Chanel Coco Mademoiselle

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All right, it was bound to happen. A review for Coco Mademoiselle, possibly the most popular fragrance amongst perfume consumers today. True, she doesn’t have the history of Chanel No. 5 but she’s undeniably pretty with a very appealing personality. So let’s cut to the chase already.

Coco Mademoiselle

In Bottle: Strong, very sweet lychee on top with a layer of very sheer florals you really have to focus in order to detect.

Applied: I know what the notes list says but there’s lychee in this and it’s the tippy-top of the notes pyramid. Coco Mademoiselle opens with a blast and a loud announcement that you’ve just arrived and you feel fabulous. It’s sweet, very loud, and predominantly lychee with a faded florals sort of scent lingering in the back. As the lychee settles a bit you get a hint of sweet orange flower and equally sweet mimosa. The fragrance starts to age into the mid-stage and that’s where you get something a bit more exciting. There’s a sheer white florals scent that keeps Coco Mademoiselle from being completely ridiculous as it blends so beautifully with the sweet notes in this fragrance. The rose note in this is particularly beautiful, it masks itself well with the florals and the lingering fruitiness of the opening, but it’s very, very modern rose. I might be a bit crazy here too but there’s something to Coco Mademoiselle that smells a bit like powder to me. Chanel giving me powder in a fragrance this modern? Kudos, Chanel! The dry down is lovely as well, when Coco Mademoiselle flings off the last of her silly lychee and embraces a warm, very clean, vanilla scent. Coco Mademoiselle, like most Chanels, projects and lasts a long time so go light on that sprayer.

Extra: Coco Mademoiselle was composed by Jacques Polge in 2001. It has consistently performed well in terms of sales since its release. Due to the popularity of Coco Mademoiselle, it is often one of the most counterfeited perfumes out there. In fact, I did a quick look on eBay and there’s at least three counterfeits on the first page of results at the time of my writing this. Definitely beware if you plan on buying this online.

Design: The eau de parfum version of Coco Mademoiselle sports the beautiful Chanel No. 5 style with the squarish glass bottle and cap. The cap for Coco Mademoiselle is a frosted glass. The shape is beautiful, the design is fitting and I simply love it. I still abhor most of the eau de toilette versions of Chanel’s fragrances though.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Floral

Notes: Orange, mandarin, orange blossom, bergamot, mimosa, jasmine, turkish rose, ylang-ylang, tonka bean, patchouli, opoponax, vanilla, vetiver, white musk.

All right so what do I think of Coco Mademoiselle? Well, its’ a very popular fragrance. I think it consistently shows up in top perfume sales so I doubt it’s going away any time soon. I actually own a bottle of the stuff but I rarely use it. It is very strong, has very good longevity but it is everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. There’s no exclusivity to Coco Mademoiselle. The fragrance is highly recognizable and it’s a household perfume at this point. Couple these two facts with the realization that a lot of people love it and you get a perfume that pretty much haunts you no matter where you go.

As for me? I’ll be happy spray this on when I feel like it, but Coco Mademoiselle isn’t an every day thing and certainly not a perfume I’d wear if I wanted to avoid smelling like everyone else.

Reviewed in This Post: Coco Mademoiselle, 2009, Eau de Parfum.

Victoria’s Secret Pink

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Point your nose anywhere and you’ll probably catch a whiff of this. Anywhere that a Victoria’s Secret store can be found anyway. Pink is one of those extremely lovable, innocent fragrances that’s so easy to like that it seems like you can smell it everywhere.

Victoria's Secret Pink

In Bottle: Bright and fruity floral. Sweet, obviously, and very easy to like. This isn’t too heavy, not too sweet, not to overbearing, just a really jovial blend that casts a little ray of sunshine on your nose.

Applied: So I was a little vague on the opener, that was because there’s nothing much about Pink that  really sets it aside from other fruity florals. The one thing I can say for it is how optimistic this smells. Like if you were to bottle the feeling of optimism, this is probably what it smells like to me. It’s a big flare of sweet citrus, crisp grapefruit layered sweet berries and soft violets and a pretty mix of freesia and peony in the middle. If you’ve smelled a fruity floral, Pink is a good reminder of that. The fragrance dries down to a very familiar sandalwood vanilla with a hint of clean vetiver in there to give the scent a really minor dot of sweet hay.

