Diesel Loverdose

Posted on by

In between throwing out perfume bottles shaped like fists of varying thematic absurdities and milk bottles, Diesel comes out with Loverdose, an unfortunately named perfume for women in a somewhat tasteful flacon.

Loverdose

Loverdose

In Bottle: Wow, the anise is out in this one. It’s just about all I can smell at first until I realize the sweetness is masking some inane florals. Not really encouraging, sadly.

Applied: First thing I smell is anise and anise is just about all I can get out of Loverdose until it decides that it’s good and ready to let me in on something else. But what Loverdose does to its anise is unfortunate. If well blended, anise can lend a sophisticated sweetness to a fragrance. I associate anise with comfort and sometimes exoticism. In Loverdose, anise is like a sledgehammer and my nose is in its way. The midstage is marked with a sweet floral that reminds me too much of the failed perfume experiment I conducted when I was a child by mixing two of my mother’s fragrances together along with a few sprays of floral air freshener. The dry down isn’t much better, as the wood, amber and vanilla do nothing to temper the sweetness that’s been with this fragrance since first spray. Overall, Loverdose is a bit of a mess.

Extra: Loverdose was released in 2011 by Diesel. You might know Deisel from their popular denims.

Design: I wouldn’t say Loverdose is at the top of the design game here. But compared to the other designs from Diesel’s other fragrances, this one is a few cuts above the rest. It is not shaped like a fist. It is not shaped like a milk bottle. And it does not remind me that I have to spray for termites soon (I don’t know, I’m just strange). So what if it’s a big purple heart and I’ve made it well known what I thought of those? Loverdose is at least more aesthetically pleasing even if it is still somewhat ridiculous. It has a nice weight to it, it’s easy to hold and spray, and it’s made of good enough material. Good on ya, Diesel.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Mandarin, star anise, licorice, jasmine, gardenia], amber, vanilla, woods.

I guess I have to touch on the name of this stuff. I thought it was clever for about a minute, then had to groan because the name of this stuff just hits too close to pun territory. Sorry, Diesel, this one doesn’t appeal to me.

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

Vera Wang Princess Night

Posted on by

Really? Another one? At this point, the Princess line has become this heart-shaped, sugary thing I find myself inexplicably drawn to. Like I can justify smelling its many iterations in the hopes that something about the whole lot will strike my fancy. So here goes nothing.

Princess Night

Princess Night

In Bottle:Fruity with a distinct sweet vanilla fragrance. There’s a creamy quality to it too. Smells a lot like a warm berry dessert.

Applied: Fruity opening with a slightly tart berry personality that pretty much bursts out of the bottle and attaches itself to your skin to attack you while it has the chance. The berries are rather shortlived and end up devolving into this anonymous “fruity” smell that mixes rather nicely, but also rather blandly, with the florals in the midstage. The staple jasmine, rose, and orange flower combination does what its always done–create a benign floral twist that behaves in the presence of fruits and vanillas. The dry down isn’t too much to write home about either. Sweet vanilla, layered with a hint of woods to give the fragrance a warm, sweet finish. The warmth in this one shouldn’t be confused with the warmth you might get from an amber note, this is all mild warmth. Kind of like dipping your toe in lukewarm water as opposed to wrapping yourself in a plush sweater.

Extra: Princess Night, presumably after the success of the Princess line by Vera Wang, was released in January 2012.

Design: All right, who green lighted this thing? I picked up the bottle and had glitter all over my hand the instant I came into contact with it. Now I’m not as big on glitter as some people–in fact, I kind of hate glitter. Regardless, the glitter makes the already garish bottle look even more garish. Princess Night was sitting next to a bottle of regular old Princess and the former made the latter look like a baccarat masterpiece. I’m sorry, the look doesn’t appeal to me and the glitter just turned me off completely. On more technical terms, Princess Night is shaped exactly like the rest of the Princess line with a removable ring you can wear on your finger. It’s two chief differences being the dark purple glitter that covers the entirety of the bottle and a metal tag hung from the neck to identify the fragrance.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Oriental

Notes: Red berries, raspberry, watermelon, orange flower, jasmine, rose, sugar, vanilla, musk, woods.

