Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy la Fleur

Posted on by

Maybe I’m not being fair. Or maybe I felt like I’ve been spoiling myself with niche and independent fragrances lately, but I went on a department store perfume bender and have a book full of notes that I have only just now gotten around to starting. There’s still more niche to come, but these mass market scents seem fun to me–some less fun than others.

Viva la Juicy la Fleur

Viva la Juicy la Fleur

In Bottle: A big pile of sugar and flowers. Smells a lot like the original, with a weird cloying burnt sugar smell that I didn’t get from the original.

Applied: So Viva la Juicy la Fleur is one of those less fun fragrances I mentioned above. In the past, I’ve been pleasantly surprised and amused by a lot of mass market offerings, but this one hits the ordinary right on the head. The original Viva La Juicy, I had to give props to. Despite myself, I actually liked it on occasion. Granted, I was younger then and had more opportunities to wear hot pink. I’m not sure the original would strike my fancy as much these days, because la Fleur isn’t doing anything for me. If you thought Viva la Juicy was just too strong and didn’t have enough of that burnt sugar smell, then la Fleur might be worth it. For me, the original was better, but these two smell very similar. Same sugary candy opening, same sweet florals, same hint of fruits throughout, and same achingly sweet persona. This is the smell teen girls in high schools and colleges might like and wear. It would only smell ridiculous on me now.

Extra: I still pull out the original Viva la Juicy now and then, take off the cap, spray and smell and then promptly go to wash it off. I really outgrew the fragrance and making it lighter didn’t make it any more grown up.

Design: Someone refreshed design. I had thought the original Viva la Juicy was absurdly girly, but apparently all they had to do to top it off was slap some graphical flowers on the bottle, use a cheaper bow, throw in a script typeface and here we are. Not ugly. The form actually still looks nice. It is just very, very girly.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Orange, berries, water lily, honeysuckle, gardenia, jasmine, caramel, vanilla, sandalwood.

Couldn’t remember the last time I had smelled a generic fruity floral like this. It was actually somewhat nostalgic. Long story short, though, don’t buy this if you have and like the original Viva La Juicy. Unless you just want something weaker and sweeter.

Reviewed in This Post: Viva la Juicy la Fleur, 2012, Eau de Toilette.

Juicy Couture Dirty English

Posted on by

All right, so I owe lemon a bit of an apology. It’s not the sole destroyer of scents for me. No, that prize goes to cedar. And when you add lemon into the mix, it’s like a mastermind and his nefarious sidekick getting together for an evil soiree. Oh yeah, Dirty English. Dirty English lacks the sharp lemon that would destroy worlds if it were also present in this stuff but it has plenty of cedar. Oh yes. Plenty of cedar indeed. Dirty English

In Bottle: Smells a little leather, a little woodsy, with a nice citrus kick at the start to wash things up. There’s a nice density to this fragrance that gives it a good smooth scent.

Applied: The leather is a very pleasant thing for about two seconds before Dirty English dissolves into its mid-stage where I end up losing everything but cedar. There is  a lot of cedar in this fragrance, and a lot of perfumes can overdo cedar and end up with something highly unpleasant. Bonus points taken off for including lemon with cedar thus making the concoction a sharp, chemical, and highly unpleasant mix to my nose. But Dirty English only tangos with cedar. And the dancing must be quite good because cedar is the predominant note for hours and hours on end until Dirty English decides its had enough and shifts into a more pleasant, slightly less obnoxious cedar with a bit of bitter, musty mossiness that I can assume is the agarwood at work. The agarwood is done quite well but is tempered by a sweet, warm ambery note and a dash of spice. Overall, Dirty English is a good masculine scent that’s had a lot of good press over the years. I only wish I could smell something other than cedar because there’s really a lot of it in this concoction.

Extra: Well, I finally tracked down and smelled Dirty English. I think that would be that for the readily available Juicy Couture line (not counting the pet fragrances).

Design: Dirty English shares a similar bottle shape with Juicy Couture and Viva la Juicy. It’s missing the big plastic crystal that the feminine perfume bottles tend to sport with a metal cap embellished with a chain instead. I do like the shape and nice weighty feel of the Juicy Couture bottles and the dual-purpose of the embellishments are a nice touch.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Woodsy

Notes: Pepper, mandarin, blue cypress, bergamot, cumin, cardamom, marjoram, leather accord, sandalwood, Atlas cedar, vetiver, agarwood, moss, amber, musk.

I really Dirty English had been a little less loud with the cedar as it sounds like it would have been a really nice fragrance that at least tries its best to shift itself a little further away from the standard men’s scent.