Extra: Pink has a lot of flankers named after it including Pink Sweet & Flirty, Pink Fresh & Clean, Pink Pretty & Pure, and Pink Soft & Dreamy. If you need it, there’s probably a flanker for it.

Design: Pink’s design reminds me of cheerleaders. Big bold letters, white on pink. Even the smell is something I’d imagine a high school cheerleader would favor. The design is a functional, if somewhat uninspired, shape.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Artemisia, bergamot, green leaves, mandarin, violet leaves, juniper berry, lily of the valley, freesia, peony, neroli, musk, vetiver, sandalwood, vanilla.

I’m not a big fan of Pink myself. The scent is just fine, of course, very nice actually. It’s just so generic. Though I suppose that might be part of its charm.

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

Diesel Only the Brave

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I was hesitant to test out this fragrance largely because I couldn’t get over the ridiculous-looking bottle. But hey, the gimmick got to me one day and I said, “Welp, might as well smell that fist perfume”.

Only the Brave

In Bottle: Citrus, something sweet and dirty in the background with a huge cedar note in the foreground. Hooray, more cedar.

Applied: Only the Brave opens up rather sweet to me, smelling a little bit like citrus candy. The candy citrus appeal doesn’t last very long as Only the Brave starts amping up the woods–more specifically–amping up the cedar as it floods the mid-stage, drowning out whatever else may have been in this. I have such terrible luck with cedar and certain wood notes. Only the Brave felt like it was actually punching me in the face with the woods in its composition. I managed to wait it out, getting too-strong wafts of woodsiness as I let the fragrance sink in and age. The dry down is a more agreeable affair with a soft, leathery warm amber fragrance touched with a bit of spice.

Extra: Only the Brave was a collaboration between L’Oreal and Diesel. This fragrance involved three noses for its composition too, Olivier Polge (Balenciaga Paris), Pierre Wargnye (Drakkar Noir), and Alienor Massanet (Tresor Sparkling).

Design: I mentioned the bottle in my opening sentences. Only the Brave comes packaged in a glass fist. I think the bottle design is ugly, clunky, and at times hilarious. Due to its shape, the bottle falls over easily so I imagine most people keep their bottles lying on their sides. Still, the humor in Only the Brave’s fist bottle isn’t lost on me and I can chuckle at it now and then. At the very least, there isn’t a single fairy on it.

Fragrance Family: Woodsy

Notes: Lemon, mandarin, coriander, violet, cedar, labdanum, amber, styrax, leather, benzoin.

Cedar ruins yet another fragrance for me. At the very least Only the Brave is a generic masculine fragrance that I don’t think is particularly unique or fascinating but probably wearable by everyone but me.

Reviewed in This Post: Only the Brave, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Dolce & Gabbana Rose The One

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Last The One flanker I’m going to do in a while. Rose The One is a member of Dolce & Gabbana’s The One line. This time there’s an obvious relationship to the rose note.

Rose The One

In Bottle: Rather bit of citrus to open it up. The pink grapefruit is rather detectable, almost all I smell with a sweet lingering modern rose in the background. Rose The One is sweet and clean, with a nice use of pink grapefruit up front.

Applied: Clean pink grapefruit opening the fragrance with a slight tartness borrowed from the black currant. The rose note in this fragrance comes up rather quickly in the opening but isn’t very strong and doesn’t do much to overpower the grapefruit. Don’t get me wrong, I love the grapefruit but for a fragrance that tries to capitalize on rose, I would have expected the rose to be stronger. Still, the rose note hangs out rather admirably and I catch whiffs of it along the way. The fragrance settles into the mid-stage with a nice modern rose and lily interpretation with lingering bites of pink grapefruit. I smell sweet peony intermingled with the floral-dominant mid-stage too as warmness washes over the mid-stage and helps to ease that grapefruit out of the way. The dry down is what you would expect of a fragrance ending with the sandalwood and vanilla duo.

Extra: Rose  The One had a fantastic little ad campaign featuring Scarlett Johansson in a rose-dominant commercial. The entire campaign was very soft and obviously trying to capitalize on the modern rose note that’s the namesake for this fragrance.

Design: Once again, Rose The One is designed similarly to other The One bottles with a squat classic shape. Rose The One hammers home that it’s a romantic rose note based thing by being a lovely shade of pink. There’s rose gold as the cap. A rosy pink liquid. Even the lettering is in a deep rosy color. It’s all very lovely and very feminine.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Black currant, pink grapefruit, mandarin, lily of the valley, rose, litchi, peony, Madonna lily, ambrette seed, sandalwood, musk, vanilla.