Kind of had to stretch to call this an oriental but what else stands out from Princess Night but it’s fruity opening and vanilla finish? Maybe the next Princess flanker will work out for me a bit better.

Reviewed in This Post: Princess Night, 2012, Eau de Toilette.

Estee Lauder Beautiful

Posted on by

A pleasant surprise arrived for Christmas 2011–a book of perfume samples. Many of the fragrances were new and I was just thrilled. Estée Lauder’s Beautiful was one of the first I pulled out and giddily peeled back the flap to smell.

Beautiful

Beautiful

In Bottle: Extremely floral and a bit powdery. There’s no floral standing out, it’s just a big homogenous bouquet at the moment.

Applied: Initial hit of citrus then the floral bouquet rolls into town and takes over the whole operation. From then on, it’s all flowers all the time. Now, I love a good floral fragrance. But the key is balance and moderation. It seems like those are the two things missing from this iteration of Estée Lauder’s Beautiful. I heard the original Beautiful is a far different animal. So don’t turn yourself off from the classic based on what I say about this contemporary version. The florals in Beautiful really do smell like a confused mish mash that doesn’t quite know what it wants to do with itself. The scent seems to suffer a bit from over composition where there are too many ingredients vying for space and there just isn’t enough space to go around. The result is a fragrance that people can distinguish as “flowery”, but no one can truly say what kind of flower. I’m not the kind of person who just likes smelling like a bunch of flowers. I wanted more depth to it than this, but Beautiful settles into it’s explosion of florals in the midstage then ends it all with a bit of cedar at the end as my nostrils continue to burn from the florals thrown at me earlier.

Extra: The first iteration of Beautiful was released in 1985. It has since gone through a few cosmetic changes and some formula changes. I do not have any access to classic Beautiful, which is a real shame as I’d love to see how it compares to this.

Design: The bottle is reminiscent of Calvin Klein’s designs. I want to say Obsession for Women comes to mind when I look at this, but Beautiful is a little easier on the eyes. It’s metallic cap really helps pull it together a little more.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Bergamot, lemon, cassia, fruit, blackcurrant, galbanum, mimosa, magnolia, carnation, chamomile, tuberose, orange blossom, freesia, lilac, narcissus, jasmine, neroli, clary sage, violet, iris, lily of the valley, ylang ylang, marigold, geranium, sandalwood, myrrh, vanilla, vetiver, cedar.

As I looked up the notes list for this one, I found every single source listed an enormous amount of stuff. I just ended up picking out what I thought I could get out of this. In the end, I’m sorry, Beautiful, but you really just smell like flower stuff.

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

Guerlain Cherry Blossom Fruity

Posted on by

A year ago when my eyes were still filled with stars for old fragrance houses like Guerlain and Coty, I would have sworn off stuff like Cherry Blossom Fruity and pretended they didn’t exist. But the truth of the matter is, Guerlain makes its bills by selling mainstream fragrances like this while, hopefully, keeping its classics alive for another year.

Cherry Blossom Fruity

Cherry Blossom Fruity

In Bottle: Smells like flowers and fruits. Kind of a funny experience when I remember Guerlain of Vol de Nuit and Jicky fame made this.

Applied: Yeah, florals and fruits. There’s a bit of tartness at the start–very little of it–with a juicy cherry fragrance and a very fruity blanket to push the cherry smell a little. The whole opening is familiar with mainstream fruity fragrances. I think the word “juicy” is a good approximation of how Cherry Blossom Fruity opens up. Don’t worry though, it gets better as the scent ages and the cherry blossom jasmine combination come into play. The florals balance out the loud juicy opening very nicely. The whole composition of the fragrance is quite sound. It’s actually one of the better fruity florals I’ve sampled in that it doesn’t just throw a punch of fruits and flowers together. There was some good thought put into this. The drydown sees a bit of taming when it comes to the fruity florals and introduces a bit of surprising dry dustiness that I want to say might be vetiver, but I’m not sure I want to commit to that conclusion.

