Fragrance Reviews by hester

I hope never to have to smell this chemical toilet-cleaner mess ever again. Yes it's clean and watery, sure. But the melon-cucumber-horror! The grating fresh-accord! Thank god this trend is over, give me fifty strawberry-praline-chocolate disasters before this nastiness strikes my nose again.

Hmmmm. Thought I loved it, went through most of a bottle, and now can't really stand it. A very sweet, tangy rose, much too much of both aspects. No depth, but massive stayingpower, ie. it does not leave, ever. But it also doesn't dry down, so if the opening notes bother you with their sharpness, you'll be bothered for many hours. Nope, the somewhat lacklustre perfumery powers of Body Shop do not get better with time.

Wow, you have suntan lotion that smells just like pure bergamot, I'm so jealous! We never got Coppertone in SA, so I can't compare the smell, and can only assure everyone who doesn't know our sunny country: our beaches do not smell like this! Quite a pleasant smell, clean and pleasantly sharp, smells of bergamot and only that to me. I'd wear it, but not if I have to buy it! Very cheery and bright, and could have been much less successful. Good stuff I guess.

Horrid, horrid air freshener rubbish. This smells, I swear, exactly like a sharp (SHARP!!) and super-soapy floral carcinogenic mess of an air freshener. One of the worst perfumes I've ever smelled, and the epitome, to my biased nose and mind, of the American 'clean above all else'-vibe. Spare me! If this were the very last perfume on earth, I would rather go roll in earth or grass or ANYTHING rather than wear this.

While Fragonard fragrances can sometimes be slightly bland and not too powerful, this one is quite lovely and, I find, unique: though it is totally floral and even girly, there is an almost peculiar 'dryness' about it that saves it from sickly floweriness. It lasts all day on me, too. To top it all, Fragonards are so reasonably priced! Too bad about the trip to France you need to finance to buy them...
EDIT: I'm sad. The 'dryness' I mentioned seems to be lacking/less strong in my new full-size bottle, and I'm getting so much violet I can hardly bear it. I love this perfume for what it means to me sentimentally, but I'm going to be wearing it less and less, I can tell. It's quite 'perfumey' too, strong and yes, a touch cloying. So sad! Maybe I liked it better because I was dabbing before, from my mini, and now I'm spraying... hard to test this hypothesis though, as my old mini's topnotes have gone and it's depositing mainly alcohol and old perfume-smell on my skin when I try to use it now...

Eau de expensive-looking toilet freshener spray. I don't get why a human being would want to smell like this. Definitely floral, yes, sure, but there are millions of better florals, even within the Crabtree & Evelyn stable. Certainly their worst one.

Lime, lime, lime and slightly old-fashioned (in the BEST way) white flowers. In the drydown, which arrives pretty quickly, it reminds me strongly of a drier, slightly softer Femme de Rochas. Lovely and old-world, to my nose, but not something I need: I have other citrusey things, and Femme.

Wow, this really is a case of horrifically awful bottle-design putting me so totally off a product that I only smelled this yesterday... and loved it! LOVE! To me this smelled like lemon being strenghtened by something soft and fresh which does not adulterate it... I really didn't get much spice, except quite a bit of pepper, and no chocolate or sandalwood, weird. I shall try again, but I hope I only ever get this lemony, peppery goodness. Quite unusual, very cheerful and very clean. I do suspect it will not have great sillage or lasting power on me, though, sadly. This is very expensive in SA, but I will track it down, in spite of the awful, vile, cheap-feeling and looking, impractical and heavy-spritzing 'bottle'.

This is for the Sensual Elixir version: If you want a good musk, go for this if you're in the money. It seriously smells like nothing more than an ordinary 'drugstore' musk, taken to an expensive (and high-quality, let's be fair) extreme. I like it, I'd wear it if given it, but I think the emperor is in the alltogether.

Ok, hang on, am I crazy? ALL I smell are old-fashioned violet pastille-sweets, the kind I used to suck in exams at school. I take it violet is a main note? Anyway, I found this overpoweringly like powdering your body with crushed violet pastilles, and don't get why that is sexy AT ALL.