Reviewed in This Post: Dirty English, 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy

Posted on by

Rounding out the Juicy Couture fragrance for women family is Viva la Juicy. By far, their most popular fragrance. So popular, in fact, that I smell this everywhere I go. On everybody. People love their Juicy, I guess. Viva la Juicy

In Bottle: Reminds me a lot of other fruity floral fragrances but I have to keep in mind that Viva la Juicy is the fruity floral that everyone wears. Funny enough the sugary sweet notes that are supposed to be at the bottom are also mingling at the top making Viva la Juicy smell like a fruit-flavored candy.

Applied: Okay, you can laugh me out of the ballpark, I like Viva la Juicy. I think it smells great. It’s a better treatment of a sweet fragrance than Couture Couture. Going on, it smells of creamy fruits and vanilla. Very reminiscent of sweet fruity florals everywhere, like I said. It’s got a strong resemblance to Love Etc. by The Body Shop, only done with more sugar and less tartness. As you let this age on you, the fruits go away and there’s a faint hint of flowers in the mid-stage that’s mixed with all the silly candy-like notes like caramel, vanilla and praline. The dessert factor only amps up as you keep wearing this as the florals in the middle give way to a lush full-on dessert course that smells mostly like soft vanilla tempered with a touch of sandalwood and gooey caramel. The caramel note in Viva la Juicy is actually used well as it isn’t cloying. This is a strong, sweet, fragrance and if you are afraid of cloying scents, be wary of Viva la Juicy as it is potently sweet and very young.

Extra: Juicy Couture has one well-known fragrance for men known as Dirty English. It is a scent that’s often been toted as being better than the series of women’s fragrances. I’ve had more than one opportunity to sniff it for myself but always manage to miss for some reason. There is also a fragrance for your dog called Juicy Crittoure which I have yet to see.

Design: Viva la Juicy is bottled in the same way as Juicy Couture. The accents and details are different with Viva la Juicy rocking a bright pink bow and a different seal. The bow can be taken off and used as a hair tie, whereas Juicy Couture’s wrap-around rope thing could be worn as a necklace. I don’t use either of these things but it’s pretty cute nonetheless.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Wild berries, mandarin, honeysuckle, gardenia, jasmine, amber, caramel, vanilla, sandalwood, praline.

Out of all the Juicy Couture fragrances I’m going to have to give it to Viva la Juicy. It’s a very good fruity floral. Good enough to smell it on everyone anyway.

Reviewed in This Post: Viva la Juicy, 2009, Eau de Parfum.

Peace, Love and Juicy Couture

Posted on by

Peace, Love and Juicy Couture is the brand new Juicy perfume released this year. It’s got a hippie flare to it that makes it as cute as original Juicy Couture and Viva la Juicy. But that could just be the bottles talking. Did I mention I’m coming around to loving those bottles? Peace, Love and Juicy Couture

In Bottle: Green with a capital G. Peace, Love and Juicy Couture smells like the rind of a lemon mixed with various green notes and what I swear is a beautifully done iris.

Applied: Initial greenness leads the way with that nice lemon lime scent. This isn’t juice, it’s rind we’re talking about here. Sharp, green, fresh, crisp rind that envelops the opening and slowly fades into the mid-stage where Peace, Love and Juicy Couture turns to a bright, happy green floral with more emphasis on the hyacinth with a little punctuation on the iris. The lindem blossoms give this fragrance a nice, feathery softness to it. The green floral quality of this fragrance reminds me of Chanel Cristalle. That crisp, spring-like scent that lifts spirits. After having spring in autumn, Peace, Love and Juicy Couture splashes up the soft linden blossoms and dries into a very slightly earthy and woodsy patchouli.

Extra: I don’t think I give Juicy Couture enough of a chance when it comes to some of their fragrances. I’m not a fan of their apparel but Juicy Couture, Peace, Love and Juicy Couture, as well as Viva la Juicy are very well done scents.

Design: Bottled in a similar fashion as Juicy Couture and Viva la Juicy. Peace, Love and Juicy Couture features different decorative elements while keeping the same basic bottle concept. Dangling from the neck of this perfume bottle are two cute and colorful tassels.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Earthy

Notes: Lemon tree blossom, hyacinth, apple accord, black currant , sambac jasmine absolute, star magnolia, Malibu poppy, honeysuckle, linden blossom, orris extract, patchouli flower, musk.

This fragrance is clearly inspired by the 60s but I don’t  smell the 60s in this scent aside from that slightly earthy patchouli. The lasting power in this fragrance is unremarkable as it is quite a quick fader.

