Twilight (2008)
by Hot Topic

Notes:
Lavender and Freesia

Riding on the hype of the best selling Twilight vampire series books and the movie, Hot Topics (that bastion of teenage pop culture items and other naughty stuff) released a perfume in a faux Nina Ricci bottle (a lawsuit is pending), listing only two notes: lavender and freesia, a combo which I believe smells like one of the characters.

Such short lived and cash-in fragrances usually aren't very good, usually composed of the cheapest materials in the universe and dont wander much from the candy-floss bubblegum accord arena. Twilight, to its credit, contains no overtly floral or bubblegum tones. It opens with a very clean, soapy and strigent lavender note...light, a bit laundry/Gendarme like, stripped of its herbal tones, a lavender for the hormonal masses. This lavender is conjoined by a green-floral-spicy note of sorts which could only be a freesia accord (there is no freesia essential oil). A couple of hours later, this clean stark herbal accord descends into a white musk drydown and some vetiver/woods. Twilight is a surprisingly competent fragrance considering the market its targeting ..a well behaved structure with no crazy overpowering molecules, totally unisex, and even a bit of sophistication in the form of a neutered lavender note (which is like a dab of niche in the Hot Topics world).

Rating: 7.0/10.0

My son wanted to buy this for his little girlfriend, who is twelve and a fan of the books and movie. The first thing she did was spray everyone in sight when he gave it to her. First off, the bottle is a blatant rip off of the new Nina Ricci bottle. Only worse, cheaper plastic top and quite poorly made. Second thing I thought was, oh my gosh-lavender on crack! Harsh, very herbal and blech over the top LAVENDER of the worst kind. Later I sniffed my shirt again where the kid had blasted me. And I found it to be...pretty. Yes I said it, it wasn't half bad. Kind of like aromatics elixir harsh. A little medicinal, herbal and really different. Very unisex. So I guess my thought is, there will be a lot of teeny-boppers prancing around smelling a little better than Brittany Spears or Paris Hilton after all. At least it isn't an "I love candy" scent. After you get past the initial super funk blast, it settles down into something relatively nice.