Cheap & Chic: 70 posts

Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

I consider myself a fairly open minded perfume lover, ready to experience a new fragrance without any preconceived notions. At the very least, I keep my biases in check. I reason that a perfumista’s equivalent of an omnivore is someone who disregards the minutia and goes straight for the juice. So when Avon Infinite Moment for Her crossed my path, I managed to get past the blandness of the moniker. Even the ad that seems to be taken from the cover of a “bodice ripper” novel did not faze me. These days my courageous testing often leaves me smelling like a candy factory on fire, but Intimate Moment for Her rewarded me with a creamy floral wrapped in vanilla and soft woods. While not offering anything original, it is nevertheless a sophisticated, easy to wear choice.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Some perfumes appeal to me for their complexity, others for their unusual character. Whenever I explore the collection of Sonoma Scent Studio, I realize that what draws me to Laurie Erickson’s work are the personal stories that she paints with her scents. Erickson’s fragrances are like glimpses into her own universe, reminiscent more of Annick Goutal’s spontaneous etudes than Guerlain’s studied epics. Fireside Intense and Winter Woods illustrate this idea well. They are the scents of a bonfire, of smoldering cinders and of tobacco crumbs in the pages of old books.

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“Gorgeous and incredibly cute” is how the pop singer Katy Perry describes her line of fragrances Purr and Meow. Incredibly cute is right on the mark when it comes to the packaging. Maybe I did not get my share of Barbies as a child, but I love the cat bottles, especially the amethyst tinted Purr.

I wish I could be equally excited about the fragrances. They are not badly done, far from it, but they replay the same fruit and cotton candy theme of other celebrity fragrances. I am not the target audience, but since I spend a lot of time around teens in my dance studio, my tolerance for the cloying blandness is sometimes strained to the maximum.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

I blame the American lingerie brand for the joke that I occasionally hear when I introduce myself. “Victoria, so what is your secret?” is not even funny the first time around, but it quickly gets old. Then, I have an issue with Victoria’s Secret perfume names. Pink All My Heart and Pink with a Splash Sweet & Flirty convey some pink tinted land that frightens me. It is a universe where Breathless and Sexy Little Things squeal Oh What Fun is Pink and demand Pink, More Pink Please. By contrast, I prefer the fantasy world of film noir. But then my fair Libran side kicks in and reminds me that as a perfume blogger I should be more open-minded.

So, readers, I headed to the nearest Victoria’s Secret store and smelled perfumes that I would not have tried under normal circumstances—Sexy Little Things, Love to Dream Freesia and Whipped Vanilla, Very Sexy Hot, etc. I came home feeling light-headed and dizzy from the pink sexiness of it all. I sprayed on some Bulgari Black. Then I realized that my mission was successful. I did not discover perfumes that made me want to give up my stash of dark and brooding favorites, but I found out that Victoria’s Secret fruity-florals can give the big brands a run for their money.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

The sad truth is that the price you are paying for prestige fragrances in no way reflects the quality of the compositions and the ingredients, and often the perfumes with luxury price tags are made more cheaply than your laundry detergent. Therefore, it is best to cast off the prejudices instilled by the price and simply shop with an open mind. If what you are after is “cheap and chic,” then the Demeter Fragrance Library can offer plenty of interesting options. At $10 for 1/2oz, these fragrances can rival many luxury perfumes on the market today. The large portfolio includes both pretty and romantic things like Wet Garden as well as strangely appealing ones like Paperback. My personal favorite is Whiskey Tobacco, a delicious accord of almond, cherry scented tobacco and smoky woods.

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