her head, and then you squeeze a balloon pump to get the cartoon happiness out of the bottle. The balloon pump, being what it is, is not as good as a standard push atomizer but it is functional. I would be concerned about how the balloon pump continues to function as the user uses the perfume more and more as it’s a pretty delicate piece of hardware.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Fruity

Notes: Cassis sorbet, mandarin, apple, magnolia blossom, freesia, orange flower, tonka bean, vanilla, musk.

And now I know what Hello Kitty is supposed to smell like. This fragrance lived up to my expectations of it smelling like a candy confection. If you’re looking for complex and interesting, you’d have better luck elsewhere.

Reviewed in This Post: Hello Kitty, 2011, Eau de Parfum.


V&R Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose 2011

I decided to give Flowerbomb, or rather its flanker line, a chance hoping that after the very un-floral like contraption that was the original Flowerbomb, they would add some actual flowers to the perfume so it smelled a bit less like a very expensive Pink Sugar.

Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose

In Bottle: Still smells foody though the caramel note in this one is significantly more tame than in the original Flowerbomb. I’m noticing a smooth almond note mingled with that same scent that I got from Flowerbomb. That sweet, nothing-else-but-candy scent that I wasn’t too sold on in the original.

Applied: A flare up of bergamot with sweet tangerine leading the way. It’s typical of perfumes and this citrus opener didn’t happen with the original Flowerbomb that veered right into sweet territory. After the citrus digs itself out, the original Flowerbomb scent comes through with a milder caramel note riding on the waves of an almond scent that adds a bit more foodiness to the fragrance. The florals are still largely absent behind the huge wall of obnoxiously sweet candy-like accords that add nothing to this flanker’s originality. It is, essentially, Flowerbomb with some bergamot and almond. I’m not impressed. The dry down is a similar affair as Flowerbomb. La Vie en Rose is hanging on to some sweet candy scent dotted with a scrubbed clean patchouli until it has faded completely.

Extra: So this version of Flowerbomb’s La Vie en Rose flanker was released in 2011 and toted as being the same floral fragrance everybody’s already loved. I really wish the fine folks who keep producing this stuff would stop kidding themselves and admit that there’s very few flowers in Flowerbomb. I haven’t tried any of the other Flowerbomb flankers yet so hey, maybe they managed a floral one somewhere in there.

Design: Designed much in the same way as the original Flowerbomb. Same shape. Same basic premise. La Vie en Rose has a notable deeper pink though with smaller geometric squares on the flacon’s surface. I like the design. I think it’s cute and clever. I just wish this stuff actually smelled like flowers or at least admit that it doesn’t smell like flowers at all.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Bergamot, pink pepper, tangerine, freesia, lily of the valley, almond, raspberry, red berries, cashmere wood, patchouli, amber.

Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose  irritates me a little bit. It’s like the convenience store I go to sometimes that gouges me for instant noodles. So Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose is the instant noodles. I know it’s not gourmet, I know it’s got very little nutritional value but the convenience store will still gouge me for it anyway.

Reviewed in This Post: Flowerbomb La Vie en Rose, 2011, Eau de Toilette.

PS. For all my geeky perfume lovers out there, happy Captain Picard Day!


Estee Lauder Pleasures

When I first smelled Pleasures, the only Estee Lauder perfumes I was aware of were White Linen and Youth Dew. I was afraid of Pleasures and other Estee Lauder perfumes because of the iconic status of some of their fragrances.

Pleasures

In Bottle: Pleasures is actually a very approachable modern fragrance set as a dewy floral. It’s light and gentle and highly wearable without the need to understand it first.

Applied: Starts off a sweet little kick from the pink pepper and the violets. Freesia adds a jolt of clean and sweet to the opening too. I can barely smell any tuberose in this. In fact, aside from a slick, creamy quality that settles close to the background on the opening I can’t even get tuberose. Pleasures evolves into peony and rose. The rose is a modern interpretation, clean and fresh and coupled with a crisp set of lily and lily-of-the-valley. The fragrance is such a benign blend of florals. The dry down doesn’t move too different, introducing a soft sandalwood mingling with cedar while clean musk keeps everything lumped together.

Extra: Pleasures and the Pleasures line of flankers is like Estee Lauder’s modern floral attempts. And they succeeded. Pleasures is a great clean, fresh floral. There’s not a whole lot of personality to this but it is successful for what Estee Lauder tried to make of it.

Design: I’m always underwhelmed by Estee Lauder’s bottle designs. They tend to be simple, which I like. But for some reason, the designs also remind me of the 80s. And not just the 80s in general but shoulder pads in floral print dresses. Pleasures is no exception to this. The bottle is simple, easy to hold and easy to spray. It just isn’t really imaginative.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Floral

Notes: Pink pepper, violet, freesia, tuberose, berries, poeny, rose, lily, lilac, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, geranium, patchouli, sandalwood, cedar, musk.

I’m all right with Pleasures. I think it’s a very well done floral that could be a good contender in the modern fragrance arena. I just don’t find it interesting at all.

Reviewed in This Post: Pleasures, 2010, Eau de Parfum.