Fruity Notes: 56 posts

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

Bronze Goddess is a summer limited edition fragrance, which Estée Lauder brings back every year with a flanker. This year’s variation is Bronze Goddess Capri, a “solar Oriental fragrance inspired by the seductive Isle of Capri.” Neither Capri nor summer flankers (the perfume equivalent of movie sequels) tempt me much, but the original Bronze Goddess is such a brilliant composition of creamy coconut and dry amber that every year I anticipate its sister fragrance as well.

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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 confess that I did not expect much from Shalimar Parfum Initial, especially when I read that it is supposed to be a modern fruity version of a jewel in Guerlain’s crown, Shalimar. Picking up a blue faceted bottle to spray the perfume on my wrist, I braced myself for a pink berry compote, the likes of which test remarkably well, and as a result, suffocate the fragrance market. What I experienced instead came as a surprise—a lighthearted, yet elegant blend, in which the velvety oriental notes of Shalimar are embroidered with the effervescence of sweet orange and tangerine.

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

Another flanker, another fruity floral…. Initially, there seemed to be little reason for me to review Givenchy Ange ou Démon Le Secret, a 2009 sequel to the original Ange ou Démon. Yet as I was smelling it over and over again in the street and in the office, it struck me as a nicely crafted soft floral accord, where the tart fruity notes fizzle like champagne bubbles in a Mimosa cocktail. It is approachable, likable and pretty.

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

Designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka have long been the darlings of Hollywood celebrities and publications such as Vogue, which named them among the “Top 10 American Designers.” The classical silhouettes of their glamorous gowns, their predilection for luxurious, yet understated embellishments and their ability to distinguish between good taste and wanton excess is what garnered loyal support for the duo’s collections. It is therefore not surprising to discover that Badgley Mischka has pursued a union of fashion with fragrance via their eponymous release created by the Firmenich perfumer Richard Herpin.

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