Great excitement for me today: had to go to the swankiest hotel in Cape Town (probably in South Africa), the Mount Nelson, for a work-related function. And there in the cloakroom: Blenheim Bouquet liquid soap and handcream! This line is not carried at all anywhere in SA, so this was an unexpected treat. The scent is lovely, extremely fresh in a dignified way, grassy and not musty at all, in spite of (?) the lavender. The base notes probably get lost mostly in these formulations. Now I long to smell the actual cologne/perfume!

Lovely stuff! Woody (with a top note of hinoki wood, according to the Rykiel site), warm, not spicy but just like some kind of sharp, energetically fragranced timber. Do NOT over-apply, or you'll smother everyone around you. One or two spritzes, however, will surround you in idiosyncratic, fascinating warmth with just a touch of sourness to prevent it from smelling of a lumber-yard. Very interesting; certainly not average. Lovely stylish bottle too!

Very nice, smells like a quality, but extremely light, cologne. I wish it stuck around longer on my boyfriend's skin, but what IS left after the initial ten-minute-fizz, is a very soft, almost powdery skin scent that is all good. But no sillage whatsoever, pity! An 'extreme' flanker would go down real well over here. I really don't find the scent cheap, tawdry or common at all. Very polite, and if teenagers were wearing this in the 70s, it must have been a better time! If only they'd all swap their Axe for this today.

Lovely! I should be way too young to wear this, but I was so excited to spot the seablue box in a local discount drugstore (I've never ever seen it in South Africa) that I bought it unsniffed, and I'm not sorry at all. I cannot tolerate lots of aldehydes, but there's no problem with them here (although I should mention, this is the EDT natural spray). I get mostly jasmine, which fades to powdery, powdery, soapy violet-ey cleanliness. I wish SO HARD that it was not this light, ethereal thing I can hardly smell after an hour, though! Oh how I wish for the EDP!
And I'm certainly going to try the keep-in-fridge trick next summer! Yeah, maybe the longevity will be better in the heat, too, it's chilly winter now. All in all: please, dear owners of Worth, keep this around and send all the variants to South Africa pronto!!

Hot tip: if you live somewhere where Royal Secret is sold (I believe it is/was by Monteil? or something like that) and you like Ambre Extreme but not its price, simply buy Royal Secret for less than half the price. They are spitting images of each other, seriously! My gran wore Royal Secret, and the second my parents and I smelled Ambre Extreme on my wrist, we all three exclaimed: granny! This is very nice, perhaps the slightest smidge softer than overpowering Royal Secret.

Lovely as this is, I don't think it's of the same genius (genius!) as Eau des Merveilles. It seems a touch too sweet and heavy (and orange popsicle-ey) for me, although the wafts I got from the left-overs on my hand after vigorous soapy washing were quite captivating. All in all, I don't quite see why this one was necessary.

Awwww, so sad! I absolutely adore this on my aunt; she's an older lady and it makes her smell fresh, youthful and happy. Me? I smell old, stagnant and over-perfumed from only one test-spritz on my arm! Very, very sad. But I am blaming my skin, this is lovely, do try it. And the bottle! So lovely!

This smells purely, absolutely, like bathroom cleaner. I have rarely hated anything I put on my skin as much as this one. I do not believe for one second that these are high quality ingredients; and who was the 'perfumer'?? I wanted to love this one, great bottle and name... all wasted!

The horror! The horror! Just say no. If it has good nostalgia-values for you, get a bottle to sniff before bed. PLEASE don't wear it anywhere in my country or continent, even.

Nice! Would not make me ravenous for a guy, but a very pleasant, not-quite-generic scent. And the drydown 12 hours later on my boyfriends skin was fabulous when I woke up this morning! So a thumbs up, but not an ecstatic one.

There can be nothing as sexy as this (I prefer the EDT)! A gay friend said it smells lovely, very intimate and 'like womens' underwear' (because he'd know!). I adore how this throws a cashmere-ey veil around me, how you mustn't try to get too close to smell it, how it radiates woman and sex and love.... mmmmmmmm! It could get too sweet on hot days, though, definitely, and its presence is stronger than the wearer suspects (must be the musk). If only it were at all affordable! In South Africa it's very much at the top end, price-wise.
UPDATE: I bought it! The big bottle, too! Now I'm (perhaps unwisely) wearing it on an unseasonably hot day. We'll see how that pans out, but I sprayed with abandon last night, and this morning I still smelled like the best thing on earth. The way this stuff merges with your skin! LOVE.