Extra: While I have a very small sample of this, Cherry Blossom Fruity is apparently a “Glittering” Eau de Toilette. I can only assume there’s some sort of glitter or sparkles in this stuff that when sprayed can either make you look like the Queen of the Fae or a walking disco ball. I’m really not sure where Guerlain was going with this one, but there’s been some iteration of these easy fragrances out for a while. You can still get your hands on Cherry Blossom Fruity. Beautyencounter has it for a very reasonable price though the bottle is very small.

Design: I’m not wild about the look of this one. It looks particularly out of place given the rest of Guerlain’s packaging. It is what it is though. Every time I look at the bottle I get the feeling Cherry Blossom Fruity would fit in more with the body sprays (especially given the glitter in it) than the Eau de Toilettes.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Red berries, cherry, cherry blossom, jasmine, vetiver.

Please note that my list of notes is mostly an approximation. Guerlain themselves only provided two definitive notes: cherry, cherry blossom and jasmine. The rest are my guesses.

Cherry Blossom Fruity–to me–hails from Guerlain’s mainstream arm that makes fast and easy to wear perfume. It’s fast fragrance for the too-busy-to-bother 21st Century consumer who needs to spray and go. And what they want to spray is something subdued and inoffensive. Nothing wrong with that. Like I said, this stuff smells good and is fundamentally sound as an easy perfume. Though I’m not sure you want it to make you glittery if your chief concern is convenient fragrance. In the end I hope it sells (or sold) well so Guerlain can keep it’s classics in stock. Though judging by the fact that I hardly see any of this stuff on actual store shelves, I’m happy that the Aqua Allegoria line does a bit better.

P.S. Happy Valentines Day!

Reviewed in This Post: Cherry Blossom Fruity, 2006, Eau de Toilette.

Coach Poppy

Posted on by

In some ways Coach’s progression from its beautiful, durable, everlasting classic bags to the monogram chic bags reflects the direction of the perfume industry. Both things were once lovingly crafted objects made with fine materials have been reduced to faster, larger, and cheaper. So I found it rather funny to be reviewing Poppy, the fragrance from Coach and named in similarity to Coach’s youthful line of bags that feature vibrant colors and–of course–the Coach monogram.

Poppy

Poppy

In Bottle: Smells like a dime-a-dozen candy floral fragrance. Not bad, not too exciting. It hits me right away with the mandarin note and wastes no time digging into the marshmallow.

Applied: Mandarin up top followed quickly by the clean, crisp tones of cucumber. Freesia and the other florals are present in the first minute of the opening and the fragrance evolves more into its floral candy-coated personality near the mid-stage with that marshmallow vanilla thing they did. Poppy settles into its floral candy self for the majority of the rest of the fragrance as the wood notes make themselves known near the very end and in a very faint way.

Extra: I used to be something of a Coach fan and was ecstatic to receive a Coach Wilson bag from the 90s. These days, Coach’s bags don’t interest me too much. I don’t see the appeal of the Poppy line at all and I don’t see the appeal of the Poppy fragrance either, unfortunately. It’s probably another one of those instances where my tastes clash with the company’s aim. But Poppy is like a generic perfume for which I can name several alternatives. If you do need an actual recommendation, the perfume community likens this to Britney Spears’ Fantasy. I can see the connection between the two, especially when the fragrance hits its mid-stage. If you want a personal alternative recommendation, try smelling Bath and Body Works’ Be Enchanted that has a similar progression from refreshing to sweet.

Design: I do like the bottle and feel that scribbly the monogramed look of the Poppy line works rather well for this fragrance and what it’s trying to be. It’s cute and functional and simple. It’s clearly marketed towards girliness and people who like that sort of thing. So in terms of looks, Poppy’s got it down.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Floral

Notes: Mandarin, cucumber, freesia, jasmine, gardenia, water lily, rose, sugar, marshmallow, sandalwood, vanilla, cedar.

