Chanel Allure Sensuelle

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Allure Sensuelle is the flanker to Chanel’s Allure fragrance. My love for Chanel Allure has faded a bit since I wrote about it last. While I still wear it, the fragrance doesn’t have the same amount of “punch” it once did.

Allure Sensuelle

Allure Sensuelle

In Bottle: Dusty and woodsy with a floral note and a bit of vanilla.

Applied: Dusty fruits and vanilla with a hint of wood upon application with a tart and very quick sting of citrus. The fruity midstage is slow to develop but it eventually rolls in making the fragrance smell like creamy fruit slathered onto a plank of wood from the woody notes in the base wafting up. I’m not sure that I like that combination. It doesn’t read to my nose as something I particularly like or want to keep smelling. The strangeness of the mix is repelling me as opposed to drawing me in, but I will admit the fragrance’s warm creamy oriental side can keep me around.  I’m not too fond of Allure Sensuelle though she smells just lovely and when I compare it to the original Allure, I think I gain a bit of an appreciation for it.

Extra: Allure Sensuelle was introduced in 2006. If you want to get some of this stuff, Chanel sells it in body lotion, EDP, and Parfum iterations.

Design: Allure Sensuelle looks largely like Allure except with a richer, deeper color scheme. Otherwise the parfum version comes in a very beautiful flacon that I wouldn’t mind displaying as it looks like a classic Chanel bottle.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy Oriental

Notes: Bergamot, mandarin, pink pepper, jasmine, rose, iris, fruit, vetiver, French vanilla, amber, patchouli, frankincense.

Sorry, Allure Sensuelle, you don’t really work for me. Though it is a nicely composed fragrance with a rather interesting approach to woodsy orientals with its fruity and creamy introduction.

Reviewed in This Post: Allure Sensuelle, 2007, Eau de Parfum.

Estee Lauder Beautiful

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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.

Vera Wang Glam Princess

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Glam Princess is the latest in what’s becoming a long line of sweet and floral designer perfume royalty. It’s about as competent as the other princess fragrances but at the same time suffers from a rather glaring problem. It smells really, really, really generic. Glam Princess

In Bottle: Indistinct sugar floral, a bit of a toasted sticky marshmallow note in the bottle. Weird because the marshmallow is supposed to be a base note but Glam Princess isn’t the kind of gal to go by steps I guess.

Applied: Super sweet and fruity top notes with a hint of florals. As the scent ages it digs deeper into the floral territory and the old familiar sweet foody floral from original Princess surfaces. The scent is smooth, creamy, very sweet fruity floral in the mid-stage. Not at all special or unique but it’s a pleasant enough fragrance. Glam Princess smells like a lightly flowery foody scent that, like the original, is reminiscent of cake batter. Only there’s a notable lack of the dark chocolate note in the original here. You get white cake batter in this time instead of dark chocolate cake batter. We also get sticky marshmallow that injects itself right into the teeth to save some time on the whole cavity-inducing thing. The dry down isn’t much more exciting as we get sweet floweriness until it disappears entirely.

Extra: If you liked the original Princess fragrance, you’ll probably like this one because the two are built on the same very familiar formula and they do sort of resemble each other in that they’re both sweet gourmand florals. If you loved that dark chocolate note in the original Princess, though, you might want to sit this one out. I really liked that chocolate note in the original. The lack of it in this flanker just makes it smell really generic.

Design: Bottled in the same heart-shaped thing as the rest of the Princess line, Glam Princess is adorned by a string of star designs on the glass. The bottle itself is a golden-yellow, the crown cap is gold with multi-colored jewels set into it. I’m still not a fan of the bottle design. I don’t think there’s anything you can do to a big glass heart to make it appeal to a woman in her mid-twenties with a penchant for simple aesthetics.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Floral

Notes: red berries, guava, pear, orange blossom, vanilla orchid, ambrette, marshmallow, cashmere wood.

Maybe this line of princess fragrances just doesn’t appeal to me. I can see how it’s cute and girly and stuff but the bottles just don’t speak to me and neither do the fragrances.

Reviewed in This Post: Glam Princess, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Guerlain Insolence

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Insolence is one of those modern Guerlains that was a hit or a miss. It seems to have more hits than misses than say–Champs-Elysees–but it has more interesting character to it taking it beyond the safe zone that Guerlain seems to have been skirting since its purchase by LVMH. Insolence

In Bottle: Yeah, definitely unique. The violet in this is a strange, uncertain floral that’s sweet for sure but lacks anything else to it. There’s something spicy in this too like anise or cinnamon along with the weird sugary, raisin scent in the back.

