Design by Paul Sebastian, 1985

The subject of most reviled fragrances was posed in an online forum and someone mentioned how despised her beloved Design was. She gallantly defended its compositional honor, both in her forum post and in her online review. She also sang the praises of Revlons Ciara and as a fellow lover of Ciaraanother vilified perfumeI trusted her opinion. I promptly picked up a bottle that I was sure had been languishing upon the shelves at TJ Maxx for several months. I spritzed my wrist at close range as I sat at my desk. I felt the vapors of this scent take over the room like a fog and I got scared. First thought: Oh damn, this s**t just got real! Second thought: Alright, now that I can breathe, its very much like Ciara with a big bouquet of loud white florals. The second thought brought on a sigh of relief. Just get past the first ten minutes and do not spray at close rangethis has the potential to be great keeping those two tips in mind. After the first ten minutes this mellowed out and transmuted into a white floral powerhouse. An hour after that, and for several hours thereafter, Design mellowed once again but became sharp and waxy, like an old school bar of soap. (Im thinking of Camay or Caress, sharp white florals and detergent.) Depending on your take of vintage soap scents, this is either heaven or hell. Design is a top-heavy fragrance; the civet base, which is at the beginning, is anything but smooth and subdued but it fades in time. For a fleetingly brief moment it resembles 1980s queen of over-the-top perfumes, Giorgio. Its shockingly not a sillage bomb nor is it a projectile missile of a scent unless it is overdone (and with a vintage such as this, it is a very real hazard here). I love soapy scents and I secretly love Ciara so this is an underappreciated work of vintage art that I am proud to have in my collection.