Fragrance Reviews by an_oud_girl

Yes, a green fruity-floral built around freesia, lily of the valley, and green notes. This reminds me A LOT of the women's version of Gucci Envy. The fruity note in Union Square smells like apple to me, rather than the sweeter peach and pineapple in Envy. I've often wished Envy was less sweet, but it is also more effervescent than Union Square, and I'd suspected that if the sweetness was dampened, the well-rounded sparkling quality would dim as well. This seems borne out in Union Square. I'm glad I saved a truckload of pennies and found Envy first; it's one of my very favorites. I want to give Union Square a thumbs up, but considering the cost and lack of originality, this otherwise good fragrance doesn't merit it.

When I first applied Black Orchid, I found the opening notes (especially the syrupy black current) way, way too thick and sweet for my taste, and I was convinced people had been hitting their bottle of Dekuyper's a little too hard when trying this out to be singing such praises. There's a good progression when the patchouli and incense enter to temper the sweetness (the chocolate also seems more dark and bitter than sweet), but it remains pretty boozy and I like my incense drier. I'm also just not a big fan of gourmands; I've yet to find a scent with a chocolate note that I like. Dries down first to an ordinary dirty patchouli, then a fine but basic vanilla oriental, which is disappointing given its bombastic beginnings.

I like magnolia. In fact, I like magnolia a lot. But to me Bright Crystal is simply a nice fruity-floral based on magnolia. Hey, at least I said it was a "nice" fruity-floral. There's plenty more that aren't! But I expect better than "nice" from Versace.

This is a mood scent. I've been trying describe how the lavander is soapy, yet isn't, in my comments when I finally realized it could be the incense. It's an old fashioned, bone dry, traditional incense. It smells clear yet dusty, like a 600 year old carefully tended church, open to receive respectful tourists on a summer afternoon. Blended evenly with straightforward lavander. The idea I get most from this scent is that I seldom spend enough time being quiet and absently melancholy enough to mellow out and appreciate it. I also get a masculine sharpness. Vetivers often prejudice me the same way. I can't divine whether it's the lavander or the incense carrying the masculine edge. Lavander is the usual suspect for soapy-sharp, but having bought some craft-made incense sticks at an art and wine fest, I've discerned my notion of a 'gourmet head shop' vibe. Anyway, almost as soon as I decide "dang soapy lavender!," I notice there's black pepper tossing in its own vibration, and green sage. And so here is the difference between thumbs up and neutral. I don't love it. But this clever fragrance presents itself assertively with only few, basic, brilliantly well chosen notes. It comes on strong and edgy, but with main elements that are typically soothing and traditional. It establishes certain presence with certain grace. I'd love to bump into someone who can can pull this off, and I admit I'm not one.

This floral is dusty to me, like perfume on old turn of the century clothes from a trunk in the attic. The scent from an old magnolia tree next to the house comes in thru an open window. Vanilla and honey add sweetness while amber fixes the powdery/dusty florals. I prefer floral scents with a little more zing and sparkle, and green-ness. This old fashioned elegance doesn't just suit me.

Starts out with warm incense and woods. After about 20 minutes the orange kicks into high gear and stays, which caught me by surprise since citrus can be so fleeting. I don't care for it so much myself (despite the incense and woods) as it's a very ripe, sweet, and robust orange, like orange liqueur. I appreciate the scent because the orange is prominent and long lasting, which is an impressive accomplishment for a citrus in my opinion. How this plays out with the woods and incense is quite fascinating. I'd call it an evening citrus, something you don't see often in perfumery. I'm glad others seem to like it a lot, but it's simply not my bag.

Sweet vanilla flowers in a cigarette ashtray. Even sans the unappealing smoke odor, it'd still be too sweet.

Really smells just like orange blossoms. Even though there is tuberose in here as well. Sweet and floral (obviously), but surprisingly very pleasant. Lush, yet not too heady. I love smelling this because it's a beautiful achievement. Unfortunately, it's not something I'd wear simply because it feels somehow awkward on me. I'm not big on wearing white florals, but I love the odor of my orange tree in bloom wafting on the air. Now I have this scent tucked away to enjoy any time of the year!

Apricots, cardamon, and leather. Smells like fall-- leaves turning color, spices for baking persimmons and parsnips, soft leather boots. Sweet like pumpkin kadu from an Afghan restaurant. Sadly, it fades pretty quickly.

A wearable jasmine scent! Almost all jasmine scents do something funky and evil on my skin, but this is truly gorgeous. More green than sweet, the jasmine rings like crystal. Pronounced yet, I want to say sheer, but it's more like a deep lake in green mountains with water so pure and clean that you can see straight to the bottom. I didn't know I could wear jasmine! I ended up wearing this with a brown linen dress in the springtime (when I typically wear pastels), and loved how it felt-- sheer, green jasmine and brown linen in warm weather rocks.