I bought a mini, which strangely is still available in South Africa at perfume knock-off boutiques (but this is no knock-off, they also stock minis that are original). I had to see what all the fuss was about with this discontinued fragrance. And: hmmm. I love some spice, but this is JUST cinnamon on me, as in, straight from the spice rack. Unfortunately, on me there's no development, no oomph. Ah well, I still like owning something rare! I'll wear it sometimes in winter, I'm sure. And the little box is very lovely (NOT the bottle, bleh!).
UPDATE: So now it's winter, and I get this more. It does have some development on me, not the absolute cinnamon 'soliflore' I thought. But after four hours, it's getting a bit much in all its warm softness. Not my favourite, but a lovely fragrance if you're looking for a soft spicefest.

Yikes! Wet floral? Maybe just at first; I get, in rapid succession: Tommy Girl (a personal perfume hate) doused with rose water, then a few minutes of powerful (and pleasant in a way) rose-scented honey, and then what seems set to be a long, long pure honey phase. Thankfully the Tommy Girl has faded, but the honey part left over is not much less gaggy for me. Nothing even vaguely reminiscent of the original Beautiful (which, whether you like it or not, is a very well-crafted, personality-filled thing), and nothing much sheer about it either. I am going to have to scrub soon.

Yowza! Knock 'em dead! A most intriguing, STRONG, warm and fierce scent. I'd love to wear it oh, once a year, when I'm feeling tigerish. But if I were to smell this on colleagues and on the street... no, please! Definitely great art, I am very happy this was made and is selling, because it's streets ahead of 95% of other scents. I would love to own a gorgeous bottle, but for something I would wear so seldom, it's just too pricey. Try the Voile de Fleur if this is too much for you, but that one I found very pleasant, still interesting at first, but with a generic-ey drydown and not quite enough presence.

To me this is 4711 with a dash of powder. Light, inoffensive (to me, more later...), certainly not at all loud, I don't know what could have happened to bottles that smell loud! (This review is for the EDC, though, perhaps the after shave lotion is different?) I would buy this if it were even cheaper, as a curiosity for when I'd like to smell barber shop-y. However: my boyfriend, who never has strong opinions on perfume, absolutely HATED this, on me and on himself. He mentioned 'wet ass' and 'horrible flatness'. He recoiled, in fact! I think the lemon makes him think of toilet bowl cleaners or something, but I can't understand his violent reaction! He's not biased against cheap or anything. Anyway, I like this, I like that it's still around, and I'd sniff a guy or girl who smelled like this. But try before you buy! Apparently some people have connotations with this smell.

Uhm, guys? A violently watered down mix of your own White Musk and DKNY Be Delicious is NOT a fragrance! It's a fleetingness to beat all fleetingness. Shower to Shower body sprays had WAY more lasting power (who still uses those? anyone?). Nope. Lovely little bottle, total utter dud of a smell.

Well this is nice... wait, where'd it go? Definitely a no-buy: inoffensively pleasant, light smell with absolutely zero staying power, and a drydown remininiscent to me of cheapish body sprays. Why so classic? Was there nothing else around in the mid-90s?

Yes, iMaverick, I thought I was crazy: to me this smells JUST like SJP Lovely or Narciso Rodriguez For Her EDT. I get absolutely no fruit or flowers, moving directly to honeyed musk. Staying power from one spritz on my hand seemed to be mediocre, probably similar to Lovely's. I would love this if I got it as a present, but for this smell, both its smell-twins are a tad nicer (and so are their bottles). This bottle, while attractive, does not fit the smell at all! And couldn't they have given it a less confusing (in the light of their previous fragrances) name?

I wanted to love it! And what did I get: pure, unadulterated Peaceful Sleep (an insect repellant stick), a smell I've always found highly intrusive. Probably my worst perfume disappointment. And although I should give it another go, and will do so, I cannot but give it a thumbs down.

HMMMM! Total winner. Obsession without the yikes-factor. I can't imagine actually wearing Obsession itself, much as I love the smell, as this is already so strong on me that I must be cautious. But I suppose I could grow into Obsession... I hope so, as this version is no more, sadly. I also much prefer this one's bottle. If you can still find it, snap it up!

