3x3 Blind Sniff Round 3 'The Good Girl, The Bad Girl & The Robot Girl'

Welcome to the 3rd round of the blind sniff everyone.

If you've never participated in a Basenotes 3x3 Blind Sniff before here's the ground rules:

Three identical samples of fragrances marked A, B and C were sent to BlackCat, debbborra and Sunnyfunny (thus the 3x3). Only Somerville Metro Man (my backup and Round 3 Screenwriter) and I know what's in the vials. Each of the designated sniffers will sample the vials and post their impressions like...

- general likes/dislikes
- family (chypre, fruity/floral; gourmand, etc);
- the notes
- is it simple, complex, and how does it behave on skin (develop)?
- does it have a lot of diffusion and/or longevity
- do you think it's a cologne, EdT, EdP or parfum
- what country do you think it came from
- does it remind you of anything (another fragrance? something non-fragrance related?)

All of the readers of this thread who want to participate can! You may drop clues, ask the sniffers direct questions, etc. If you think you know the identity of the fragrance please send me a PM and let the 3 sniffers post their guesses.

As we progress along, I might give away more hints if necessary. The more information we post on this thread, the easier it is for everybody to guess the fragrance , and of course the more informative this thread will be to all of us.

Each of the 3 rounds will start with a story (written by Somerville Metro Man) which has clues buried cleverly that might help you identify the blind fragrances. Don't kill yourself cross examining the stories ladies - use your noses, your knowledge you've gained here on Basenotes and good ol' wild guesses - to help you correctly name the fragrances. Don't be afraid to guess wrong! Wrong answers are okay and they're much better than no guesses at all, which can be kind of boring. Lots of guesses and hints back-and-forth can be a lot of FUN and that's why we're doing this!

:bounce:

So, let's start with A.

The Good Girl

Things had been quiet in Candy Town, maybe too quiet. Capt. Osborne got tired of seeing me watching and doing nothing. He decided I needed to get back into the game and so he assigned me to Lt. Perezs unit for a month. Lt. Perez is the number one detective in Basenotes City. I was looking forward to working with him as Ive always admired his work, from a distance. Lt. Perez was definitely a cut above me in every way and we definitely didnt travel in the same circles. Who knew that I was going to work with Lt Perez personally and who knew we were going to catch three cases right in a row. Who knew? I shouldve known because nothing ever comes easily in Basenotes City even if youre not in Candy Town.
I reported to Lt. Perezs squad bright and early and when I walked in he was already putting on his jacket.
He looked me up and down and said, Metro Man youre just in time we just got a call
I couldnt take my eyes off the six stars on his badge, there were only two of those in all of Basenotes City.
He noticed where I was staring and said, You earn those stars by sticking around long enough to see everything there is to see in Basenotes City.
I nodded and fell in step with the Lieutenant.
I finally found my voice and asked, Where are we going?
Have you heard of the Rosenthals?
I whistled, Who hasnt heard of the Rosenthals?
Were headed to their house because their daughter Gigi is missing.
I thought if I had a name like Gigi Rosenthal Id go missing, too. After changing my name.
As we left the congestion of downtown and drove out past the Caron Reservoir we entered the exclusive gated community of Chanel Hill.
It was easy to find the Rosenthal mansion we only had to look for the biggest house on Chanel Hill.
The staff was expecting us and Mr. Rosenthal came down the stairs to meet us in the foyer.
Lt. Perez asked him, How long has Gigi been missing?
Mr. Rosenthal replied, About 48 hours now.
I asked him, You let your 15-year old free for 48 hours without knowing where she is?
Oops, I was pinned, like a butterfly, by twin stares from Lt. Perez and Mr. Rosenthal.
Lt. Perez took over, What the detective was asking was where was she located the last time you spoke to her?
Mr. Rosenthal finally turned the heat of his glare off of me and turned to Lt. Perez and said, She called to say she was with her friends at the mall and she had told me she was going to be with them for the day. I spoke with her best friend Suki and she told me she hasnt seen Gigi for a week. The other two girls she hangs out with Nina and Chanson also havent seen her for days. I tried calling her cell phone but it goes right to voice mail so she must have turned it off. Shes a Good Girl, Lieutenant.
I was thinking, arent they all in their fathers eyes.
I asked, Can you tell us what she was wearing the last time you saw her?
Mr. Rosenthal said, It was after school so she was wearing her school uniform, she liked to wear bandanas to stand out a little more.
Lt. Perez asked if we could see her room and Mr. Rosenthal led us up to a large bedroom that any 15-year old girl would be proud to live in. Posters of her favorite musical acts were on the wall. A large walk-in closet full of designer clothes. In short nothing that any normal 15-year old would run away from.
While Lt. Perez continued to ask questions I did what any trained investigator does and I looked under the bed. When I kneeled down and looked under the futon I noticed a glass vial and I picked it up. I knew immediately what it was. I had a bowl full of these vials back on my dresser. No, it was not Gingerbread Crack. Were talking a wealthy 15-year old here. Oh okay maybe it could have been Gingerbread Crack but it was a perfume sample vial. I walked over to Lt. Perez and Mr. Rosenthal holding the vial.
I said, Look what I found under the bed. Holding up the vial.
They both looked at me with less than approving glares, again.
I lamely said, It might be a clue.
Lt. Perez knew what it was immediately and asked Mr. Rosenthal, Does your daughter wear perfume?
Mr. Rosenthal said, Yes all of the expensive French perfumes.
Lt. Perez popped the plastic cap off and sniffed and handed it to me, I didnt recognize the scent.
Lt. Perez took the vial and re-capped it and put it in an evidence bag.
He told Mr. Rosenthal, Were going to take this back to our forensics team to see if they can identify it. In the meantime we will be sending out a Crime Scene unit to take pictures and gather other evidence.
The worried father said, Im happy to cooperate in any way.
Lt. Perez and I got back into the car and headed back downtown.
He looked over at me and said, You might have the interrogation skills of a jackhammer but you have a good eye Metro Man in finding that vial.
You think it will help?, I said.
You never know what will lead to a break. What I do know is who Im turning that vial over to. Have you ever met sunnyfunny, debbbora and BlackCat?
I whistled for the second time, The three headed brain trust of forensics? No I havent had the pleasure.
The lieutenant said, Were going to give that vial to them and theyll identify it and well see where that leads us.