Green! Languid, limpid, sparkling, delightful green! Technically a green, fruity floral with all kinds of notes I thought I'd dislike-- peach, pineapple, freesa, lily of the valley, jasmine. But there's also bergamot, hyacinth, rose. A little on the sweet side for me, it is definitely gree-een. I don't quite understand how something without the usual accords like vetiver or oakmoss or lime can smell so clearly green. And wet! But not damp forest or aquatic. It reminds me of my mother's yard in Florida on a late June afternoon right after a hard rainstorm. Thick, springy St. Augustine grass, vibrant hibiscus bushes, glossy green jasmine vine in bloom, and tall royal palms making green punctuations in the sky, all still dappled and dripping with raindrops in the bright sun after the storm has passed. I wish I could turn down the sweetness, but I think that would sacrifice the sopping (but not soggy) quality. Sparkling like raindrops on the leaves and petals of flowers. Wet, but not oceanic or swampy. Long lasting, about six hours. I enjoy this most on warm, summer days.

Very strong over the top floral. Mimosa, jasmine, mandarin, tuberose. Yuk.

Sharp astringency lasts for over an hour on me before finally settling down to a nice floral on faint, creamy amber. By this time, the scent itself is very faint unfortunately.

Sweet floral with freesia, black currant, almond, and a little vanilla. Also a little spicy-- a sweet, fruity oriental. It is lush smelling, with good complexity and layers, but I'm just not comfortable with anything this sweet.

Very heady florals, too well blended to pick out the rose, jasmine, tuberose, etc., but they're ALL in there and then some! The flowers seems to rest on a chypre-like base. Alltogether too lush for me.

This honeysickle worried me before I consented to try it because indolic scents usually do not behave on my skin. However, it quickly settled into a fairly nice straightforward floral. White florals are typically not my thing for the above reason, but this is well done and it definitely didn't go funky on me like most do, which is quite an accomplishment in my opinion. I wouldn't purchase it because it doesn't suit my personality, but I do appreciate the quality.

A skanky floral chypre! I love chypres, so I want to like this, but I prefer for example the dry, cleanliness of Safari or the lush florals of Paloma Picasso. This one falls indistinctively between the two and the dirty wang leaves me turned off.

Spicy, woody patchouli with creamy almond and amber. It starts a bit sweet for me with the almond. Later comes the cedar aroma, which to me makes this feel a bit medicinal. I want to like this more. Definitely a winter fragrance, I'd wear this with black, or dramatic outfits. It's quite unusual and challenging. Very long lasting.

Nice try for an amber oriental, but too soft and powdery for my taste. As others have noted, it's just not that interesting and there are many, many better orientals on the market.

What I think a traditional, mature, restrained perfume should smell like. A warm, rich floral that is not sweet or cloying or heady. Well blended florals with some amber resting on faint sandalwood. Sophisticated and elegant. Strong, good sillage, but not overwhelming. Nice job, Avon!

Lemon scented Pledge furniture polish, but in a good way. Lemony floral, very fresh and clean, yet it still smells purple. Kinda of like those fruit-colored hard, sour candies you used to get from the gumball machines. It's not grape, just ... purple. I don't understand it, but I like it well enough. Might prefer it as a room freshener, however.

I'm convinced this is one of those fragrances that smells very different depending on the wearer. And it even smells different on this wearer depending on the day. I sense the honeysuckle and jasmine, yet this juice is neither sweet or "wangy" (my word for the unpleasant, funky thing that indoles do on me). I have a very hard time picking out any individual notes, but the overall impression is that of a dry, green floral. Sometimes this starts out on me with a sharpness akin to hairspray, particularly in cooler weather. Fortunately this doesn't present in hot, humid weather and BP also works well in dry heat. I find many of my favorite fragrances too heavy to wear in very hot 90º+ weather, but this one seems made for it and is very enjoyable on those days. I first tried this while in vacation in Florida, loved it, and wore little else for the rest of the trip. However, I absolutely cannot wear this when the temperature is less than 80º. It smells persistenly like hairspray and cat urine!

I love this dry, crisp chypre. It seems to live for the hot, dry summers here in California. At other times of the year I feel more so-so about this scent, but when I wear it in July and August, it really shines and I realize all over again how truly stunning it is. It does seem to conjure the scent and feeling of dry grasses and open, arid plains. It's not a casual fragrance-- what chypre is? But I think it is one of the more easily wearable fragrances in that ofttimes challenging fragrance family. Hoarding is a good idea for this reasonably priced classic.

I was sure I wouldn't like this fragrance because the bottle is just too cute and I don't do too cute. I even avoided it as I was expecting yet another sweet, fruity floral, but I was pleasantly surprised. The sweetness is well balanced by grapefruit and overall it's a very fresh, pleasant scent. It's still too young for me; however, I think I'll suggest it to my niece.