Sarah Horowitz Perfect Nectar

Something rather delightful was waiting in the mail for me just the other week. I hadn’t been active much on this blog since work started ramping up again, so it was a pleasant surprise to find a package from Olfactif containing three samples of fragrances I hadn’t yet tried. Hey, smellies in my mailbox? I’m game.

Perfect Nectar

Perfect Nectar

 

In Bottle: I went with the one sample that seemed to be the most lighthearted. With a series of notes sliding around in the fruity floral arena, I felt Perfect Nectar was a good one to start off with. A light citrus opening that dives right into its white floral roots.

Applied:  I get very little else but white flowers in this interpretation. It’s quite sweet and rather heady. The white florals taking the prominent podium for the majority of the show. With no base notes to go off of, the florals are pretty much all I get. Now, I like white florals just fine. There’s a definite sense of Perfect Nectar trying to hit a sophisticated note, but it does come off exceptionally strong and a little bit lacking in the depth department. Lovely as it is, there’s not a whole lot in terms of other notes. I get sweet florals for pretty much the entirety of its lifespan and it’s got a very long lasting lifespan.

Extra: Perfect Nectar was released in 2000.

Design: Lovely simple bottle. I’m a big fan of delicate little flourishes on bottles too. No frills, and none needed. Lovely bottle.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Tangerine, blood orange, papaya, mango, ylang-ylang, green tea, white forals.

Olfactif is a fragrance delivery service where the samples you get once a month introduces you a potential fragrance love. Did I mention that they specialize in niche so you won’t be faced with getting samples of painfully obvious fragrances? I love the concept. As for Perfect Nectar, I don’t think it’s the one for me as it is somewhat one-dimensional, a little too strong in the floral note and not nearly enough of anything else to keep me interested. If you are looking for a clean fragrance with excellent staying power and throw, this might be a good contender for you.

Reviewed in This Post: Perfect Nectar, 2013, Eau de Parfum.


Gucci Envy Me

What struck me the most about Gucci Envy Me was the fact that the ad actually said it was supposed to appeal to “the egocentric and bold young woman”. I wasn’t aware being called egocentric was a good thing, but it’s evidenced in how well Envy Me did as a fragrance that people either don’t care, didn’t know, or actually found it  appealing to be called egocentric. Color me confused.

Envy Me

Envy Me

In Bottle: Sweet and clean fruity florals. Just about as standard a fruity floral as you can get. Smells good though.

Applied: Pink pepper adds a bit of clean spice the fruity opening of this where I get a mixture of peach and mango that reminds me of an Herbal Essences shampoo. The fragrance evolves into this litchi note that dominates the beginning stages of the mid notes arena. Litchi tends to enjoy taking control of the show and I find the fruit note to be a bit unbearably sweet and pink and girly at times. Envy Me does a good job taming its litchi for the most part but it is still quite strong in the fragrance for a little while. As the scent continues to age, there’s a bit of perfumey woods going on as it blends in with the clean fruity opening while imparting this refreshing sense to it that I can only assume is the white tea at work. As Envy Me keeps going into its base, there’s a clear amping up of the soapy clean fragrance was present throughout the whole thing as the white musk takes hold of the pretty tame teak and sandalwood mix. At the base the fruits a little weak but I didn’t expect them to do anything else but fade as the fragrance ages on the skin. Overall, Envy Me was a pleasant ride. Starts off like a Herbal Essences shampoo and ends with a scented sandalwood fan fragrance.

Extra: Not sure where they got the idea that this fragrance is bold and egocentric. It just smells like shampoo and cleanliness to me. It’s one of the better done fresh out of the shower smells in that it doesn’t abuse the florals but it’s still pretty generic.

Design: Gucci Envy Me is bottled in a tall rectangular flacon with the signature Gucci pattern on the glass running all the way up the four sides of the flacon in pink. It’s a little ridiculous for my aesthetic but I can definitely see the type of image this fragrance is trying to project in its design choices. The bottle is a bit awkward to hold because it–like Givenchy’s Very Irresistible–is a tall and slender bottle that’s made of heavier material.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Fruity

Notes: Peony, pink pepper, cassia, peach, mango, litchi, pomegranate, pineapple, sandalwood, white tea, teak, white musk.