It is a fruity fragrance - but it is not mandarin or melon. Do you detect any other fruit notes?

It is not French, sunnyfunny, as the story might've led you to believe. It is NOT an EdP.

Do either of you like it (or would you wear it)?
What's the color of the juice?
How's it developing on you?

I'm glad you like it debbborra.

There are three berries listed in the official notes, neither of which is strawberry. But honestly, like you girls, when I first smelled this scent I thought it was strawberry. Rest assured the top notes are BERRIES.

There is a floral element, but it isn't orange blossom (which can be quite indolic - and this floral ain't indolic).

The candy element is spot on. As A sits on my skin, it is clear that it starts as candy and develops even more of a candy element. The notes list a candy accord, in the middle notes, which confirm this.

There is NO lychee or peach or citrus listed as notes. I think there's another fruit that's throwing you off..a tropical one.

No debbborra this is not an English company but yes BlackCat this is an American scent.

No, this is not a drugstore scent (atleast I've never seen it in drugstores) but can be got easily from a department store, so you were right BlackCat.

And I agree with you BlackCat, once it starts off very evident, it evolves into a very close-to-the-skin fragrance. Which is kind of weird, with something so sweet.

It is not Princess debbborra.

Yes, raspberry and pineapple are in the notes of A.

One of the flowers listed, well I have never smelled this flower in nature (it doesn't grow in Miami) but when I Goggled it, I found that there's festivals named after it. So it must have a distinctive smell.

Yes debbborra - there is rose as one of the floral notes listed in A.

One of our sniffers has already correctly named A, but she agreed to wait a little bit and let the other two participants guess some more.

Sunnyfunny dear, we haven't heard from you in a bit - would you like to chime in here?

Ladies: Who do you think the intended market is, for this scent?

We have a winner!

BlackCat (late this afternoon) and then debbborra (a few minutes ago) correctly guessed via PM the contents of A.

Lil' Angel by Harajuku Lovers (Gwen Stefani)

Official notes from the so-cute-you-wanna-throw-up-website are: raspberry, cranberry, blackberry, pineapple, pear blossom, violet, rose, lollipop accord, hinoki wood and crystal amber.

Yes, the doll adorned on the bottle has a bandana around her head. I named this round the Good Girl since this was perhaps the most teeny bopper scent of the 3 I have. It's clearly marketed for teenage girls and smells the part - I guess teenage girls want to smell like candy and a lot of it!?

Perfumer is Christophe Raynaud who hasn't really done any other scent that caught my eye (although he did collaborate with Jean Claude Ellena on a scent for Rectoverso named Blue Lagoon [??]).

You can buy it from most department stores including Sephora, where strangely my husband fell in love with the smell of it (and promptly bought a bottle months ago). Seriously.



Hats off to Black Cat and debbborra!

Onto vial B and the conclusion of Round 1, including the end of our 1st story in my next post.

We were driving back to Chanel Hill when Lt. Perez got a phone call, it was BlackCat. She told him the scent in the vial was Harajuku Lovers Lil’ Angel. We looked at each other and he quickly banged a u-turn and we headed down to Shiseido Square, the Asian district of Basenotes City. Once there we started looking for the polka-dot bandanna Gigi had been wearing. Imagine our surprise to find it as a headband on the hottest sushi chef in town, Leo Kitani. We talked to Mr. Kitani and he was very nervous and when we asked if we could visit his apartment I knew we had found Gigi and so did Lt. Perez. Turns out the 15-year old Gigi had convinced herself that she was in love with Leo and had shown up on his doorstep two nights ago. Leo didn’t know what to do and in the meantime he just hoped she was going to get bored and go home. He was relieved to see us, Gigi a little less happy to see us. When we returned Gigi we promised not to tell Mr. Rosenthal that she’d been a bad girl because you want fathers to keep thinking their daughters are good girls for as long as they can.