Cotton candy in a very lovely bottle. I got this from my previous magazine job, would NEVER have even picked it up to spritz. I'm sure this could be wildly popular with the very girly crowd. But seriously, could things get sweeter? Candy covered in a bit of sugar and a touch of powder, all contained in a very old patchouli-laced box. Not that overpoweringly strong, happily. Not the worst thing I've smelled by a long shot.

I'm so surprised at the vitriol here! I loved this as an older teen (I'm a girl) and wore it with great success, to my mind, in cooler weather. I hesitate to spritz now simply because it's too linked to that time. But I'd love a man to wear this for me to sniff at. I remember it as deeply spicy-citrus, not very 'masculine', clean and warm. Ignore all these nay-sayers and try for yourself! Before they discontinue it. I'm not seeing it in stores...

Lovely, lovely cologne, surely my favourite to date. Much too fleeting, though, and what's more, to my nose it has changed, become less zesty and citrusy in the opening (I've been wearing it for 8 years). Wouldn't want to be without a bottle, but find myself not wearing it much because it simply is not there for more than 15 minutes! Perfect for carrying in your purse in summer, then, I suppose, and the products are all marvelous, just as great as the cologne, especially the shampoo, body oil and sachets. Just try the shampoo, if nothing else, if you're traveling or sporty.

Urgh. Wore this straight through one winter, and now never want to smell it again. Such a strangely flat and blah perfume! I used to enjoy the comfort-aspect, but now it seems so chemical, not mellow at all, quite violent and sweet, not fresh in any, any way! I love the bottle and the name, actually, wish I could still enjoy it. Ah well, I'll keep it as a rarity, seeing as it's discontinued. Ugh. So sweet!

This is second by a mile to Jovan Musk to me. I only have the oil, and should really try the spray form, as I find oils too soft in general. This I find very, very soapy and clean, with not enough to interest me all day long. It's perfect, though, for after-shower-cleanness before bed, and I combine it then with one of Johnnson's three baby colognes (I believe they're different to the one available in the States). I don't get spiciness or warmth in this oil at ALL. But very nice! Clean, clean, clean.

MUST HAVE IT. But it's heartbreakingly expensive, the horror. To me this feels like having just rolled around in a field of jasmine. Not for every day or every situation, by any means, but when I'm feeling girly and expansive, this is what I want. Probably not to be, with the state of our currency...

YUM! When my boyfriend wears this, he out-smells me (and not in an overpowering way!), whatever I'm wearing. This is spicy, kicky goodness. Reminds us both of Kenzo Tokyo, but is more interesting and has better staying power. Even if it's not the most unique or strange scent, for every day it's an absolute winner, will be purchasing a big, big bottle after my lover's mini runs out. Hmmmmmm must go smell his neck...

Good medicine! This makes me feel as if I've rolled in a pile of health-giving funky leaves, then drank something warm by a fire. Or maybe sucked on a pastille from a wooden medicine chest filled with aromas. I'm a woman, and don't care at all if this is too 'masculine' for me to wear. I'm getting a bottle!

I really only get a mineraly orange popsicle here, but I adore it! Perfectly unisex to my mind. Got compliments on how fresh I smelled. Goodish staying power from three tiny tester spritzes, so I would be ecstatic to have a bottle. Why oh why can't we have 10 ml bottles, so ordinary folks could afford these with our exchange rate??

Clean! All the things people criticize about this, are the things I like. It's fleeting, not that strong, and old-fashioned: lovely! And I also love that all the scented products, like body lotion, actually smell powerfully of the cologne, unlike many other perfume's matching products. All perfume lovers should get to know this treat, even if only for the link it provides to the past. And before the new aromachemical-regulations force them to change it!

Pure melon is all I remember of it. And looking back, definitely the start of that trend. Don't know that this is such a great loss, if it is indeed lost.

So evocative to me - my dad's fragrance. Fresh, manly, gentlemanly - but with a slight, slight animalic touch to my nose, which now that I'm older makes me ever so slightly uncomfortable that this is my dad's smell! Fabulous stuff, but apparently unpopular - I never smell it, and never have, except at home.

I love this stuff! At 25 I should be too young for it, but maybe because it's not too well known in my country, I have no old lady OR hooker associations with it. It's simply ambery spicey goodness, and I mostly wear it to bed. So comforting and enveloping! I love that I can't pick out any one spice, it's seemless and so smooth. And in fact, I rather like the 'retro' bottle. GREAT value for money, too. All round, absolute winner.

