Fragrance Reviews by Truffles

Hmm, just got a sample of this through. Smells dated to me, reminds me very much of YSL Paris which was much loved in the 80s. Not unpleasant though just don't think I'll be buying or wearing it.

Haven't smelled this for years but loved the smell and loved the bottle. A friend had it, but before I could get some it became another that was very sadly discontinued.

I don't like the female counterpart at all but this is a very nice warm, clean citrusy smell. Smells expensive but is actually dirt cheap to buy in the UK.

Love this. Individual, clean and subtle.

On opening the little bottle I briefly got a whiff of something a bit like 4711. I applied some to my wrist and got a thin sort of lemon smell. Very quickly a strange plasticy or burnt note emerged. Just as I was thinking that this is just another B Never too Busy clunky, clumsy mix, it matured into something very interesting - something sweet, beautiful, delicate and haunting. It made me think of peat fires and of my Granny and Grandad who were married for a very long time (looks like the perfumer's aim worked then, looking at the site). Ivy plants also came to mind for some reason (?). Once again, that B Never too Busy staple, jasmine, made a late appearance. Overall, I'd summarise this as an interesting and unique scent, just not one that I would want ON me. (Sorry, can't do italics here!). I'm wavering between neutral and thumbs down, OK I think it has a bit more sophistication than some of the other scents from B so neutral it is.

An aggressive opener of Germolene and B Never too Busy fave - jasmine. Settles to just Germolene, and the Germolene never gets any weaker. Just awful.

Lapsang souchong tea and antiseptic cream. Hit by this first vile assault, I want to scrub the offensive mix away. But wait.. before I can, it's transformed into mouldy orange peel with an edge of forty year old talcum powder. There's something almost pleasant about this latter stage - but not pleasant enough for me not to give this mix a thumbs down.

A simple, sickly, nothing. Not for me.

Can't describe the smell now but just remember that this was gorgeous. Didn't have a boyfriend at the time so bought it for a male friend as it was just so good it was begging to be bought! Such a shame it was discontinued and also such a shame the Body Shop did away with the stand they used to have in their stores with all the big glass bottles of perfume oils with glass dipping sticks for trying. They were magical.

One big fake jasmine smell. Strangely, it finally fades to a whisper of orange peel. Which would be nice if it wasn't just a hint at the end of the wearing.

I don't get apple pie at all. Starts with a HUGE wonderful great zing of lemon, soon joined by a hint of those pyramid-shaped little pastel boiled sweets - perfumed bonbons I think they were called. This quickly mutates into bubblegum, yes bubblegum, with a hint of some sort of 'skin' smell, maybe skin that's been rolling around in sand. Again quite quickly, a strong jasmine note pushes it's way through the bubblegum and remains dominant for the rest of the wearing. I would sum this scent up as LEMONS, followed by BEACH overall, I think that people who like 'beachy' scents would probably like this. I did get the word 'innocent' coming to mind quite strongly when I first tried this perfume. Overall I think this is an uplifting scent, it's strange too, but I like it.

Horrible bottle. Thought I might like it because it was touted as citrus. Synthetic, cheap, for modern teenage chavsters.

Hmm. Was dying to try this as have heard so much raving about it. Disappointingly spicy, cheap and jarring to my nose. Can't see what all the fuss is about, big thumbs down.

Wearing a sample of this today. It reminds me a bit of Gucci II. It's not offensive but to me there's nothing classy or expensive about the smell and it's typical of a lot of modern perfumes. It's a bit too sweetie/fruity for me so I won't be buying it.

This was gorgeous. Grassy and fresh, I always felt there was an orange-type note in there although it's not listed as far as I can see. I found it especially nice when worn on a cold day, when a crisp waft could be detected when air hit skin. Bring it back!!!!

Smells just like Irn Bru to me. Weird.

Mmmm, got this for Christmas - a set with body cream - gorgeous - old fashioned, quality and very wearable.

I sprayed a bit of this on my hand today. Can't decide if I like it or not but suspect I wouldn't be able to wear it. It smells a little bit like Moschino's Cheap and Chic to me.

This perfume seems to have 2 opposing elements to it. The first is lovely - I don't know how to describe it and I'm not going to bother trying to put a name to the various elements, sugar, caramel etc - but can be smelled throughout wearing it. The second is a very cheapy, perhaps '80s' element and I think it's a shame that it's there - it's strongest in the first, topnotes stage - the rather acrid fruity one. Just had a look at what else the perfumer has done and I see that Secret Obsession and lots of Lynx fragrances are there - hmmm.. I've just bought it and after a while of sniffing and resniffing to analyse it and see what I think (yes, I know, I am rather reckless when it comes to buying perfumes and sometimes buy them after the merest aquaintance!) I have discovered that it has actually created a 'burnt' sensation inside my nose. This burning effect has never happened with any other perfume and as a smell obsessive I've sniffed a lot throughout my life! I wonder what it is that is doing that?
Anyway I find I CAN wear it, don't find it sickening as I do with a lot of perfumes especially modern ones - the Cacharels, J'adore etc - and that is at least a mark in its favour. It also smells lovely when I smell it on other people. I would give this somewhere between neutral and thumbs up (for the mystery 'lovely' element). Can't have both so it's a neutral from me!

