Playboy Play It Rock

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Apparently Playboy didn’t stop at the last trilogy of “Play It” fragrances that included in Play It Sexy, Play It Lovely and Play It Spicy. Play It Rock is a new fragrance that’s built on the same concept as the previously mentioned three scents.

Play It Rock

Play It Rock

In Bottle: Citrus and fruit. Lots of fruitiness in this actually with a little bit of vanilla.

Applied: Citrus up top, rather loud and harsh at first and makes me think that’s where the rock is coming from. The sharpness goes away rather quickly though and I’m introduced to a fruity mid-stage that makes me think of apples and berries mixed together in a bizarro cupcake. The fruitiness is tempered a bit by a pretty benign layer of generic, but soft and yielding florals. As the fragrance ages the vanilla note arrives making Play It Rock smell more and more like a fruity cupcake. Nothing wrong with that. The fragrance is rather soft at this stage and doesn’t smash you in the face with its sweetness. It’s actually pretty decent when you get to the dry down. It’s not unique, but it’s perfectly wearable after the opening.

Extra: Play It Rock was released in 2011. I’m not sure where Playboy is going to take this line. A part of me wonders if they’re going to be releasing two more Play It fragrances or if they’re just going to leave it at Play It Rock. I just hope they get a bit more creative in the future.

Design: The design is essentially the same as the other Play It fragrances with a round bottle and a nozzle cap that features the Playboy Bunny. Play It Rock sets itself apart by having a red topper as opposed to a black top like the other Play It fragrances and does not have the little jewel on the bottle.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Oriental

Notes: Blood orange, apple, orange flower, saffron, frangipani, passion flower, ebony, patchouli, tonka bean.

Play It Rock doesn’t do what it’s meant to do badly. It’s not exciting, but it’s a good competent fragrance for a younger audience or for someone who wants a nice sweet fruity scent that isn’t too strong. Granted, if you wanted something light and sweet you could get the body spray version of this stuff.

Reviewed in This Post: Play It Rock, 2011, Eau de Toilette.

Lancome Hypnose

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Lancôme does rather well with his mostly grown up fragrance line toting woodsy florals and orientals. I’m starting to warm up to them a bit more and Hypnôse does a good job of swaying me more toward the Lancôme side of things.

Hypnose

Hypnose

In Bottle: Citrus and clean mixed with a fruity sweet scent blended rather well into a bouquet of florals to form a pretty well-balanced fragrance.

Applied: Despite its sparse official notes list, there’s more to Hypnôse than meets the nose. I get a pretty obvious citrus note up top before something fruity rolls into the fragrance. Hypnôse is a very sweet fragrance and I actually really like it’s extremely sweet personality as the fragrance edges into the midstage where I swear I smell anise in this even though it’s not on the list of notes the anise serves to sweeten up the fragrance a bit more, giving it a licorice-like quality as it blends in with a creamed rose and jasmine bouquet making the fragrance smell a bit like a grown-up version of a fruity floral fragrance thanks to the anise. The scent then hits the drydown smelling a bit woodsy and earthy with a vetiver and vanilla base.

Extra: Hypnôse, in addition to being a fragrance, is also a mascara produced by Lancôme. And, if you really loved the fragrance, it comes in a handy set with lotion and shower gel for you to enjoy all day.

Design: Hypnôse is bottled in a twisted blue glass cylinder. The design itself isn’t something I’m wild about but it’s functional for what it is, looks all right and is easy enough to hold. In the end the aesthetics aren’t my cup of tea but it’s a well-designed bottle that while I don’t like personally, I can still appreciate it for its simplicity and twisted (hah!) take on the classic rectangular bottle.

Fragrance Family: Floral Oriental

Notes: Citrus, passion flower, rose, jasmine, anise, vetiver, vanilla.

It should be noted the above notes list is not official and is an amalgamation of the official list and what other notes I think I’m smelling in the fragrance.

Reviewed in This Post: Hypnôse, 2009, Eau de Parfum.

Escada Island Kiss

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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.