Diesel Loverdose

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In between throwing out perfume bottles shaped like fists of varying thematic absurdities and milk bottles, Diesel comes out with Loverdose, an unfortunately named perfume for women in a somewhat tasteful flacon.

Loverdose

Loverdose

In Bottle: Wow, the anise is out in this one. It’s just about all I can smell at first until I realize the sweetness is masking some inane florals. Not really encouraging, sadly.

Applied: First thing I smell is anise and anise is just about all I can get out of Loverdose until it decides that it’s good and ready to let me in on something else. But what Loverdose does to its anise is unfortunate. If well blended, anise can lend a sophisticated sweetness to a fragrance. I associate anise with comfort and sometimes exoticism. In Loverdose, anise is like a sledgehammer and my nose is in its way. The midstage is marked with a sweet floral that reminds me too much of the failed perfume experiment I conducted when I was a child by mixing two of my mother’s fragrances together along with a few sprays of floral air freshener. The dry down isn’t much better, as the wood, amber and vanilla do nothing to temper the sweetness that’s been with this fragrance since first spray. Overall, Loverdose is a bit of a mess.

Extra: Loverdose was released in 2011 by Diesel. You might know Deisel from their popular denims.

Design: I wouldn’t say Loverdose is at the top of the design game here. But compared to the other designs from Diesel’s other fragrances, this one is a few cuts above the rest. It is not shaped like a fist. It is not shaped like a milk bottle. And it does not remind me that I have to spray for termites soon (I don’t know, I’m just strange). So what if it’s a big purple heart and I’ve made it well known what I thought of those? Loverdose is at least more aesthetically pleasing even if it is still somewhat ridiculous. It has a nice weight to it, it’s easy to hold and spray, and it’s made of good enough material. Good on ya, Diesel.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Mandarin, star anise, licorice, jasmine, gardenia], amber, vanilla, woods.

I guess I have to touch on the name of this stuff. I thought it was clever for about a minute, then had to groan because the name of this stuff just hits too close to pun territory. Sorry, Diesel, this one doesn’t appeal to me.

Reviewed in This Post: Loverdose, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

Vera Wang Princess Night

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Really? Another one? At this point, the Princess line has become this heart-shaped, sugary thing I find myself inexplicably drawn to. Like I can justify smelling its many iterations in the hopes that something about the whole lot will strike my fancy. So here goes nothing.

Princess Night

Princess Night

In Bottle:Fruity with a distinct sweet vanilla fragrance. There’s a creamy quality to it too. Smells a lot like a warm berry dessert.

Applied: Fruity opening with a slightly tart berry personality that pretty much bursts out of the bottle and attaches itself to your skin to attack you while it has the chance. The berries are rather shortlived and end up devolving into this anonymous “fruity” smell that mixes rather nicely, but also rather blandly, with the florals in the midstage. The staple jasmine, rose, and orange flower combination does what its always done–create a benign floral twist that behaves in the presence of fruits and vanillas. The dry down isn’t too much to write home about either. Sweet vanilla, layered with a hint of woods to give the fragrance a warm, sweet finish. The warmth in this one shouldn’t be confused with the warmth you might get from an amber note, this is all mild warmth. Kind of like dipping your toe in lukewarm water as opposed to wrapping yourself in a plush sweater.

Extra: Princess Night, presumably after the success of the Princess line by Vera Wang, was released in January 2012.

Design: All right, who green lighted this thing? I picked up the bottle and had glitter all over my hand the instant I came into contact with it. Now I’m not as big on glitter as some people–in fact, I kind of hate glitter. Regardless, the glitter makes the already garish bottle look even more garish. Princess Night was sitting next to a bottle of regular old Princess and the former made the latter look like a baccarat masterpiece. I’m sorry, the look doesn’t appeal to me and the glitter just turned me off completely. On more technical terms, Princess Night is shaped exactly like the rest of the Princess line with a removable ring you can wear on your finger. It’s two chief differences being the dark purple glitter that covers the entirety of the bottle and a metal tag hung from the neck to identify the fragrance.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Oriental

Notes: Red berries, raspberry, watermelon, orange flower, jasmine, rose, sugar, vanilla, musk, woods.