I remember this mainly from my teenage years and every time I smelled it my conclusion was the same. Just one word - HORRIBLE.

I really want to like this because it slightly reminds me of Victoria Plum bath oil which I had and loved as a child, and I really love the smell of fresh roses, BUT.... no, to me it smells too short on character, no complexity, cheap and a little bit sickening. My sister loves it though and apart from the smell, one big plus is that Stella McCartney is against animal testing so I'm presuming this is in line with that.

Too much of the dreaded spice for me. Ick. Could imagine on some horrible starchy bullying spinster school marm.

A friend gave me a big bottle of this a few years ago. It's nice enough but a bit too 'grannyish' for me even tho' I normally like the old fashioned perfumes. It's not offensive but there's just something a bit too RE (religious education) teacher here for me so I'm giving it a neg.

What was the tag - 'fresh, sexy, clean'? There's nothing too nasty here to my nose, just a simple scent that didn't really seduce me in any way. It's almost veering towards sickening territory for me but it's not quite there so I'll give it a neutral.

I bought this because I smelled it on someone and thought it was Britney Curious which I quite like. When I wore it however I wasn't impressed. It wasn't offensive but just smelled weak and not very well constructed to me. I gave it to my sister who really likes it. It's a neutrally one for me cos it's not offensive.

This is really lovely. Unfortunately for me it has too many associations with the 80's because that's when I was at school and everyone was wearing it. It's just very innocent and pretty, warm but fresh and clean. If you're ever thinking of buying perfume for a young lady of perfume wearing age and you're not sure what to get I'd say this is a pretty safe bet. (Hey sod the 80's I might have talked myself into buying it again!). I did think it was rather a shame when the body shop changed the bottle some years ago too.

Yick! Ugh gerrit off me! Spicey UGH!! Sad thing is I bought it for my Dad more than once when I was a kid and didn't know any better cos I thought the bottle (the white ceramicy one) was cool...

Simply yummy. No nasty spices here. A masterpiece and yet so cheap to buy!

Aw I love this! A boyfriend of mine years ago wore it. Unusual, warm, and very non-offensive to my nose. Loads of bad reviews on here for it I notice. Well I stick by my nose's opinion. Mind you I did also used to love Brut......

Bought this recently (was hard to find, has disappeared from a lot of shops where they used to sell it in the UK, I wondered are they going to discontinue it? Surely not.) I LOVE the topnotes that hit my nose with a pretty and unique citrus strength. However on me, with time, I detected a weirdness appearing from this perfume (maybe its the carnation - can't stand the smell of them) that I found offputting. I would say it's a knock em dead power perfume but one of the nicer ones. The D&G site describes it as having a masculine edge which I found to be true. Like their Light Blue I think its a masterful construction but as it was only the top notes that did it for me - and they don't last long - it wouldn't be something I would want in my collection although I love the bottle. Gave it to my mum, she loves it.

Hey, another old woman perfume. But those are the kind I usually like as opposed to the silly one-note synthetic celebrity fragrances of today. This is clean, there's nothing repellant there, definitely a perfume intended to convey maturity and mature sexiness.

Ah. Now MikeyP said this was feminine and I agree. I bought a miniature bottle for myself which sadly leaked away thru a faulty cap and I haven't replaced it yet. For me it is almost... almost... like some of my long-lost faves. Something of the Climat by Lancome or the Elegance by Avon ( I adored this as a child and had some in a brown glass turtle bottle, we're talking over 30 years ago, sweet!). Anyway whatever it is ,I found this an old-fashioned, unique, unusual, warm but not sickly feminine scent.

Argh! Lost my whole review because basenotes wouldn't let me submit without thumbs which I forgot to do. So here is a summarised version:
Jasmine - mmm - became obsessed. Bought it after waiting for them to get some more in. Wore it more. Green. That's OK but something emerging that I find unwearable (like Marc Jacobs Daisy horrible element but nowhere near as bad). Went off it, could have probably kept and worn without being sick but it didn't seem as unique as I thought at first so gave it to my aunt who should enjoy it.

Yeucchh. I cannot abide anything that smells of cloves being anywhere near me. I don't know if this actually has clove in it or if it is the clove-like carnation that I am picking up but to me it just smells like one big clove. So if, like me, you are a strange cat-human who finds the smell of cloves the most dirty, repulsive smell on earth, steer well clear of this perfume!

Smells cheap and nasty. Hit the bargain buckets for less than half the RRP pretty quickly here in the UK. Like Victoria, her perfumes are trying really hard to be 'classy' but unfortunately I think ultimately everything comes out cheap. I was really surprised at the tacky name stickers on the bottles too.

I detect a coconutty edge in this (?). The perfume is pleasant and passable, nothing outstanding. Not complex or unusual enough to be 'Wow' but I can happily wear it, I'd say it's summery if anything and definitely for the young rather than the more mature lady.

