A review of Carol's Daughter, Pearls

My initial impression of this scent was neutral. Mainly because it smelled too mature and "old." It smelled very floral vanilla, with mostly undetectable citrus, even though it does supposedly contain bergamot. It smelled very powdery flowery, and reminded me of what I'd find at the drugstore. But as the hours wore on, the vanilla and musky amber like smells began to show through, while still retaining the pleasant warm floral scent, in a unique way. I was delighted.

Smelling this was very comforting, especially later on, as the scent really began to mix with my body chemistry. It reminded me of summer evenings safely rocking in a mother's arms, right after drinking a warm honey vanilla cinnamon chai, underneath a magnolia tree, next to a warm bowl of basmati rice sprinkled with saffron. Although I don't believe there's any saffron in this perfume, it does have anise I believe, which is also a warm spice. I absolutely love this scent, it's very warm and inviting, and very lovey-dovey, but I really don't like the fact it has bergamot in it.

Especially with summer blossoming now, and more ladies venturing out for long periods in the sun... I feel it's important to divulge more on this fragrant note, bergamot:

Bergamot is a fresh scent cultivated originally from a hybrid of lemon and bitter orange. Its oil is often used as a top citrusy note in many expensive European designer scents, but most bergamot oils make your skin photosensitive, meaning when you're in sunlight, your skin cells can experience phototoxicity and cellular damage. SOME bergamot oils are manufactured to be safe, but oftentimes you need to check with the manufacturer about this. Basically, in order for bergamot oil to be safe to use on the skin, it should have been properly vacuum distilled so that it no longer contains terpen or bergapten. The resulting oil would then be safe (not photo toxic) to use on the skin.

I believe sandalwood essential oils cause skin light-sensitivity, too. There is a whole list of these light-sensitizing (photo-sensitizing) oils, which I plan to share in another post. So be careful to just use these ones as evening wear, or at least with a good sunscreen during the daytime.

On another note, I'm interested to know what other people think about her line's Ecstasy Shea Souffle; has anyone tried it?

A review of Nina Ricci, Love

The reason I was initially interested in this item, is because it got such good reviews by so many of you fellow femmes out there. So, being the naturally wary yet curious individual that I am, I decided to make an opinion for myself. Upon first spritzing this on my wrist, my nose was awakened and delighted. If you could smell sparkles and happiness, this would be it. I almost smiled, and salivated a bit. It was just launched earlier this year, and is a limited edition. It smells like granny apples (like the bottle itself) mixed with cherry blossoms. The exotic scent of frangipani mixed with granny apples and almonds smells deliciously wonderful. It definitely has a unique initial smell...

Ok, by the way, if you're wondering what frangipani smells like, it smells sort of like honeysuckle with a tropical Hawaiian twist.... sort of like the smell that would waver up your nostrils while eating a pineapple, sitting next to a cluster of honeysuckle branches and greenery.

However, after 15 minutes onward, the frangipani and flower smells seem to disappear, leaving a rank rancid citrusy sickly sweet smell mixed with a pleading vanilla or creamy kind of scent. This is definitely not a soft scent. It began to remind me cloying teenage girls with cheap fruity lipgloss smelling of plastic and stale milkshake, lingering in front of a candy shop at a mall. Just the image and smells that came to mind. The classic Nina seems to sell a lot better... the apple bottle is red instead of green. Keep in mind everyone's body chemistry may be slightly different, so what smells great or horrible on my skin after 15 minutes may end up smelling different on your skin.

Keep in mind this is not the same as her other fragrance, "Love in Paris", which is below:

A review of Emilio Pucci, Acqua 330

So, Emilio Pucci released this floral aquatic fragrance earlier this 2009. I heard about the hype, saw the bottle (which resembles a pop-art painted glass mushroom like something out of Alice in Wonderland) and I was definitely intrigued. Hence, I ventured to try it out. And was ultimately disappointed.

Although the scent was fresh, like smelling violets budding next to a cold spring, I was a bit turned off because it reminded me exactly of a cheap perfume I had in middle school -- something that was $15 or so, from Target. I think it was called "Pure Waters" or "Clean Water" or something like that. I used to wear that perfume but eventually quit because there was no real hint of feminine grace to it, and it smelled to chemical and "cold."

Ok, so Emilio Pucci's Acqua 330 isn't as chemical and cold-ish as that cheap perfume, but it certainly reminded me a bit of it. Basically, frozen flowers mixed with a strange scent of formaldehyde. I know that aldehydes are quite commonly used in fragrances, such as the infamous Chanel No. 5, but I am personally not such a huge fan.

If you're the kind of person who likes the squeaky clean unisex scent, with just a HINT of mild floral, or if you tend towards the aldehyde scents, then maybe you'll like this, but it just wasn't feminine enough for me.... even though it claims to have the scents of violet leaves, frangipani and jasmine. Now, if the jasmine was paired with a nice tuberose, then maybe I'd reconsider this, but they need to oomph up the florals just a tad, in my opinion. Too unisex for me. But as far as cute eyecandy, no doubt about the blue streaked mushroom bottle.