In a pinch, I’d reach for Envy Me to spritz on when I want to smell refreshed and clean. It’s a great out of the shower fragrance for if you want to hold onto that Herbal Essences smell for just a little longer. Otherwise, there’s nothing remotely bold about it. It sure is fun though.

Reviewed in This Post: Envy Me, 2006, Eau de Toilette.


Escada Island Kiss

Escada’s fragrances have never struck much of a chord with me. The ones that are popular are pretty generic, the more obscure ones are just not my thing. So here comes another generic!

Island Kiss

Island Kiss

In Bottle: Island Kiss starts off predictably enough with a fruity blast up my nose of clean tropical mango and other girly sweet fruits.

Applied: There’s a slight layer of sweet white florals in the opening that I’m detecting on me along with the fruits. I smell the fruits the most though with mango making the biggest splash followed by a sweet peachy note. Most Escada fragrances tend to go like this, big fruity openings evolving into bland floral mid-stages and going on some sheer note like white musk or sandalwood. And from the looks of things, Island Kiss will continue the tradition. The mango and sweet fruity opening of the fragrance leads way to an equally sweet floral mid-stage that’s a bit better than Marine Groove in terms of strength but it’s still quite benign, quite easy to wear, and when Island Kiss reaches its dry down the same sheer ending is waiting for me in a cleaned up sandalwood and sharp white musk. Aside from Island Kiss having some more fruits up in the opening with a hint of floral layering, there’s not a whole lot to set this fragrance apart from Marine Groove or any of the other fruity florals that Escada’s released. If you want to smell like girly, fruity, fun shampoo, Island Kiss is a good start. It’s clean, it’s modern, it’s easy to wear and it smells like fun.

Extra: Island Kiss was released in 2004 and was supposedly inspired by the Greek islands. Frankly, it is interchangeable with most of Escada’s summer line.

Design: Same bottle shape as the other summer line Escada fragrances. That stretched heart thing with the gradiating color on the glass. In Island Kiss’ case, the gradient goes from blue to a pink base.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: White florals, magnolia, mango, passion flower, orange, passion fruit, raspberry, white peach, hibiscus, musk, sandalwood.

Island Kiss is one of the better ones from the summer line. That’s not really saying much since choosing between the Escadas in their summer line can pretty much boil down to which top note you want to smell first. You want mango? Island Kiss. You feel like pineapple? Marine Groove. Big on pears? Get Tropical Punch.

Reviewed in This Post: Island Kiss, 2004, Eau de Toilette.


Ed Hardy Hearts and Daggers

So what do you do when you get a hankering for a fruity perfume? Book it over to Hearts and Daggers and experience the fragrance the least smells like hearts and daggers! This perfume is well-loved amongst the mass market and I can see why, it’s fun, it’s fruity. It’s so painfully easy though.

Ed Hardy Hearts and Daggers

In Bottle: Fruit punch. Yeah. Even in the bottle Hearts and Daggers smells extremely sweet, like you’re taking a whiff of someone’s fruit punch containing as many fruits as they can cram in.

Applied: There’s an initial flare of sweet grape and what I swear smells like canned pineapple and mandarins. Then as the fragrance continues to age it throws more fruits into the mix. Berries, apples, mangos, what have you got? We’ll add it in. What’s that? A passionfruit? Why not? Basically Hearts and Daggers crams a bunch of fruit notes into itself so that the progression is so hard to define simply because all the fruit notes end up floating up to the top of the notes pyramid. As a result, this scent suffers hugely from longevity issues. Almost every note it uses is a delicate top note so they’ll fly away rather quickly. When Hearts and Daggers settles down into its dry down phase, you realize there’s something else mixed in with the fruits that you hadn’t realized was there until now. Some sort of sweet floral that I can’t quite put my finger on. I’m going out on a limb here and saying it’s probably the sugar-dipped jasmine missing all its indolic bite to usher out this scent.

Extra: Ed Hardy Hearts and Daggers is actually by Christian Audigier which refers to Ed Hardy as the line of perfumes. Well, if there had to be a defining perfume for teenage girls these days, Hearts and Daggers is probably it. It’s fun, it’s easy to wear, it’s way too sweet for me but probably perfect for anyone who enjoys these sweet scents. Just keep in mind that you will smell like fruit punch.