Kind of had to stretch to call this an oriental but what else stands out from Princess Night but it’s fruity opening and vanilla finish? Maybe the next Princess flanker will work out for me a bit better.

Reviewed in This Post: Princess Night, 2012, Eau de Toilette.

Avon Eternal Magic

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I don’t know why so many people think Avon perfumes aren’t any good. They, like any other place that has a line of perfume, have hits and misses.

Eternal Magic

Eternal Magic

In Bottle: Powdery iris with a sweet rose note mixed with a dusty woodsy background.

Applied: Powdered  iris up first with a bit of green bitterness that blends in nicely with a sweet rose note. The two are blended in with some less obvious florals–or they turn into a less obvious floral. Either way, it’s a pleasant powder and floral fragrance that hits a woodsiness near the end of its midstage and takes on a more vanillic personality as it ages it on the skin. The vanilla comes up nicely between the florals, complimenting the fragrance rather than distracting from it. Nicely done, if somewhat dull.

Extra: Avon’s Eternal Magic was composed by Ellen Molner who also made such fragrances as Tocca Florence and Guess Seude.

Design: The bottle is a bit underwhelming. You know how some fragrance makers have a signature look? Avon’s got that for some of its bottles. If I see a rounded, squat bottle with a round cap I immediately think of Avon. Eternal Magic’s design itself isn’t bad, it’s not great either. I only think it looks rather plain, but it is otherwise functional.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Iris, rose, woods, vanilla.

So in the end, what about Eternal Magic and how it smells? It’s all right, I guess. Nothing to phone home about certainly, but it’s still better composed than a lot of other fragrances out there.

Reviewed in This Post: Eternal Magic,  2010, Eau de Parfum.

Vera Wang Preppy Princess

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Am I alone in asking myself, “What? Another one?” when I saw Preppy Princess on the shelves? How many princesses does the Vera Wang line have now? I think we get the theme, especially seeing as most of the Princess fragrances tended to smell really similar so that if you owned the original Princess, there really wasn’t much point in owning most of the others. But hey, Preppy Princess is another smelly adventure.

Preppy Princess

Preppy Princess

In Bottle: Sweet red berry-like scent. There seems to be a lot of berry openings in my reviews lately, what is up with that? In either case, the fact that Preppy Princess opened with a sweet berry scent doesn’t set it apart from the other berry scents I’ve reviewed lately.

Applied: Berries with a splash of citrus up top. Everything is sweet and girly and rather dull at the moment. Not exactly a good first impressions of Preppy Princess but it isn’t an unpleasant experience. I just feel like I’ve done this a hundred times already. So as the fragrances ages further and heads toward its midstage, I get a little bit of a floral kick only there’s jasmine in this and some equally non-descript florals. So all I get in the end is a generic flowery smell that doesn’t help Preppy either. The dry down smells like a mild coconut note mixed with sandalwood and amber  or something.

Extra: So we’ve got five princesses now, I think. I can only hope things stop here. I can’t imagine what other princesses there could be that would inspire someone to compose another generic fragrance and slap it into a heart-shaped bottle.

Design: Preppy Princess, aside from the stripey lines on the glass and blue cap, is pretty much the same design as the other Princess fragrances from Vera Wang. It’s, once again, aimed at a younger audience than me and I can’t see the aesthetic appeal of the bottle. But at least you can use the cap as a very pointy ring.

Fragrance Family: Fruity Floral

Notes: Tangerine, apple, berries, jasmine, honeysuckle, woods, coconut.

Hooray, I survived another Princess fragrance. It’s as generic as it can get. The opening smelled generic. The midstage smelled generic, and even the coconut in the base couldn’t help this one out. If you already own one of the other Princess fragrances–and unless you just love collecting the bottles–then I’d say skip this one. There’s far better fragrances out there.

Reviewed in This Post: Preppy Princess, 2011, Eau de Toilette.

