At its truest, a flanker is a riff off an original scent, a lighthearted and maybe even forgettable spin on the themes of its forebear. After all, most flankers are around for a year or so then fall out of production. They’re not meant to be masterpieces. Sticking to this definition, Estée Lauder Pleasures Bloom is a textbook example of a flanker.*
I’ve felt so underwater on fragrance launches lately, that as much as I respect the brand, these days I wouldn’t turn my head at an Estée Lauder flanker. But I was wandering through the mall with my niece in Billings, Montana, listening to the ways of dating among teens (Niece: “And so I texted him for, like, two months before I met him.” Me: “You texted him all that time and he didn’t even know who you were?” Niece: “Aunt Angie, that’s how we do it these days. Anyway, I texted him and found out we were both at the mall at the same time…”) and stumbled across the Estée Lauder counter at Dillard’s. A tester of Sensuous Noir was on the counter. As I sniffed a tester strip, the sales associate handed me Pleasures Bloom. “Do you like florals?” she asked. “Try this.”
In that moment, Pleasures Bloom struck all the right notes…