I’m going to keep going with L’eau as my favorite iteration of The One for now. Rose The One is pleasant enough but at times it’s a strange battle between the grapefruit opener and the floral mid-stage.

Reviewed in This Post: Rose The One, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Dolce & Gabbana L’eau The One

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L’eau The One and The One is a very good example of why you shouldn’t put so much weight into the popular notion that Eau de Parfum and Eau de Toilette smells the same, with EDP lasting longer and smelling stronger. True, that may sometimes be the case but as we’re going to see where with The One and its lighter friend, L’eau The One, that is not always true.

L'eau The One

In Bottle: Fruitier than The One to me, but the mandrin is still there. Despite this being fruitier, it is less sweet than the original making this a much nicer opening ride.

Applied: Fruity opening with a more present note of mandarin but a stronger presence of lychee. The peach is less noticeable and falls off rather quickly. There is less cloying sweetness overall. The fragrance is still very feminine and very sweet but the sweetness has been toned down and the fragrance is doing better for it. The mid-stage is largely the same with less sweetness added in and a warm amber that’s more evident earlier on in the fragrance. The florals are still sweet but there’s a more tolerable cleanness to the scent now that helps L’eau The One be even more wearable than The One. The plum is a bit more tame in this fragrance, giving the fragrance a nice dry floral and fruity smell and without the heavy sweetness. The dry down sees a less prominent vanilla note while giving a green vetiver and woody note in the dry down some more showtime. The result is a woodsy green dry down after a semi-sweet creamy, fruity floral show.

Extra: L’eau The One doesn’t seem to have an official set of notes so it shares the notes list for The One. Some people have noted the presence of an oak moss-like note in the dry down. To me, the dry down smells more like a mixture of vetiver and woods.

Design: L’eau The One is designed in a very similar way to The One. The only discernible differences are the colors and the name of the fragrance. Where The One had a gold cap, L’eau rocks a silver cap. Where The One had black lettering, L’eau uses white. And where The One had a golden-yellow liquid, L’eau is more clear.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Mandarin, bergamot, lychee, peach, jasmine, lily of the valley, white lily, plum, vetiver root, amber, musk, vanilla.

L’eau The One was supposed to be a lighter, fruitier interpretation to The One. But tweak a few notes, dial down a couple, dial up a couple and you get something that smells decently different from the original. There is still enough in this fragrance to connect it to The One, but it is definitely a lighter, less sweet version. To me, the toned down sweetness makes this more wearable and I would pick L’eau over The One if I had a choice between the two.

On an unrelated note, last year on this day in 2010, That Smell saw its first post. Hooray, we’re one year old!

Reviewed in This Post: L’eau The One, 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Dolce & Gabbana The One

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Dolce & Gabbana The One is one of those familiar fruity floral fragrances that tends to be smelled everywhere. It doesn’t help that it’s rather popular, relatively affordable, and is highly benign either. In fact, it’s so benign that I would really rather people wore this than Light Blue.

The One

In Bottle: Lychee and peach are the first things I smell along with a bit of mandarin in the top. It’s a classic feminine fruity floral that’s marked right away by that lychee note that seems rather popular in these sorts of formulations.

Applied: The One gets its genre very right from the get go. After the initial sweet mandarin, you’re treated to a fairly standard mix of lychee that tells you right away you’re in fruity floral territory. But The One takes that message one step closer by introducing another favorite of the fruity floral genre; peach. This is a lovely, sweet, lychee and peach opener. It’s not interesting or unique but it’s not trying to lie to you about what it is either. The top notes are a nice introduction to the mid-stage where jasmine and lily head up to the forefront dragging a pleasant sweet plummy scent with them. The mid-stage is one of those sweet floral type deals that remind me of shampoo. As the end stage approaches, I get a slight warming of the fragrance followed by a creamy vanilla note. You’ll note one major predominant theme with this fragrance is its sweetness. There’s a lot of sugar present here but it’s not as oppressive as other sugar-based scents like Miss Dior Cherie or DKNY Delicious Night. This stuff is sweet for sure, but it doesn’t reach critical levels of sweetness.