Kenzo Power

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Kenzo Power was described as a spicy woodsy scent–a rather banal genre for men’s fragrances which wouldn’t turn very many heads. That is, if only Power kept to that spicy woodsy description. Instead, Power is less so a spicy wood fragrance and more like a spicy floral.

Power

Power

In Bottle: Powereded florals and spice, I get cardamom but I definitely get some florals in this with some woods as well.

Applied: Starts off with a citrus opening that fades in with the spices almost immediately. Power starts off strong with an opening befitting of a classic men’s fragrance. The scent heads into its midstage with an increasingly floral presence as it settles in with a powdered flowers, a bit of creaminess and residual spiciness from the opening. The dry down is a fairly generic woods fragrance with a hint of amber and lingering spices.

Extra: Power isn’t your average men’s fragrance–at least not the average that I’ve been smelling. It’s got the male progression in the strong citrus blast up top and the woody dry down but the mid-stage has a nice femininity to it that doesn’t overpower the masculine aspects of the scent. Sure, there’s florals in this but it is still a men’s fragrance at heart. It’s soft and sophisticated and definitely different from your average aquatic or spicy wood. Kenzo Power was composed by Olivier Polge (Burberry The Beat and Balenciaga Paris).

Design: Rather interesting design, reminiscent of Montale’s fragrance bottles except done much better. Shiny metal with a fantastic heft to it. Feels good to hold, has a masculinity to the aesthetic but is not over the top and still manages to look modern and a little different. At the very least, the metal helps balance out the flower logo that should hint that this ‘Power’ has a little bit of floral in it.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Woodsy Floral

Notes: Bergamot, coriander, cardamom, florals, amber, woods.

Kudos to Kenzo for making Power smell the way it does. It’s a new and interesting contender in the rather repetitive abstract that is the men’s fragrance industry. Check this one out if you want a more creative men’s fragrance and you aren’t too afraid of flowers in your cologne.

Reviewed in This Post: Power, 2011, Eau de Toilette.

Creed Royal Oud

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Oud has always been popular amongst perfumistas. It took me a while to get used to it myself. But how could I delay it? People love oud. Companies have entire lines of fragrances dedicated to oud.  So how does Royal Oud stack up to the competition? Eh.

Royal Oud

Royal Oud

In Bottle: It’s oud all right. Dense and warm oud with a flowery bit of woodsiness and a major spice going on.

Applied: Okay, so here’s the problem with Royal Oud on me. It opens with a big spicy kick. Like the spices are a bit strong and overpowering at first and that makes it hard for my nose to adjust and get to the rest of the fragrance. As the spices settle down a bit, I get a warm, dense, slightly dirty oud and woodsy fragrance. The woods are a little distracting because I swear I smell a cedar note that’s threatening to take over and pull me away from the smooth richness of the oud fragrance. Royal Oud is a strange but rather boring creature. It’s strange in that it uses oud throughout its progression but the other notes in the fragrance seem to always be stronger and trying to overpower the oud. It’s boring because it smells like a spicy woodsy men’s fragrance with a little hint of dirtiness.

Extra: Oud has this dirty, dense, very resinous quality to my nose. But to describe oud is nearly impossible because there are so many ouds and so many different ways that oud can smell. It can be dirty, dense, deep, warm, sweet, and sticky. It also all depends on what type of oud you’re smelling and whether it’s a synthetic or a natural oud. It’s a talented ingredient that takes a good perfume to the next level if used right.

Design: The bottle itself is shaped and designed in a similar fashion to other Creed fragrances. Nice, heavy glass. Simple exterior with no unnecessary flourishes. The colors work well, the focus is on the fragrance and not the crazy gimmick bottle (here’s looking at you, Agonist. Even though I love Agonist bottles). It’s just a classic-looking Creed bottle that combines form and function very well.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Agarwood, woods, spices.

I don’t know how I should feel about Royal Oud except to say that Amouage did it better. Get yourself an attar if you want something that focuses a bit more on oud. Get yourself Royal Oud if you’re not sure you like the stuff yet but you want a confident fragrance that features oud but won’t overwhelm you with it.