Gee I really am a sucker for those blue glass bottles. This bottle is really beautiful, dark, holdable and lovely. The perfume itself has topnotes which don't immediately beguile me - a bit too Diorsy, a bit all over the place, but it fades down to a beautiful and unusual incense smell which makes it worthwhile for me.

This one reminds me slightly of YSL's Rive Gauche. Totally inoffensive smell, fantastic price for what you get, therapeutic properties and a lovely simple big blue glass bottle! On its own this doesn't do too much for me but I find that if I spray a little D&G Light Blue on first, and then this, that Eau Ress really comes out of itself and is enhanced by the combination.

I think this smells horrible and I really can't work out why anybody would like it. Just one big strange fake horrible smell, yuck.

This smells exactly like some dirt-cheap Spanish perfume I smelled while on holiday as a teenager about 20 years ago. So basically I'm not a fan and with the exception of Midnight Poison I don't as a rule like Dior perfumes anyway.

Bizarre scent. Smells like some sort of household cleaning product.

Raspberries and patchouli, those are the notes that dominate for me. A sweet little perfume in a sweet bottle. I think there were some variations in the bottle design but mine was the pink opaque glass one with a gold 'cloud' stopper. A friend once asked me what it was when I was wearing it and said it smelled 'sexy but innocent'.

The Queen of perfumes in my view and, like Climat, an example of how good Lancome used to be before all this new fangled Hypnose-type stuff. I wore this from my teens up til a few years ago. The only reason I stopped wearing it was because a horrible bitchy woman from work who used to liberally douse herself in horrendous 'sexy' power perfumes used to wear it and it completely put me off it! But putting that aside, I do regret giving that last bottle I had away and think I will buy this again soon, it's clever, magical, truly sexy and leaves a beautiful trail. This is not for tweenies or for those who dig the modern perfumes, it's an old-fashioned and traditionally feminine evening perfume and I don't think every woman can carry it off. It's definitely one for the slightly strange Phoebe from friends types, a bit different, a bit strange, a bit hippy, mysterious and truly sexy.

Sorry, but this just smells like 'the 80's' to me. And not in a good way. Think one note, knock you dead power perfumes - not classy.

Surprisingly I think this perfume is quite an accomplished, complex little creation. The thing is there are an awful lot of really young girls running around wearing it - and it's instantly recognisable, "ooh it's Britneh! " - and I think that and the fact that it's Britney's and a celeb perfume are the things that tarnish peoples perceptions of it a little. I bought it simply because the bottle is absolutely beautiful - a gorgeous pale blue glass with a little diamante and pink heart tag around the neck of the bottle. I didn't like the smell at first sniff (I know, silly buying it just for the bottle!) but it really grew on me. It's pleasant, warm without being sickening, and I actually think it doesn't smell cheap as you would expect (and as a lot of these celeb perfumes do). Mmm I'm going to go and put some on now!

Yeuuccchhh! I am not a fan of spicy perfumes in general - the smell of cloves is absolutely repulsive to me so this might be partly the reason - and this is one of those spicy ones. My mum does like spicy perfumes and she used to wear this and I hated it. To me this perfume has absolutely no femininity, just this weird spicy stench. Yuck! Ha, just read JennieJenJamz review, that is funny, I completely agree!

I know this is for some reason a hugely popular perfume but personally I find it sickening. I have been given this as a present before and had to give it away, I just couldn't wear it. I have never liked any of Cacharel's perfumes, finding them cheap-smelling, and had a similar reaction to Eden. I thought I liked it when I smelled it on someone else, got some, put it on, and promptly sickened myself and all of my family! So, no, big thumbs down on this one for me, another one where I just don't get what all the fuss about it is.

UGGHHH! There is something - I don't know what - in this perfume that makes me feel ill. I find it very sickening, can't see what all the fuss is about and wouldn't and couldn't possibly wear it.

Simply gorgeous. A sparkling citrussy floral that is good any time of year but especially so in Spring and Summer due to the citrus. It is fresh, clean and complex and to me smells very expensive although, strangely, it can often be found for as little as £10 a bottle in the UK. I have got through a few bottles of this in the last five years, one a very large bottle and hope it is never discontinued (because the smelly things I love usually are not popular and therefore are discontinued - sob!). It seems to smell very different on each different person because a couple of times I have stopped people to ask what their gorgeous perfume is and they have said it was Light Blue. Perfume is a very personal and idiosyncratic choice so it's very hard and often inadvisable to buy perfume for someone 'blind' but I would always recommend this as a reasonably safe choice to a man wondering what to buy for a woman as I can't imagine many people not liking this perfume.

Mmm yes I get violets as well. I think violet is very sexy! Old fashioned and underused today. My boyfriend got me this for Valentines Day a couple of years ago. I think it is a winter perfume, it smells especially nice in cold weather. I don't find it fades that much either (?). Didn't realise it was a limited edition tho, I still see it in the shops all the time, hope they keep selling it.