Extra: Say what you will about Dolce & Gabbana’s fashion, but they do know how to do wearable, easy fragrances. Light Blue for women is one of their most popular offerings and a fragrance I tend to smell almost everywhere and on everyone. Which may have contributed to my desire to smell something else instead.

Design: Very nice bottle. Familiar with many classic fragrance bottles. Most immediate estimate would be Chanel No.5, but The One pulls off its look rather well too. it’s a squat rectangular thing, with an inner vessel that isn’t as well sculpted as a Chanel No.5 bottle, still, the shape is pleasing, the weight is fairly decent, and the hold and feel is comfortable.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Mandarin, bergamot, lychee, peach, jasmine, lily of the valley, white lily, plum, vetiver root, amber, musk, vanilla.

Not my favorite thing in the world, and certainly not the most interesting thing in the world. The closest fragrance I can think of at the moment as an alternative to this one is Gucci’s Flora. A similarly sweet floral. Though I do prefer Flora over this simply because Flora prefers to lean more on a clean concept than a fruity one. Still, The One is an excellent, non-offensive, easy to wear fragrance. You won’t be disappointed if you need something good and easy to wear with this one.

Reviewed in This Post: The One, 2009, Eau de Parfum.

Clive Christian No. 1 for Men

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Happy April Fools Day. I only wish I was joking about the prices talked about in this post! No, I can’t be so frivolous as to drop the cash down for a Clive Christian fragrance. Not a full bottle anyway. My wallet is still hurting a bit from the tiny amount I do have just so I could sneak a sniff of one of Clive’s most fabled elixirs.

No. 1 for Men

In Bottle: Citrus and green with a dash of pepperiness thrown in there for a hint of spice. I smell vetiver, and a bit of something herbal. Rather complex from the get go with a distinctive vintage vibe to it. Very nice!

Applied: Starts off on a crisp, sharp lime note with an exotic blend of crushed spices taking the sharpness up a few more notches but never really letting it get out of hand. It makes a good first impression anyway. The fragrance has multiple layers of complexity and is one of those, “So many things I can’t separate them” stories. I’ll try my best through. The fragrance ages into the mid-stage with a steadily amping set of florals. I get jasmine for the florals, a hint of sophisticated rose. It is so well-blended that I can’t pick apart notes and frankly, I don’t really want to pick apart notes. The mid-stage is marked with a beautifully lush bouquet of florals. It is full and heady, with the spiciness that only serves to amplify the florals further. The mid-stage is where I really get that vintage feel. This smells like it belongs in the age of perfume greats. A time when Coty was more than celebrity perfumes and body mists. When Guerlain was family-owned and pumping out fragrance after fragrance of utter beauty. When Chanel No. 5 was how an elegant woman should smell instead of the old granny perfume it’s now known as. That’s what No. 1 for Men is. It’s actually a really pleasant trip to a time where I didn’t even exist. As No. 1 for Men dries down there’s a falling off of the florals but they never truly leave. I get a bit of the vetiver that I got in the bottle settling in at the bottom giving the florals a bit of extra boost as the fragrance digs itself out, leaving you with a faint air of lingering florals, a blend of woods, and a hint of dry vetiver.

Extra: Clive Christian acquired an old perfume house, Crown Perfumery, in 1999 and they have been coming out with stuff like this since. Clive Christian’s No. 1 fragrances are known as the most expensive in the world. This was a title that was once held by Joy by Jean Patou. These days, Joy is much more affordable and sanely priced. As for Clive Christian’s No. 1, it’s price goes up every year. The pure parfum presently sits near $2,500 CAD (Noted on Saks).

Design: As to be expected, the bottle is impeccably designed. In fact, most of the gush I found on this perfume was people talking about the packaging. For $2,500 I would certainly hope the packaging is worth it. One interesting thing to note is the crown design on the stopper was approved by the queen way back in the day. All I can tell you is, this is made of lead crystal, is flawless, glitters, the stopper has real gold on it, the stopper also has a diamond in it for goodness’ sakes. It looks great but imparts a sense of incredulity in me coupled with mild embarrassment. What else did I expect? I mean, it’s a $2,500 bottle of perfume. There is a similar iteration of the bottle design called Imperial Majesty which had better contain the hapless souls of lesser perfumes because the thing costs $215,000 USD.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Floral

Notes: Bergamot, lime, mandarin, grapefruit, cardamom, nutmeg, caraway, artemesia, lily of the valley, jasmine, rose, iris, heliotrope, ylang ylang, cedar, sandalwood, vetiver, amber, tonka, musk.

