Aquolina Pink Fragrance is a sweet perfume for those women who like sweet perfumes (pink sugar is another word for cotton candy after all), yet there is more than that to it. Liquorice, for example. It’s quite strong since the beginning, and other than with sugar, it also mixes with a floral note that struggles to come out. After five minutes it feels like the sweet and floral sides are imploding into each other, makine the fragrance tip on [...] Read more »
Apres l’ondee Perfume by Guerlain is an iris-based floral, created by Jacques Guerlain himself in 1906. If you have the luck to sample it, don’t miss the opening, because that’s where earth breaks loose after the rain-shower, releasing all sorts of things, and creating an incredible smell that is hard to describe: minty, plastic, warm, fresh, sweaty. At times it’s also indolic (fecal, that is), with the memory of a childhood in the countryside right there (cowshed smell, anyone?). [...] Read more »
I would have sworn this was an old one (the uber-kitsch cap would have looked cool, like, 20 years ago), but it’s actually brand-new and launched in 2012. Perfume Roberto Cavalli opens fresh, and with a certain minty flavour. It will be fairly unquiet all along, however after a couple of minutes, its structure starts to build, with sweet notes first, and then it finally settles down to a warm floral, sprinkled with musky notes. After about 20 [...] Read more »
18 La Lune D&G starts fruity and floral and it will keep the same nature in the heart notes, when the floral side will get richer and more complex. There must be rose somewhere, together with a light tuberose that gives a light but rough earthy touch in the background. It’s all pleasant and the sweet-ish notes coming out of the fruity floral mix are potentially sexy from a close distance. Yet, I’m finding hard to get [...] Read more »
Quick review for Un Air D’escapade by Givenchy, very recently launched as an airport exclusive. The opening is muffled and gives out indefinite florals plus citrus notes, with hints of red fruits. There is also a light bitter earthiness in the background, that smudges the innocence of the main notes. After a couple of minutes, the earthy side disappears, and the fragrance settles down to a tropical-sweet, and fresh attitude, with also aquatic notes that come out on [...] Read more »
Tuberose has a bad reputation in perfumes (and for a reason) as one of the most potentially evil of white flowers. But this Carnal Flower Malle is different. On the skin this perfume by Frederic Malle starts immediately with a balsamic minty greenness, which tames the power of the florals density. This balsamic side is a peculiar, quite unexpected counterpart to the floralcy of tuberose, and it’s almost harsh on the throat. The blotter is way richer. Whereas [...] Read more »
Versus Versace perfume opens bright, sweet and fruity with lemon and fleshy peach. The sparkling citrus and the sweet side are equally divided, until the rose comes out. It’s not your typical fishnet stockinged rose though: the layer of vinyl is substituted by the sweet peachy and the citrus fruity notes of the start. It’s a strange couple what you have there, but it blends quite well: it’s delicate and sweet, but still with a sexy card to [...] Read more »
Whenever a perfume-related conversation happens, Dolce&Gabbana The One often comes up as “really good.” So it was about time to sample it to find out why so many women like it. And I think I know now. The opening is like watching a 15-second trailer of an action movie: you get a lot of the stuff you’ll get later, and very quickly. Dense white florals, more delicate ones, a fresh, almost citrus side, vague sweet notes, and also vague [...] Read more »