Design: Not a fan of the bottle design. Hearts and Daggers is a hot pink glass bottle with those signature Ed Hardy designed tatoo-esque elements. The bottle has a cap that you put over about 80% of the bottle–sort of like an all body hat for the bottle.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Blood orange, violet, apple, mango, apple blossom, jasmine, musk, amber, benzoin, blond wood.

As stated above, despite this fragrance being an Eau de Parfum its longevity is severely lacking due to how most of the notes it’s composed of being delicate fruity top notes.

Reviewed in This Post: Hearts and Daggers, 2010, Eau de Parfum.


Fruits and Passion Mango Evasion

Mango Evasion is one of three (Fruits and Passion seems to enjoy doling out things in threes) scents from their apple/peach/mango line.

Fruits & Passion Mango Evasion

In Bottle: Fresh, slightly sweet mango and green leaves.

Applied: Mango Evasion isn’t high on the complex radar but it is a lovely smelling fragrance if you are looking to get your mango fix on. It’s a crisp, clean mango scent to start that evolves into a slightly floral mango in the mid-stage where it slowly loses the fruitiness from the opening and starts to smell like really good shampoo. There is a sweetness to this fragrance that starts off noticeable but slowly disappears as the scent ages. This reminds me of Lola by Marc Jacobs in the mid-stage, in that it’s clean, floral, light and very wearable. The fragrance heads into the dry down with a very nice smooth vanilla and clean white musk.

Extra: In addition to Mango Evasion, Fruits and Passion also has Apple Illusion and Peach Obsession for those of you who would prefer other fruits. I quite like the Peach Obsession scent.

Design: Mango Evasion comes in a flat square bottle with rounded corners and a metal sprayer. It’s one of those “no frills” metal sprayer mechanisms that are pressed onto the glass bottle. There’s nothing really fancy about this packaging but it is nicely done and subtle.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Mango, green notes, jasmine, rose, vanilla, musk.

I quite like this and the scent is just right for the price of admission. At $28.00 for 1.6oz. this is actually a fairly reasonably priced perfume for how pleasant and easygoing it is.

Reviewed in This Post: Mango Evasion, 2010, Eau de Toilette.


Hermes Eau d’Orange Verte

Eau d’Orange Verte is a fresh little number that doesn’t smell like the year it was released. In 1979, the House of Hermès unleashed this simply constructed, but beautiful little idea. Eau d'Orange Verte

In Bottle: Fresh lemon and mandarin combine to make a really nice, juicy orange-like scent. This smells like orange trees, it smells like someone taking the skin of an orange and squeezing out a spray.

Applied: Orange and lemon, very pretty, a little sweet but mostly sharp citrus. But not that annoying too-sharpness that I get in other fragrances with a lemon note. Methinks this lemon is a bit more tame and I like that. this smells like a pleasant airy citrus, fresh fragrance. There’s a brief  introduction in the equally brief mid-stage where a slight fruitiness peaks through and then dissolves into a beautiful very close and intimate green scent with patchouli. There’s not a whole lot of surprise or complexity in Eau d’Orange Verte but some simple fragrances get it just right and the fragrance is excellent no matter how simple it is.

Extra: Hermès dates back to the late 1800s as a French high fashion house with its headquarters currently in Paris. You might know them better, in the fragrance world anyway, from their very popular Terre d’Hermès scent.

Design: Eau d’Orange Verte comes in a beautiful and very thick textured orange box that you open much like a shoebox. There’s no silly flaps to get in the way here. This is one of the better packaged fragrances with the bottle inside being a green tinted glass with a rounded plastic cap. It was particularly delightful to note that Eau d’Orange Verte’s bottle is refillable. Meaning, once you’re done with the juice, you can easily unscrew the sprayer and refill the bottle with more Eau d’Orange Verte or use the bottle for another fragrance.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Lemon, mandarin, papaya, mango, oakmoss, patchouli.

Being an Eau de Cologne, Eau d’Orange Verte is a very light fragrance that you’ll need to layer or go heavy on the trigger for. I go through this stuff like crazy, which is probably why the scent comes in soap and other flanker product forms as well as a gargantuan 200ml bottle.

Reviewed in This Post: Eau d’Orange Verte, 2009, Eau de Cologne .