Petite Chérie (1998)
by Annick Goutal

Petite Cherie is a disappointment. I found it quite bitter. After applying this scent, I smelled like a extra dry vodka martini...not being a martini lover, I was totally put off. Would rather a margarita or glass of reisling.

This was my review, from a sample gone bad...I've since sampled a fresh bottle and find Petite Cherie to be a light, bright, fruity refresher! It is simple and youthful. Resonates at a high pitch. I still don't care to wear it, but am glad to have clarified my opinion.

The opening blast was turpentine-y to me, too, but it doesn't last.  It's gone as soon as it dries, within seconds.  Then it's soft, sparkling peaches, and very faint rose, and...cumin?  I got a faint but detectable, and unfortunate, cumin note when I sniffed my wrist.  That, too, disappears, within half an hour, and it is all soft peach with what I take to be light grass taming it and keeping it from becoming too sweet.   It's really light and upon reading that it is a scent meant for children, I understand it better.  All in all, it wears fairly well on me and its lightness and lightheartedness is a surprisingly pleasant repast from my regular rotation.

Very light notes with a pastel quality and yes, it's insipid, but I'd been looking for something like this, a fragrance calculated to be naive. There's something mouthwateringly wet about Petite Chérie's fruit and florals. It does remind me of fruit and petals in water.

That same 'water' accord does begin to smell plastic-like after a few minutes, which might be a turn-off to some but it reminded me of the toys I played with as a kid in the 80's, so I was pretty charmed.

Like some other reviewers, I immediately got a hit of something like "fizzy peach/pear liqueur," more pear than peach, which I found refreshing and quite summery. I don't get the cut-grass note, but rather something pleasantly astringent, like gin. (Actually, I'm now rather inspired to make a mixed drink of peach schnapps, Poire William, gin, and seltzer... must try that sometime when the weather's hot...) It then moved into a delicious-smelling, warm, fresh blend of peach and rose, which l enjoyed for about an hour before the scent gradually trailed off into faint whispers of rose. Doesn't last long, but the comfort factor is enormous.

I bought this for my 13-year-old daughter to try, but on her the opening notes are turpentiny rather than fruity. "What does this smell like?" I asked her after spritzing her wrist, fully expecting her to get the same notes I got. "Paint," she said. Paint?! Then I sniffed her wrist. Yup. On her, it's paint thinner which moves into a gentle rose.

It's pretty pricey for something that I only find sweet and comforting. I'll use up my sample, and then drink my "Little Darling" mixed drink while smelling garden roses. Ahhh. Much the same effect, far cheaper.

This scent was a surprise for me. Opens as pear/fruit but not in a Body Spray way - more in a delicate Springtime breeze sort of way. Designed with a young girl in mind I find that it makes me feel feminine and princess-like even at my 45 years of age. I applied the lotion - small amount really...just a bit up both arms and a dab where one would normally apply perfume. Seemed hardly enough scent for anyone to take notice but myself. My husband walked past me and wanted to know what smelled so wonderful. Well now, there are very FEW scents that he comments on at all. This one is a keeper for him. He also likes the Eau d'hadrien on me - says it smells "like me"....whatever that really means - but my daughter said the very same thing (and she wasn't around to hear her daddy say that). Seems as though the body cream retains its fragrance longer then both the EDT or EDP so from an investment standpoint I would purchase the body cream first. The shower gel is a refreshing treat as well. That in mind - the cream and the bath gel can be difficult to find. OH, one more thing - don't buy from discounters unless they have a good return policy - so far, when I purchase from discounters I get rancid Annick Goutals - not sure why. The scent of the body cream must hang around a while too - at the end of the day yesterday my husband was still telling me that I smelled so good. (always nice to hear)

This is with the grain of salt that when a scent goes wrong on me, it goes REALLY wrong. The opening was like a sweet peach chardonnay with some fizz -- very pretty -- and then the train wreck happend. It went rank and smelled of dirty rubber gloves and kept descending. The smell was sour with a whiff of chlorine. It was not a fermented sour smell, rather a slight body-sour smell.