A big disappointment in terms of uniqueness but Poppy, like pretty much everything else similar to it works well if you’re into the sweet and flowery fragrances. You can, however, get more affordable fragrances that have a similar aim for the amount that Poppy costs if your chief concern was how it smells.

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

Parfum d’Empire Cuir Ottoman

Posted on by

Cuir Ottoman was a leather recommended to me by a friend who said that if I wasn’t already obsessed with leather then I would be once I smelled this.

Cuir Ottoman

Cuir Ottoman

In Bottle: Leather, nice and smooth with a warm and soft quality. A bit of floral layering in the back that helps the leather pull away from its often “too strong” personality. The mix is very nice.

Applied: Leather, soft and smooth and yielding. This isn’t too strong or too evident as the florals in this–a jasmine with iris blend–help temper the leather even more. The leather is definitely the star of the show though as it reminds me of a well-loved old leather jacket passing through a field of flowers. It’s one of the better done leathers out there, that actually mimics the real scent very well. It is also a very good balance in almost every category, making this a good unisex fragrance. As the scent heads toward its end stage, there’s a smokiness that amps up that I’m guessing is the resin and incense giving the leather fragrance a smoky quality.

Extra: Cuir Ottoman is very nicely done and really well-balanced. I have no complaints about its composition as it’s just so nicely done. The fragrance was released in 2006.

Design: Parfums d’Empire’s bottle designs seem pretty similar to each other. Tall glass, an accented cap. I can’t complain about the functionality, but the form was a little bland. Still, the same thing could be said about most niche houses. You buy it for the juice and not the design. Unless you’re buying an Agonist perfume, then we all know.

Fragrance Family: Floral Leather Oriental

Notes: Jasmine, leather, iris, benzoin, balsams, resins, incense.

So Cuir Ottoman is definitely worth a shot. It’s a great scent that’s wonderfully composed. But in so far as making me obsess about leathers, we’ll have to wait on that one.

Reviewed in This Post: Cuir Ottoman,  2010, Eau de Parfum.

Yves Saint Laurent Kouros

Posted on by

Every time someone asks for a strong, long-lasting fragrance marketed toward men someone else is bound to suggest Kouros.

Kouros

Kouros

In Bottle: Holy cow, it’s strong. Yeah, I’d say it lives up to its reputation. Bergamot, I think is what I’m smelling with a lot of aldehydes and some drowning florals.

Applied: All right, I understand why a lot of people hate this fragrance. They were kidding when they said it was strong. If you were thinking of getting this because you wanted a strong (with italics and everything) fragrance then Kouros will make you happy. Well, it’ll make you happen if you happen to enjoy powerful animalic fougeres. Kouros starts off with a big hit of bergamot that’s bolstered with a ton of aldehydes and a spicy herbal treatment that adds to the masculinity of the fragrance. You’re going to see a lot of hyperbolic language in this post because this stuff is strong. Period. It’s a bit screechy at first, and if you’re not used to strong fragrances, you will get a headache or your nose will be overwhelmed. Let Kouros rest on your skin for a while and it’ll develop into a deeper more animal fragrance that introduces another round of spices and a bit of incense. This is complex defined with its classical personality paired with an 80s Powerhouse underbelly. The dry down never seems to come with this stuff as it’s just so strong and so dominant that I can only say by the time I had to shower it off, it still smelled finely of smoke, musks, spice, florals and confidence.

Extra: Kouros was released in 1981. Named after a Greecian statue that typically depicts a youth in a standing pose.

Design: Not the most interesting bottle to look at, but I do notice the relative simplicity of men’s fragrance packaging compared to women’s fragrances. Kouros is a fine design though. It’s simple but functional, would not look out of place on a man’s wardrobe or wherever he chooses to use his cologne. It’s nice to hold, easy to use, and has an excellent sprayer.

Fragrance Family: Fougere

Notes: Aldehydes, artemisia, coriander, clary sage, bergamot, carnation, patchouli, cinnamon, orris root, jasmine, vetiver, geranium, honey, leather, tonka bean, amber, musk, civet, oakmoss, vanilla.