Reviewed in This Post: Royal Oud, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

CB I Hate Perfume Gathering Apples

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I remember when I was in an apple binging mood where I wanted to smell like apples all day long. Then something in my mind clicked into place and I started to see–or rather smell–just how synthetic apple notes tended to be. Thus began my apple falling out. Unfortunately for Gathering Apples, it arrived after my infatuation with the note had blown away.

Gathering Apples

In Bottle: Very faint sweet apple scent. It reminds me of juicing my own apples.

Applied: Pretty much what I smelled in the bottle is what I got on my skin. The apple scent is a little plastic but it has a leg up on most of the other apple scents out there in that it’s not quite as sweet. It’s a tad tart, a little bit bitter, rather sugary but it’s about as authentic an apple note is probably going to get–or at least, it’s as authentic an apple note as I’ve smelled. The description for this fragrance claims there a hint of wooden basket in this. Try as hard as I might I can’t get any of the woods to come up, maybe it’s a part of that faintly bitter smell I got? I’m a little bit disappointed in this, but at the same time think it’s an accomplishment when it comes to making a usually very synthetic note like apple a bit more authentic.

Extra: So, if someone wanted to smell like apples would Gathering Apples be a good choice? In my opinion? Yes. If you want a light, more authentic, and a bit of an artistic interpretation of apple then Gathering Apples is fabulous. If you want a completely silly fragrance that’s strong and candied and don’t care if it smells of extremely synthetic apple then anything like DKNY Be Delicious will be good.

Design: You can get Gathering Apples, like most of CB I Hate Perfume fragrances, in two forms. A water sprayable form in a tall glass cylinder. Or an absolute form in a cute glass vial. The design is simple, the concept is simple, but it has a very scientific yet chic aesthetic to it.

Fragrance Family: Fruity

Notes: Apple, woods.

The more I progress in this review the more sold I am on Gathering Apples. I wish it smelled a bit more authentic to my nose. I wish I wasn’t blind to the wood notes that are supposed to be in this. But in the end, it’s the strongest apple fragrance for authenticity that I’ve smelled.

Reviewed in This Post: Gathering Apples, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Paco Rabanne Black XS

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After two fails on me with Paco Rabanne, I had to wonder why I keep coming back to the brand since nothing they put out really interest me. Black XS has an enormous rose on the bottle which made me a bit leery about what I would get.

Black XS

Black XS

In Bottle: Slightly woody, creamy scent with a dish of flowers and some slightly tart berries.

Applied: On application, it almost smells like Christmas dinner. You know with the festive spicy smell and the little bit of cranberry? There’s sweetness in here almost immediately and it’s a pleasant little party. I admit, it is a little weird to feel like it’s Christmas all the way in July but hey, it’s fascinating at least! But Black XS quickly sheds its festive cheer and heads into a fairly banal floral mid-stage with a creamy and rich cocoa note adding a bit of interest to it. So far I’m pleased with the cocoa but pretty bored with the floral mid-stage that pretty much adds nothing new or interesting. I get more woods in the dry down, the cocoa note is still present and there’s always that looming sweetness that stuck around. Black XS lacks in a lot of departments and originality is one of them. I’m not all that pleased with this unfortunately.

Extra: Black XS was clearly not for me as it is marketed toward a young audience with a specific taste. I like to call them the Flowerbomb demographic.

Design: The bottle for Black XS is actually pretty nice–until you get to the huge rose on the glass then everything just kind of focuses there. I suppose that’s what they were going for and I suppose the demographic might appreciate the design but I don’t particularly like it.

Fragrance Family: Floral Gourmand

Notes: Cranberry, pink pepper, violet, rose, cacao, patchouli, vanilla, woods.

So I didn’t have a really bad reaction to Black XS. It was all right but like I said, there’s nothing original or interesting about this. It’s definitely wearable but it’s not at all artistic.

Reviewed in This Post: Black XS, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Thierry Mugler Womanity

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I put off reviewing Womanity for a while so I could get used to her and how she smells and hopefully come to understand where it is she’s coming from and she’s still confusing the living daylights out of me.

