Fuel For Life pour Femme (2007)
by Diesel

Although this fragrance isn't the most likable scent around, it sure is popular. Before becoming interested in fragrances, I had always noticed this fragrance on the shelves and noted how many people bought it on a daily basis.

I was surprised by the opening notes which really turned me off this fragrance. I was assaulted by strong and peppery citrus which to my nose was rather synthetic. For about the first three hours all I got was a loud concoction of peppery fruits and predictable and plain jasmine. I was indeed underwhelmed by Fuel for Life.

However, the drydown was quite pretty. The scent became warm and powdery, also a little sweet. The base notes agreed with my chemistry and also smelt agreeable on paper. Looking at many of the other reviews, I'm not alone in my appraisal of the drydown.

Unfortunately, even though the base notes are nice, after a while the scent began to smell like air freshner mixed with the musty and dirty scent of a bathroom.

I'm disappointed in Diesel for creating such a scent. I find their cheaper and lesser known scents more pleasing to say the least. Strangely enough I can see how this would be pleasant for some, however I just can't seem to like it myself.

15th June, 2011.

On paper this smelled fresh, inoffensive, clean and polite. I detected mainly blackcurrant and what I assumed was green tea (although I see green tea is not included among the notes). A good daytime scent perhaps? It had to be worth a try. I sprayed a little on my wrist and went about my day. Within a few minutes the pleasant fruity/tea opening had warmed and transformed into a sillage monster of embarrassing proportions. The fruity notes became horribly synthetic - not in a sweet, fun, candybar kind of way, but in a cheap car air freshener that provokes motion sickness kind of way. Furthermore, they somehow managed to smell both synthetic AND overripe - eau de trashcan, anyone? No more refreshing green tea either - that was replaced with a cheap synthetic musk which gusted out of my shirt cuffs every time I moved and made me sneeze and clamp my arms to my sides in horror. I rushed to scrub, scrub scrub this off as soon as I had the chance, but within five minutes of each frantic scrubbing session it came back smelling worse than before. Today, a whole day and two showers since, it is still going. This stuff actually gave me an asthma attack - and I am not very prone to those - and this morning the skin is sore where I sprayed it. So it's a monster allergy trigger to boot.

This smelled worse than lousy on me, and I accept that the problem here may well be my body chemistry. On someone that suits it, the longevity and gigantic sillage would probably be a huge plus. But a fragrance that actually makes me (and potentially others around me) sick? That would stop me dead even if the juice smelled great on my skin.

22nd March, 2011.

Angel mixed with "Calyx" resulting in a very wearable, pleasant scent which smells modern and sexy at the same time. Neither very inventive nor outstanding, it is nevertheless one of the best mass-market releases of 2007.

26th March, 2010.

I really enjoy this perfume. Fruity notes with a lovely musky patchouli smell once settled. Put it on yesterday morning and still smelt it in the evening. In fact I think I could detect traces of it after my shower.

12nd March, 2010.

Classically structured but utilising more synthetic elements. It opens a little sharply but quickly gives way to barely indolic florals rounded somewhat by plum-like notes, and layered over white musk(?) and nondescript woods. I hesitate to name 'patchouli' as it doesn't quite have that oft-associated distinctive earthiness about it, at least not on my skin. But I enjoy this fragrance better than I do with the pour Homme, even if it does come across more than a little crude.

9th February, 2010.

terrible! patchouli monster at it's worst! and it's so strong it will choke you! awful!!! one of the worst fragrances of all times. in the top 10 worst anyway!

4th February, 2010.