Despite being so strong Kouros hits a nice and reasonable ground with me so that I don’t find it repulsive and strong. It’s a good fragrance, it’s very strong, and it’s considered close to the classics. If you can handle it’s strength then you’ll be very happy with it.

Reviewed in This Post: Kouros,  ~2000, Eau de Parfum.

Escada Magnetism for Women

Posted on by

Magnetism by Escada is an easy to like and easy to wear sweet floral oriental with a stroke of pure fun.

Magnetism

Magnetism

In Bottle: Sweet vanilla blended with a fun fruity and juicy opening coated with flowers.

Applied: Sweet and green rather crisp and juicy up top with a distinct fruitiness that blends well with the fragrance. The scent delves into this floral mish-mash that comes out smelling distinctly flowery but keeps a rein on its strength. There is a sweetness throughout this fragrance that doesn’t take away from the fragrance’s purpose. In the end, it is a sweet sandalwood with an earthy vibe and a strong sweet vanilla finish.

Extra: Magnetism for Women was introduced in 2003. It’s a fairly decent fragrance though it’s not in any way groundbreaking. It does smell good and does the Escada brand some fine justice.

Design: Not too wild about the design of the bottle but then Escada’s bottle designs have always seemed a bit off to me. Magnetism is a hot pink curved glass bottle. It’s vaguely unpleasant and looks a bit too suggestive for me to take it seriously.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Floral Oriental

Notes: Pineapple, black currant, melon, berries, cassia, litchi, magnolia, orris, green leaves, freesia, basil, jasmine, caraway, heliotrope, lily of the valley, rose, sandalwood, amber, patchouli, musk, benzoin, caramel, vetiver, vanilla.

So in the end, Magnetism isn’t attracting me, but it is doing a good job of trying. If you want a nice, wearable floral oriental with a dollop of sweet then this might be good. As a bonus, Magnetism can be purchased from several discounters for a rather fair price.

Reviewed in This Post: Magnetism for Women,  2010, Eau de Parfum.

Karl Lagerfield Sun Moon Stars

Posted on by

I saw the bottle, said, ‘No way!’ and decided it had to be tried. I don’t actually have a bottle or held a bottle of this but I do have a somewhat aged sampler vial.

Sun Moon Stars

Sun Moon Stars

In Bottle: Strong fruitiness up top. That’s pretty much all I get.

Applied: Very strong and sweet fruits up top in this fragrance. It’s the candy version of fruit and it’s a bit nauseating. I read some of the reviews on this one before I tried it and many people report a synthetic quality to the fragrance. I almost want to explain that particular problem on the over eager fruit opening. The sweetness does settle down in the mid-stage where the soft florals roll in with a spicy carnation making a pretty big impression to me. The  fragrance ends on a very nicely done vanilla with sandalwood. Normally I’d loathe the standard sandalwood vanilla mixture but the fragrance does it so well that I can’t fault it for taking a trope and doing it justice.

Extra: Sun Moon Stars was released in 1994 as a fabulous floral oriental. The Karl Lagerfield brand is primarily focused on fashion and headed by the iconic man of the same name. Presently the brand is owned by the parent company, Tommy Hilfiger.

Design: I saw the bottle and immediately thought of the Britney Spears Fantasy line. The shapes are so familiar that I couldn’t help but seek this one out. The bottle reportedly contains designs of a sun, a star and a moon as per its name. While I still think the shape is unappealing the blue glass used in the design is quite nice. At the very least, the design is much better put together than anything in the Fantasy line. It’s quite a bit more elegant, actually.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral Oriental

Notes: Bergamot, pineapple, orange blossom, lotus, rice, peach, heliotrope, freesia, jasmine, orange blossom, daffodil, lily of the valley, orchid, carnation, iris, sandalwood, cedar, amber, musk, vanilla.

Apparently there was a reformulation of this fragrance at some point. I’m not sure which version of the fragrance I have, but judging from the general disappointment in the reformulation, perhaps I have the old formula.

Reviewed in This Post: Sun Moon Stars,  ~1998 Eau de Toilette.

Vera Wang Preppy Princess

Posted on by

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.