Tommy Girl by Tommy Hilfiger, 1996

Tommy girl is derided for being cheap and ubiquitous, but to my mind, easily available, relatively inexpensive and brilliant are a perfume trifecta. I know its a bit of a stretch, but I see TG as an evolution of the eau de cologne concept. EDC has long been prepared with various elements of citrus (fruit, rind, leaves, flowers, branches), culinary herbs that combine well with citrus (rosemary, lavender, basil), perhaps some other flowers (chamomile, rose, jasmine) and eventually musk. EDC works because when you wear it, the refreshing, bracing feels doesnt require a days commitment (it doesnt last long) and because you could easily want to drink it. The same could be said of TG. The citrus/wood/floral portions of an EDC are of a piece, literally, as they all come from citrus plants. That same feel of tart woodiness is found in TG, but in this case, its more along the lines of the proudly synthetic metallic flower of Lauders Dazzling Silver. The shiny tart floral is encompassing enough to fill the place of the whole citrus gestalt of an EDC. The analogue to colognes herbs is an infusion somewhere between black tea and a verbena tisane. Others have called the floral in TG bright or glowing. To my nose, the metallic tang along with the teas smokiness makes the flower a bit grim, a bit dark. Its only light is like something radioluminescent under a black light. Despite Hilfiger marketings straight-faced insistence on notes of nominal botanical Americana (American wildflowers or some such garbage---I had thought Tania Sanchez was joking) TG is an abstractly beautiful synthetic perfume. Chemical doesnt mean fake. This is only an ersatz floral if you call it a floral. To me this is a marvelous, successful piece of synthetic perfumery.