Basic Instinct (2004)
by Victoria's Secret

I love tuberose. I love its ability to be sexy in one scent and coy in the next. Now on to this fragrance...

It wasn't love at first sniff. It was actually more like love by accident. I wanted the black evening bag which contained a trial-sized bottle of Basic Instinct. I tried on the fragrance and liked it, and only liked it. One night I went out to a swanky bar with some friends and fell head over heels in love with it. It needed a time and a place to be enjoyed, like a good chianti, which is good on its own but better with a linguini bolognese.

I love, love, love the tuberose in Basic Instinct. I love the plum which lends a slight sweetness. I love the lingering vanillic rose when the scent has dried down. I love how velvety it all comes together. Strangely, Basic Instinct is the provocative, zaftig older sister to Ralph Lauren's Romance's virginal pixie.

It's long-lasting and it's sexy. Most important, it's sexy.

10th December, 2011.

This is so 80s, so big-hair, so sequins and stilettos. Sharing the same name as the Sharon Stone film, you should get an idea about what this juice is about. It screams sex. Not sexy sex...more like porn-star sex or fake boob sex or Kardashian sex. It is not subtle AT ALL. The sillage is monstrous, and the frag literally SCREAMS its orchid/wine/wood /plum composition at anyone within range.

This frag is synthetic and over-the-top. The packaging is boring (purple plastic tube-shaped bottle with silver accents), the name is kitsch, and the juice is far too obvious for me, but I can see where it would come in handy: at the opera, maybe, or to an adult-themed masquerade ball. When you want to be noticed, wear Basic Instinct. If you prefer a more subtle signature, avoid!

Oddly enough, I keep coming back to this one, to see if maybe this time I'll like it. I take off the translucent purple cap and Basic Instinct is about as subtle as Sharon Stone's interrogation scene in the movie of the same name. It's a blatant seduction. If that's your style, it will be amplified by this scent: the fragrance equivalent of a really randy cougar lady coming for you.

11th November, 2011.

Basic Instinct reminds me of D&G's "Light Blue" and I like how it is clean and sexy, obviously, but sort of masculine, at the same time. Smells kind of peppery and spicy, too, which I like.

13rd October, 2008.

When I smelled it in the store, on the scent strip, I adored it. I brought it home and put it on, and it smelled like the sort of fragrance they use in a high-end tube of lipstick. It screams "Cosmetic" to me, and little else. Sad, sad.

19th February, 2006.

This is a stiletto-heels style fragrance, no-holds-barred sexy and voluptuous verging on, well, a little dirty due to the patchouli note buried deep in the base of the scent. It's not to everyone's taste, apparently, but I think it's a satisfying divergence from Victoria's Secrets lighter, more "girl next door" type fragrances. It's big-girl sweet - lots of orchid-y vanilla - and big-girl floral - tuberose and gardenia - topped out with plummy, woody port wine. Admirers of Kors by Michael Kors may find this scent appealing because of the port note they have in common, though aside from the opening accord they're fairly different. Basic Instinct is sweeter than the Kors and a little less refined; that patchouli at the base lends it that distinct body-heat type earthiness whereas Kors' defining basenote is incense (which can sometimes come off as a little ash-trayish at times, particularly up against the booziness of the port.) One other thing to note about Basic Instinct: some people get chocolate notes from this and I do as well, sometimes. It seems to be a chemistry thing; when I apply it in the morning, no chocolate, but as the day and the drydown wear on, it sometimes appears. And it's lovely when it does!

24th September, 2005.