Womanity

Womanity

In Bottle: Okay, this is just going to sound silly but I’m going to come out and say it because it’s the honest truth. Womanity reminds me of lobster. A big old dish of lobster with that slightly salty, slightly fishy, slightly sweet and buttery smell to it. There. My opinion is out. It’s lobster.

Applied: I’m hit with a strange mixture of woods and spices with a mingling hint of sweetness all layered over this tangible saltiness in the fragrance. It’s strange because you can almost taste the salt. The caviar might be what I’m attributing to the saltiness in this and I think it might be messing with my image of the fragrance because, once again, Womanity makes me think of lobster. There’s a slight fishiness to the fragrance upon first application that does eventually go away as you continue to wear it. The fragrance digs into this sweeter and fresher territory as it ages into a lovely mixture of scent that I can only describe as clean and briny. I know how bizarre my description of Womanity is right now. I’m all sorts of confused at this point which is when Womanity heads into its base with a slight amp to its spiciness to add to that clean brine smell. If I had to make this as simple as possible, I’d say the opening is salty and reminds me of lobster. The midstage is a fresh and slightly salty fragrance with a hint of spice settled with a sweet figgy note. The base is spice, fading fig and brine. It’s weird, but it doesn’t smell bad. I wouldn’t stretch it and say I like how it smells either. It’s certainly unique but I don’t know if I could wear it.

Extra: So Womanity’s given me a run for my money. I still don’t know if I could classify it as okay, all I know is that I appreciate it’s bizarreness but I wouldn’t wear it as a fragrance. It’s fun just to sniff now and then though, just to give my mind something to think about.

Design: I do like the design. It reminds me a bit of punk rock meets cyberpunk meets Barbie. The pink juice is clearly the Barbie part. One of the better designed Thierry Mugler bottles, in my opinion. I love just holding this thing too. It’s like holding a weird alien artifact. The bottle has a nice weight to it. I love the feel of it and the sprayer is fantastic.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Citrus, caviar, fig, woods.

Am I the only one who doesn’t like the smell that money leaves in my hand after I’ve handled a bunch of coins but I always end up going back and smelling it just for the sole purpose of confusing myself and reaffirming my dislike for how it smells? It kind of feels like that with Womanity. In that I’m pretty sure I don’t like how it smells but I keep going back and smelling it anyway.

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

Bvlgari Jasmin Noir

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Jasmin and almonds, two of my favorite smells combined into one awesome fragrance? That’s Jasmin Noir from Bvlgari.

Jasmin Noir

In Bottle: I get light florals and a heavily licorice-infused almond and jasmine scent.

Applied: Light jasmine on the opening as the fragrance quickly mixes the jasmine and florals with the warm, licorice-sweet almonds. I love the progression. It starts off no-nonsense and like the no-nonsense fragrance that it is, goes on to its mid-stage almost right away. Now the mid-stage is marked mostly to me as a floral almond licorice mix. Reminds me a bit of Lolita Lempicka but with less gourmand and more floral. A great mix, for sure. It’s sophisticated and different, a little discordant but in a good way. The dry down is marked with more licorice, faint woods, and a hint of something smooth that might be the tonka bean or even a vanilla at work.

Extra: Jasmin Noir was composed by Carlos Benaim and Sophie Labbe.

Design: Jasmin Noir is bottled in a dark glass flacon with the signature dip in front. It has a golden cap with the house name on the top. And the fragrance’s name and house are written on the glass on the low point of the dip. I rather like the design, it’s simple and the look has–to me–been distinct and popular enough that I do see this bottle a lot and it is immediately recognizable.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Gardenia, jasmine, almond, licorice, woods, tonka bean.

I really do like Jasmin Noir. It did the jasmine note very well and the almond note was just a bonus. I don’t like licorice much myself but the licorice is well used in this fragrance to the point that it may have swayed me from the licorice-haters club to the licorice-lovers club.

Reviewed in This Post: Jasmine Noir, 2008, Eau de Parfum.