Reviewed in This Post: Peace, Love and Juicy Couture, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Juicy Couture

Posted on by

Juicy Couture was the original that led a couple of flankers, including the sugar mountain fragrance, Juicy Couture’s Couture Couture. I notice one strange thing about Juicy Couture in that every time I smell it, it smells a bit different. My first time, it was a powdery floral. The second, a bright citrus fruity scent, and lately, Juicy has a fresh and fruity opener. So I decided to pin this one down for good this time and just review it already. Juicy Couture

In Bottle: Citrus cut with white florals and a hint of what I think is tuberose. Juicy Couture’s supposed to have a tuberose punch in it. Which, considering I’m actually expecting tuberose this time, will be a welcome sight.

Applied: Juicy Couture opens with a fruity citrus kick that mellows out soon after into a nice, fresh floral fragrance containing tuberose and a dewy lily note. There’s some very sharp lingering in the background to this fragrance too and to my nose, it smells like white musk that cleans things up a bit. The florals in this are well-mixed and quite impressive as they float in and out of the subtle sweetness left over from the fruity opener. The dry down introduces a little bit of greenery and woodsiness that helps to herald in Juicy Couture’s very inoffensive mild woodsy, patchouli last stage.

Extra: Juicy Couture has two flankers–sort of–Viva la Juicy and Couture Couture.

Design: Usually praised for their bottle design, Juicy Couture bottles this fragrance in a nice squarish package with a detailed top that consists of a plastic spire over a metal cap band. Wrapped around the cap band is a necklace you can take off and wear with  some charms on it, including a J shaped scepter, a plastic crown and a safety pin. The front of the bottle has the Juicy Couture emblem on it.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Watermelon, mandarin, pink passion fruit, green leaves, hyacinth, marigold, tuberose, lily, wild rose, caramels, powdery vanilla, creme brulee, patchouli and woods.

I prefer this fragrance, vastly, over its latest incarnation as Couture Couture. I’ve smelled Viva la Juicy on a handful of occasions and every time I end up coming away feeling pretty benign to it but Juicy Couture has a lovely well-blended mix of florals, musk and sweetness that’s very appealing to me and despite those  gourmand notes at the end, I got nothing gourmand about it. And I’m okay with that.

Reviewed in This Post: Juicy Couture, 2008, Eau de Parfum.

Juicy Couture Couture Couture

Posted on by

No, you didn’t read that title wrong. The fragrance name is Couture Couture, making the entire thing seem like an excessive exercise to test your ability to avoid spitting all over yourself and the poor sap standing in front of you. Couture Couture is the young 2009 release from Juicy Couture followings its two wildly popular fragrances, Juice Couture and Viva la Juicy. Couture Couture

In Bottle: Sweet, sweet, fruit. One only has to take a sniff of this to realize that there’s at least a few degrees of sweetness in there. That something sweet is being layered over something sweet, and those two sweet things are being coated in a thick layer of sweetness and on top they’ve drizzled some fruit, added a drop of vanilla and called it a day.

Applied: Sweetness. But that’s okay, it’s not done yet. Couture Couture still has a ways to go and evolve before the day is done. The fruits start to come up as well as the vanilla, which I had thought would remain behind everything else for a while longer but it’s a more eager vanilla, I guess. I’m smelling grape punch, the kind that you buy frozen and then mix with water at home.  There’s florals in there though. Don’t think Couture Couture is a fruit and sugar only gal. The sweet honeysuckle note makes an appearance here along with its jasmine friend, hovering around the miasma of sugared fruit. The dry down of Couture Couture is a bit friendlier to me. The rest of the fragrance is so sugary sweet that when the dry down arrives, I get a hint of light sandalwood and realize that things are going to be okay. But that’s after the hours of tumbling down fruit and sugar mountain.

Extra: Juicy Couture, the company, started in 1994. Their velour tracksuits were all the rage when I was younger. I never did catch onto Juicy Couture’s line of clothing though.

Design: Nice interesting bottle design. Not rectangular, but also not in a bizarre shape that takes up too much horizontal room. The cap has an interesting topper on it, giving the bottle an exotic look. There’s a pink ribbon tied to the bottle to give it an extra cute little detail. The topper kind of reminds me of the Betsey Johnson bottle–except done a thousand times better.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Mandarin, grape, plum, orange blossom, jasmine, honeysuckle, vanilla, sandalwood, amber.

In a way Couture Couture reminds me of a mix of original Juicy Couture and Viva la Juicy with a huge smack of sugar thrown in. But that familiarity with the other two Juicy fragrances might also have something to do with the fact that they’re all fruity florals, come from the same company, and are made to appeal to the same kind of people.

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