Carolina Herrera (1988)
by Carolina Herrera

Much like Fracas - this is tuberose heaven - sweet . It opens strong sweet tuberose which mellows after a short time . Very tenacious. There is a very beautiful lily note that compliments the tuberose very well. This is FBW for me in EDP.

My sister wears this-her signature fragrance. It is a most lovely floral breeze of a perfume on her gorgeous skin. Most strongly I noted tuberose and jasmine and it was delicious. I think this is a pretty girl's scent, and the fact Angelina Jolie has worn it for years is testament. It is like a fresh breeze of flowers bewitching men to follow in her wake...classic sensuality.

For a tuberose/jasmine confection this is divine. Tuberose and jasmine are two of my least favorite floral notes, yet together, in this scent, they work in perfect synchronicity. Not too loud, but no shrinking wallflower either. Taolady mentions the "presence" of this perfume, and I agree with that descriptor. Subtle yet persistent, beautiful but with a strong backbone. I was going to sell my mini, but it's going into the closet with my other lovelies. (The wine cooler is on order!!)

So glad I waited to write this review because on first wearing this frag did not impress. Seemed banal...just another floral.

But after several wearings I have grown to appreciate it subtle beauty. I am an older woman (what's wrong with being older?) that delights in scents that have a presence and this beauty certainly does. Opens fresh and slightly green with hints of tuberose. Matures (!) into that "bottom of the garden" note that Foetidus mentions. Classy and classic - guys heads turn (if you care about that sort of thing).

A classic fragrance I smelled on an old female friend in the 90's. Now as a colleague used it at office, I remembered these moments.

The top notes are fruity and brief in the orange vein, bergamot and orange blossom. The middle notes are strong, around tuberose and ylang-ylang, and a classical note of jasmine. Base notes are woodier but soft, sandalwood and a bit of amber.

The problem with Carolina Herrera is, the woman who uses it smells older and more mature... something strange for my old friend as she was in her twenties. Fortunately, this also added a sexy factor on her, and also on several young women on whom I smelled it. On older women, this fragrance just fit naturally on them, no sexy factor. As it's a strong fragrance, it should be suitable for winter seasons and evening events, but it smelled fine at day and summer.

I didn't realize that CH came out in '88. I didn't discover it until '93, just casually walking past a dept. store counter and I sampled it, fell in love with it immediately and bought it. At that time, I lived in a dry climate and it was autumn, so the notes I noticed first were the lily of the valley and the gardenia. The scent was fresh, crisp, floral and original. Just what I was wishing for amid a sea of mostly cloying Orientals and smell-alike aldehydics. It seemed green and summery, yet had a depth to it as well. CH became my signature scent and I applied it quite liberally, yet it didn't sicken me. It made me feel sophisticated, sexy and unique - that is, until a few years later when I noticed that a number of women began wearing it as well. That ruined it for me, so I seeked out other scents. Five years ago, I missed wearing CH, so I bought another bottle. The bottle is designed differently now. I think the scent is the same, but now that I live in a humid climate and my body chemistry may have changed with age, I notice the tuberose notes more and the scent seems heavier on me than I remember it being before. Although it's not a mainstay for me anymore, I still keep it in my fragrance wardrobe to recall a good period of my life.