The first thing I did, when he brought it home, was pick up the bottle and inspect it to see where the juice came out of. I kept thinking, looking at the ads, does the juice shoot out of her mouth? Which might look kind of gross, right? Actually, her head pops off and the sprayer is underneath. Which is really weird too, because you have to decapitate the dolls to spray them.

WTF!?

I remember being a little shocked when I read that Robin from NowSmellThis bought some. I think it goes to show that it doesn't matter whether it's niche, designer, etc...if someone's nose likes something, it just likes it.

Of course I tend to be a little snobby sometimes with my fragrance selections (I'll admit) but that's why I love smelling fragrances blind because you have no point of reference and you really have to rely on your nose to judge whether you like it or not (not the bottle, the ad, the celebrity endorsing it, the line who made it, the perfumer who blended it, etc).


He just wore it this morning. The bathroom smells like I opened up a packet of Skittles. No kidding. I told him he smelled like a lollipop and he giggled. He could care less what I (or anyone) thinks. Which is why I love him.


Oh I am glad you are enjoying this - I am too!

Ladies, you may start investigating vial B

The Bad Girl


I was hoping the rest of the month was going to be quiet after dealing with the high and mighty of Basenotes City. I should’ve known that life in Basenotes City is never that simple.
It had been a day since we returned Gigi Rosenthal to her parents and Lt. Perez and I were comparing notes on our favorite scents in the bullpen for his squad. He picked up the phone when it rang and started writing. I started to put my jacket on. Every cop knows the look of another cop on the phone taking down information.
Lt. Perez finished and handed me the slip of paper he’d been writing on. We were headed to the Patou Projects one of Basenotes City’s roughest neighborhoods and, incidentally, where I grew up. The Patou Projects were supposed to be the middle-class dream and in the beginning that’s what they were. I grew up around other families and went to school with kids just like me. Now when I go down there I see the promise of what The Patou Projects could have been, destroyed by neglect.
My family left years ago and after the other families were gone the pretty art deco houses started to show their age and fall apart. Gingerbread Crack was everywhere on the streets down here and if you weren’t using you were selling, unless you were doing both.
We pulled up to what was once a beautiful pink house full of swoops and deco flourishes. Now it was full of rotting plaster and an overgrown yard.
We walked up to the front step and knocked.
We were greeted by the sight of a woman who matched her house. At one time she was probably a fresh-faced pink beauty but now her hair was overgrown and alcohol, or worse, had rotted her soul.
The woman said, “Took you long enough to get here.”
Lt. Perez asked, “Are you Ms. Broadwick?”
She looked at him like he was an idiot and said in a light British accent, “Who else did you expect to see?”
I pulled Lt. Perez aside and whispered to him, “Let me take this one, I know these people.”
He nodded and took a step back.
I started, “Ms. Broadwick, your daughter is missing and we are here to help. If you think you don’t need our help we can turn around and walk out.”
She immediately pulled herself together and said, “You guys are all the same you helped that Hoity Toity Rosenthal Family up on the Hill. You’ll go all out when you’re looking for a Good Girl but when it comes to helping out those of us who live in the projects you can’t break a sweat to find a Bad Girl.”
I looked at her hard and said, “We were the detectives who solved that case and we are going to be the detectives who return your daughter to you. You referred to your daughter as a Bad Girl, what did you mean by that?”
Now that the bluster was gone the worry showed through, “Caroline’s not a Bad Girl but we’re barely getting by and I worry about what she thinks she has to do to keep our heads above water. She’s gone missing for a day or so before but this is the first time she’s been gone this long.”
I asked, “Can we see her room?”
For the second time in three days I was entering a teenager’s bedroom. For the second time in three days I was looking for clues.
I walked over to Caroline Broadwick’s closet and looking at the wardrobe hanging there realized she might have been fifteen but she was dressing like she was twenty-one. I went over to search her dresser and again wasn’t finding that many age-appropriate clothes in the drawers. When I came upon the black tassels in the back of the drawer I decided to keep that observation to myself. As I felt around in the drawers I kept getting the hint of a scent and asked her mother if she wore perfume.
Her mother pointed to an unlabelled bottle and said, “That’s the one she wears. I always know she’s here when I smell it.” As she said it one lone tear ran down her cheek.
I looked at Lt. Perez and said, “It looks like sunnyfunny, debbbora and Black_Cat are going to be needed again.”
He nodded and produced three vials and sprayed some of the perfume into them.
I looked Ms. Broadwick in the eye and told her we would find Caroline and bring her home.
Lt. Perez got in the car and looked at me disapprovingly and said, “You shouldn’t make promises like that.”
I looked back at him and said, “I’ve already seen what magic the ladies can do and I don’t mind doubling down on their ability to help us crack this case.”

You ladies are doing great.

Thanks for all of the inquiring questions TWolf.

Do you ladies smell any florals? If so, which ones?

What are the base notes like?

What color is the juice?

Who do you think this perfume is targeting?