Here’s the problem with this fragrance and its price point. For most of us, the $1000+ price tag is a major deterrent and the fine folks at Clive’s house know this. They purposefully price this fragrance way out of range to appeal to those wealthy enough to approach this fragrance and casually wave the money out of their wallets. For the rest of us schmucks, digging around in the dirt, we use testers. I judged this fragrance not according to just its scent, but according to its worth as a fragrance in comparison to its price.

To me, the juice in No. 1 for Men is no better than a vintage fragrance. It is certainly no match for an Amouage attar, a vintage Guerlain, or a natural blend from Aftelier. You are better off spending your money elsewhere. And while all of the alternatives I listed are expensive, they are not $2,500 expensive if you care about the juice inside.  This is a very competent fragrance with a beautiful old world soul that I don’t see enough of anymore. But is it worth the price? Honestly? In my opinion, no. I go nuts for perfume, but I draw my cash line somewhere. And that line is no where near the thousands.

Thankfully, if you just have a hankering to smell the fragrances with no desire to own the exclusive bottle, there is a travel set that (as of this writing) sells for $310USD. There are three fragrances  included (1872, X, No. 1 each bottle is 10ml)–paltry amount for $310, but this is the house that puts out perfume which requires you to take out a mortgage in order to afford.

Reviewed in This Post: No. 1 for Men, 2010, Parfum.

Gucci Guilty

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Am I the only one who gets a little bored seeing “scandalizing” skin flashing ad campaigns for perfumes? I mean, I loved the cute and girly approach Miss Dior Cherie took. I also liked the commercial for Covet. And just to be fair, those were two perfumes I blasted. Now Guilty, on the other hand, it’s a fine perfume. Very interesting release for Gucci actually. But its ad campaign is once again one of those show as much skin, have as much writhing as possible, dealies that’s so overexposed that the ads are just boring now. I’m not a prude. In fact, I’m the opposite of offended and/or shocked. I’m just bored to tears by racy ad campaigns and I wonder if anyone else is also tired of the age old adage that “sex sells”. They even had Frank Miller come in, and he gave the commercial a fabulous look and feel–it’s just too bad it boils down to the sexualization of a fragrance. Oh, right, we’re doing a fragrance review.

Guilty

In Bottle: Fruity citrus topper with a spicy kick. Pink pepper, is that you again? Wow, it’s like I’m seeing you an awful lot around these parts now.

Applied: Pink pepper’s on the verge of becoming one of those overused trump cards in perfumes. It seems there’s an awful lot of fragrances released lately with pink pepper thrown in there for a bit of spice. It works well in Guilty, giving the top fruity citrus notes a bit more complexity than they’d have otherwise. The fragrance heads into its middle stage still smelling fruity with a lingering bit of pepper as the florals come up with a bit of sweetness to keep Guilty young and approachable. The florals being lilac and geranium, neither of which are very heavy hitters, are really sheer so the mid-stage smells mostly fruity with the pepper receding into the background. The dry down is marked with a surprisingly interesting warm smooth amber and cleaned up patchouli. I’m surprised Guilty used those two to end on an oriental note and I was happy to note how pleasant it all was and how nicely it rounded itself off at the end.

Extra: Guilty’s commercial and ad campaign is a benign drop of raciness in an ocean of racy perfume ads. It’s nothing special to behold and in the end, despite its big ticket production, the ads fall flat on me. However, the perfume was good so I’m glad I looked beyond the ad and got to what matters.

Design: Fascinating little glass bottle encased in a gold outer shell. It reminds me of 1 Million. I can’t say I’m a fan of metallic outer shell bottles like this but it looks all right. The elements are balancing, the shape is appealing and the logo is used in a rather clever way. Not my favorite design but not bad at all.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Oriental

Notes: Mandarin, pink pepper, peach, lilac, geranium, amber, patchouli.

So is Guilty as racy as its ad campaign wants you to believe? No. It’s a benign office scent that smells like flowers and warm amber. I guess that’s another part of why these sexy commercials bore me. Very rarely do they ever advertise a fragrance that’s actually sensual. Guilty’s main appeal to me is actually in how wearable and inoffensive it is. This stuff smells like a grey dress with long sleeves, a high collar, and an ankle hem. It is not, in other words, your little black number.

