Viva
by Ava Luxe

Like Caltha, I find Viva very bubblegummy indeed. What I cannot fathom is why I like this scent so much. It is too sweet, and dear me, it is probably best suited to a hand lotion or thereabouts. But the drydown, at least on my skin, produces a deeper, richer, muskier scent than the top and middle notes. Hours after wearing it I am left with a circa 1900, fainting sofa sort of scent -- slightly dowdy, yes, but also feminine and deliciously mysterious.

30th May, 2009.

Viva sounded way too floral for my taste, but I just couldn't resist the evocative description. Well, it is too floral, a sugarsweet, plasticky, bubblegummy white floral. Not very decadent, except maybe in a Paris Hilton kind of way. I was hoping for a more elegant decadence, but this sugared white floral belongs in a schampoo or a handlotion, not in a fine perfume.

15th April, 2007.