Applied: Sweet and bright with the red raspberry note coming up first and fading first leaving me with a dense, syrupy raisin-like fragrance with that persistent anise note that I wish I didn’t feel crazy for smelling.  Something in this reminds me of the classic Guerlains. I’m thinking it’s that anise or clove or whatever the heck that is which reminds me a bit of one of L’Huere Bleue’s many layers. But at the same time it’s clear Insolence is an updated fragrance meant for a young consumer as it’s trying to pull in a fresher audience. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if they really hit the mark as Insolence is not clearly defined as anything and at the end of the day, does smell like a bit of a fruity, floral, spicy and sweet mess to me. I’m sure a lot of women can love this fragrance but it is very polarized in terms of taste. You can either love it or hate it. Once Insolence does calm down, which takes quite a while, the fragrance is less sweet but it does retain some of that syrupy treatment all the way into the dry down where it gets darker, creamier, and more vanillic with a very nice red raspberry note to it. I had thought the raspberry had disappeared but it was just hiding behind the spicy flowers. As for whether I hate or love this? I could go either way but I feel like Insolence is a bit too loud and sweet and a little too clingy.

Extra: Word has it that this smells a bit like Apres L’Ondee, one of the Guerlains I have yet to try. I do get the familiarity of this to L’Huere Bleue so something in here is working that classic machine. I just think this is a bit removed from that era though.

Design: Insolence’s half-circle, flower and flower pot type design was by Serge Mansau a man famous for creating bottles for some of the most well known fashion and fragrance houses since the 60s. I gotta give the man credit for making this a nice looking bottle that’s interesting to look at. I just can’t get on board with how hard it is to hold this thing. It’s an awkward shape, making you have to hold it awkwardly, pinched between your fingers as you hope to avoid dropping it. Nice idea, interesting shape. I just can’t get on board with how hard it is to hold.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Sweet Oriental

Notes: Violet, raspberry, rose, orange blossom, raisins, balsam, iris, tonka bean.

You’re probably wondering what kind of fragrance family cop-out I’m doing with that spicy sweet thing. Well, it’s the only way I can really describe Insolence because, to my nose, it’s like a candy rolled in anise. It tries to be fruity, it tries to be gourmand, but it lands in the middle where it’s neither and the only place it even fits is in two vague categories.

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

Juicy Couture Couture Couture

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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.

Victoria’s Secret Sexy Little Things Noir

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Victoria’s Secret, known mostly for their underwear brand, also has a fairly lucrative line of beauty products and fragrances. It’s fragrance side is a well-loved establishment that releases mostly fruity floral fragrances that are wearable, girly, light and happy. Sexy Little Things Noir

In Bottle: Fantastic burst of fruits. It’s like I just sprayed a bowl of fruit punch on myself. There’s a slight sourness that really compliments and helps tame this very sweet fragrance. Something about this is really juicy, like biting into a crisp piece of fruit, juicy. And behind it all, I smell the faint waft of the very enigmatic jasmine supported by the spicy creaminess of tonka bean.

Applied: Fruit punch and creamy vanilla is what Sexy Little Things Noir is to me. For its massive list of notes, it does a great job projecting a fruity almost gourmand fragrance. Also due to its massive list of notes, I can’t separate nectarine from apple. However, I can pick out jasmine in this as well as the tonka beans. Sexy Little Things Noir lacks anything that I would really consider to be “noir”. In that a fragrance that’s marketed as “noir”, to me, should have some element of deepness or darkness. Sexy Little Things Noir is just a sparkling, juicy, fruit salad with a sprinkling of white flowers on top. There’s no deepness or darkness, which betrays its name but hey, I’m all right with that. It has fantastic projection but the longevity on me is a bit weak, fading within four hours into light vanilla and jasmine.

Extra: Tonka beans are said to smell like vanilla. A while ago, they could have been eaten in addition to being used in perfumes before someone discovered they contained a potentially lethal anticoagulant. Thanks for the kicks, nature.

Design: I’ll admit it, I was drawn to this perfume like many others for the bottle. The glass is a very dark purple in a pleasing, beautiful shape. The winning feature for me? That pump atomizer. That pump that’s so iconic of Hollywood Noir where the women were glamorous and the movies were in black and white. Though fragrances in pump atomizers back in those days tended to be from fragrance families that people these days refer to as “old lady” perfumes.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Nectarine, apple, citrus, pineapple, guanabana, pear, red fruits, bergamot, cattelaya orchid, muget, cyclamen, jasmine, plum, vanilla, dewberry, cassis, amber, musk, woods, tonka bean.

Sexy Little Things Noir is a part of Victoria’s Secret’s fine fragrance line. Meaning, it’s an Eau de Parfum as opposed to the body mists that Victoria’s Secret sells. Sexy Little Things Noir also has a counterpart body mist, shower gel, and perfumed body powder.

Reviewed in This Post: Sexy Little Things Noir, 2010, Eau de Parfum.