Reviewed in This Post: Guilty, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Bath and Body Works Carried Away

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Carried away, released recently by Bath and Body Works is a fragrance meant to invoke springtime. And considering the snow dumps and the cold air that’s been blowing about here lately, I welcome spring’s arrival any moment now.

Carried Away

In Bottle: Bright, green citrus with a soft floral undernote. Not entirely interesting but doesn’t smell bad. This is fairly on bar with other Bath and Body Works fragrances. It’s not unique, it’s not daring, but it’s definitely functional.

Applied: I get a sharp hit of citrus right away with the lemon and mandarin mixing together up front. There’s a slight tartness from the raspberry note that carries the sweet little pear note a little further and when you start digging into the mid-stage, the sweet and light florals waft in to distract you while the citrus note sin the opening bow out. There’s nothing to phone home about in the mid-stage as it’s a mild floral, easy to wear, easy to like, not the least bit offensive. Though I will give Carried Away points for taking its springtime theme and running with it. This smells fresh, clean, femininely floral. The dry down is uninspired, the vanilla is sweet, comes up during the mid-stage and accompanies sandalwood on the way out.

Extra: Carried Away, like almost every other Bath and Body Works scent comes in a line of bath and body products such as body mists, lotion, body butter, and shower gel.

Design: Same shape and general design premise as the other eau de toilettes from Bath and Body Works. Glass rectangle with designs on it. Plastic cap. The designs for Carried Away are colorful turquoise and pink ribbons wrapping around the glass. Pretty, generic, but works very well.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Floral

Notes: Bergamot, meyer lemon, mandarin, pear, raspberry, freesia, tuberose, jasmine, violet, sandalwood, vanilla, musk.

I’m not jumping on this fragrance mostly because I’ve smelled similar stuff that I like better from Bath and Body Works. For freshness, I go with White Citrus. For florals, I prefer the roses in P.S. I Love You. And if I want clean, I’ve got Cotton Blossom.

Reviewed in This Post: Carried Away, 2011, Eau de Toilette.

Hermes Iris Ukiyoe

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Iris Ukiyoé is Jean-Claude Ellena’s tribute to the iris flower, not the orris root which is often encountered in perfume. Iris Ukiyoé is less of a literal interpretation of an iris flower than it is a conceptual piece of nose art. I will call it nose art if I want to.

Iris Ukiyoe

In Bottle: Fresh and sheer, clean with a sweet citrus scent floating about it. So far I’m not getting the personality of  iris here, but I do get a lot of green and clean power.

Applied: After the initial sweet citrus, Iris Ukiyoé remains sweet as it introduces some dashing roses into the mix. The scent remains green and sharp except with a flowery background to support it now, as it slowly adds in a bitter note.  The rest of the scent lingers in the green, bitter floral territory until the end where a woodsiness mingles into the scent to form a rather pleasant picture of flowers blooming near a tree trunk. Is this iris flower? No, not in the least. It’s more of an homage to orris root, but even then that part of it doesn’t appear for the majority of the fragrance. In fact, Iris Ukiyoé pays more attention to rose. What Iris Ukiyoé is, however, is beautifully composed. It smells fantastic, light, dewy, easy to wear and fabulous to smell.

Extra: Iris Ukiyoé is a part of Hermessence a collection of exclusive scents by luxury fashion house, Hermès. Hermessence concept is reminiscent of exclusive collections from other luxury houses such as Guerlain’s L’Art de Matiere and Chanel’s Les Exclusifs.

Design: Hermès usually does very well with its design elements. I’ll admit I haven’t held a bottle of this stuff yet but I hope to at some point in my life as the juice is just so pretty. The bottle itself is a pretty bland shape of rounded rectangle. It has some nice subtle design elements on the glass. Where I have to stop and shake my head is the cap that’s leather wrapped and stitched. It takes away from the beauty of the rest of the bottle and I rather wished they’d used metal or something instead. Then there’s the leather sheath you can slide the bottle into. Not necessary on a strictly design standpoint and rather ugly if you ask me.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Mandarin, rose, orange blossom.

Like most exclusive line fragrances from a luxury house, you can expect to pay more for Iris Ukiyoé. A full bottle will retail for $235. You can get a set of four 15ml fragrances for a more affordable $145.

Reviewed in This Post: Iris Ukiyoé, 2010, Eau de Toilette.