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Browsing by author: Angela

Amouage Jubilation 25 ~ perfume review

Posted by Angela on 21 August 2008 120 Comments

Amouage Jubilation 25 fragrance

If I hadn’t known that Amouage Jubilation 25 was new, you could have convinced me that this was the perfume that the snake dabbed on Eve when he handed over the apple. You could have told me that the scent of Jubilation 25 so mesmerized Adam that when he bit into the apple he thought it was something wholesome, like a vegan burrito, instead of a naughty apple, and I would have believed it. After all, Jubilation 25 smells like a blend of flesh and paradise.

Amouage released Jubilation 25 in 2007 to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Lucas Sieuzac, who won Fashion Group International’s Rising Star award in 2004, hit it out of the park when he created Jubilation 25. The Amouage website lists Jubilation 25’s top notes as tarragon, rose, lemon, and ylang ylang; its heart as davana, labdanum, rose, and frankincense; and its base as amber, musk, vetiver, myrrh, and patchouli.

Surprisingly, given the list of notes, Jubilation 25 smells to me like a carnal, sheer rose-fruit chypre with a dusting of cumin and a twist of lemon. It is a woman’s smell, not a girl’s, and a confident, sensual woman’s smell, at that…

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Revlon Jean Nate ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 15 August 2008 50 Comments

Revlon Jean Naté

I’ve found the antidote to a hot August night, and it’s Revlon Jean Naté. This is how it works: Go to the drugstore and find the bath supplies. Look on the bottom shelf for the bottles of Jean Naté After Bath Splash, and buy one. It’s the tall plastic bottle with the round, black cap. “Jean Naté” is written up the side in black script. There’s a good chance it will be on sale.

When you get it home, put the bottle of Jean Naté in the door of the refrigerator. That night before bed, when you’re cursing your lack of air conditioning, and the pets are splayed over the floor like an ad for the boneless cat and dog farm, and your honey is staying on the other side of the bed because it’s too darn hot, take a warm bath. It will cool you down right away…

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Coty Vanilla Fields ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 14 August 2008 65 Comments

Coty Vanilla Fields

When I pulled the canister of Coty Vanilla Fields cologne body spray from the shopping bag, my sister said, “That looks like it should sit on the back of the toilet.” The Vanilla Fields body spray is in a tall, thin aluminum canister that looks a lot like Renuzit air freshener. Not a promising sign.

Fortunately, Vanilla Fields, while not breaking any records for perfume innovation, still smells better than canned room spray. Coty launched Vanilla Fields in 1993, and the next year it won a Fifi award for Women’s fragrance of the Year, in the Mass Appeal category (an award no longer offered). The Vanilla Fields website describes the fragrance as a blend of mimosa, jasmine, and vanilla, and it is clearly marketed toward the earth-tone wearing suburban mom who values “fresh and pretty” over “seductive and imaginative”…

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Jovan Musk for Women, White Musk, and Coty Vanilla Musk ~ fragrance review

Posted by Angela on 13 August 2008 56 Comments

Jovan White Musk

A week of reviews of drugstore fragrances wouldn’t be complete without a rundown of a few inexpensive musks, and reviews of drugstore musks wouldn’t be complete without Jovan and Coty. Lucky for me, a nearby Walmart stocks a gift box with 11 ml bottles of Jovan Musk for women, Jovan White Musk, and Coty Vanilla Musk Eaux de Cologne.

Jovan Musk for women has been a drugstore staple since it was introduced in 1972…

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Revlon Charlie ~ perfume review

Posted by Angela on 12 August 2008 146 Comments

Revlon Charlie

In perfume-loving circles we talk about how scent can evoke powerful emotion and how it seeps into areas of the brain that language is too clumsy to enter. We know that perfume can wake up memories that might have otherwise slept for good. Well, listen up, friends: if you had a rough time of it in the mid-1970s, take my advice and stay far away from Revlon Charlie.

Charlie came out in 1973 and was marketed toward the young, single, pants-wearing, tequila-sunrise-drinking working woman. While Charlie was under construction, its working name was “Cosmo”, after the sort of woman who read Cosmopolitan magazine. According to Osmoz, Charlie’s top notes are citrus oils, peach, hyacinth, and tarragon; its heart notes are jasmine, lily of the valley, cyclamen, and carnation; and its base is cedarwood, sandalwood, oakmoss, and vanilla. Osmoz describes Charlie as a floral oriental, but I’ve also seen it referred to as a green floral, or even as a green chypre…

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