Do you guys know this has been rebranded as Exclamation Wild Musk? In a VERY nasty orange and black tiger-print bottle!! I haven't smelled it before this rebranding, can anyone comment on whether the scent is in fact the same? I find it to be the first slightly offensive musk I've encountered, and I LOVE musk! But could be lovely on someone else.

I used to wear this exclusively in high school, such a nice summery clean scent. One of the best Charlies, from before they started churning out ENDLESS new 'versions'. This is fabulous for a young girl who does not want something too flowery or girly. It's rather citrusy and fizzy.

I want to give this a solid try, I only spritzed on a little once, and honest-to-god, what I smelled was new library book! The thick, durable plastic-smell - I loved it! If it smells of that all the way through, I will seriously consider a bottle. What a different smell, and so unexpected from this. Maybe my nose was off that day, though?

Yuck. Red kids' cooldrink, the fake raspberry-ish one we all guzzled (in this country anyway). No, seriously, I was very disappointed, I got this horrible red candied note, and nothing else at all. Boo! Love the name and bottle!

Yum! I just smell earth. Wonderful, would wear it all the time if it were at all affordable. Fabulously like wet earth, but could be stronger.

No, no, no! Incense, here? I so wanted to love this, but I am assaulted by the worst smell I've ever experienced from a bottle when I spritz this! All I smell is rancid, old soap, no spice, no incense whatsoever, nothing but a very penetrating, sour soap.

OMG, this smells of dentist's rooms! Must be the powderiness of the talc on their gloves and the minty-powderiness of mouthwash, or something, but I HATE this so much! Awful.

In South Africa, this has been (as far as I've seen) unavailable for years. But now it's here, and I adore it! Smells so much more expensive than it is, and for the very first time, a stranger asked me to write down what perfume I was wearing. I do not find it skanky at all, and get lots of flowers, and some clean, clean whiteness. I don't think I'll ever willingly be without it again! (My boyfriend got thoughtful when I let him sniff it, and said "I think I'm starting to get what musk is..." I'm taking this as a good sign.)

BO-RING. Pass the baby powder, or if you don't have that on hand, L'Instant Magic will do. Really, just another crowdpleaser with no guts or heart.

This was the yummiest thing on my boyfriend, and even though I was wearing the glorious Estee Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia, I felt quite upstaged by how fabulous he smelled! Perhaps a touch too sweet for him, was his opinion, and mine too: I want to wear it! Love the elegant bottle too.

The first real fragrance I bought myself, in the Galeries Lafayette, no less. I suspect I had Crystalle in mind, though, as this turned out no to be quite what I expected. I love the green aspects and the sharpness ( not soft of me at all, not remotely), but in the drydown the EDP sometimes, and only sometimes, goes very musty. I don't think it's a question of not liking 'older' perfumes, as it only happens sometimes. I'd say if you're in the market for crisp, interesting and ladylike, do give it a go.

This could not possibly be any better! I've heard all about the original version, but I just can't believe this could be improved upon! Sultry, warm, just like an almond slice, it's true, but an almond slice imbued with some mysterious pheromonal wonderfulness, creamy, intimate and unlike anything I've smelled. Couldn't be without a bottle ever again. Plus, I'm wearing it to work today, and have done before, and I don't think anyone's offended or even noticing, except if they're close. So maybe don't believe the stories about it being overpowering - try on yourself. Just TRY! Ten thumbs up.

This was my first real perfume, I think, given as a present by British friends (it can't be bought in South Africa). Very sweet and flowery, but with a lemony bite (the neroli and mandarin?) that prevents asphyxiation. It is actually more adult than I thought as a teenager, but certainly not for business suit-days! It has sillage in spades on me, so beware. Expensive-smelling sillage!

Gosh, this is awful. I just get coconut with loads of sugar. Awful. Tacky in every possible way.

Can't find a thing to fault here, really. Charming up top, sexy down below, great bottle. I love that all the white floweriness sits on this dirty base (is this just my skin, though?). I can see this turning to toilet spray on someone else. I seems to work fabulously on me though, and just before the final drydown phase there's a caramelly something going on that my boyfriend loves - and he seldom has much to say about perfume.

I'd say much soapier than Island, with a greenish drydown. Lasting power not bad, but this is not a spectacular scent.