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Faith Hill by Faith Hill Parfums ~ fragrance review

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Faith Hill fragrance advert

After yesterday’s Hannah Montana fiasco, Faith Hill by Faith Hill Parfums is balm to the nostrils. I really like McGraw by Tim McGraw, her husband’s first fragrance, and I was hopeful Faith would pull through with something equally well constructed and pleasing to wear. She did. Faith Hill Eau de Toilette has an easygoing elegance that’s hard to beat at twice the price.

Perfumer Caroline Sabas (author of Natori Eau de Parfum and Britney Spears Midnight Fantasy, among others) developed Faith Hill, and it launched in 2009. Its notes include pink peony, pear, neroli, Southern magnolia, gardenia, jasmine, cashmere skin musk, vetiver and iris. The fragrance’s overall effect is smooth, clean, and silky, with a grown up — but not overly ladylike — air. I can’t pick out Faith Hill’s pear, and its gardenia and jasmine aren’t the buzzy divas they could be, but gently complement the magnolia’s barely tart whipped cream scent. A kitten’s paw of clean-soft musk that reminds me of Donna Karan Cashmere Mist cushions the fragrance.

Faith Hill doesn’t break new ground scent-wise, but it doesn’t pander to trends, either…

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Disney Hannah Montana ~ fragrance review

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Hannah Montana perfume

Wouldn’t it be great if this review started with “Disney Hannah Montana is a hidden gem! Its artful blend of fruit and flowers rivals the sinuous interplay of hyacinth and cassis in Guerlain Chamade. At six bucks a bottle, stock up now!” Yeah, it would be great all right. And a pack of lies. Except the part about the price.

The writers for the Hannah Montana television show were on to something. Back in 2007, “Smells Like Teen Sell Out” featured Hannah’s dilemma in publicizing her new — at that point fictional — fragrance line. In the show, her perfume smelled like raspberries and made her sick. She decided to go on television and tout the perfume anyway, but in the end she couldn’t lie to her fans.

Raspberries might have nauseated Hannah Montana, but by 2009 when her eponymous fragrance was released, the sticky combination of dewberry, peach, orange, passion fruit and grenadine (and jasmine, honeysuckle, blonde woods, vetiver and tonka bean) were all right with her. Frankly, Hawaiian Punch shows more restraint in the fruit department…

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Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy & Viva la Juicy La Fleur ~ fragrance review

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Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy advert

Somewhere along the line, I lost my taste for malls. Oh sure, I used to enjoy spending an afternoon perusing the shoes at Nordstrom, nipping into The Gap to see what was on sale, and sorting through the pastel lace-strewn bins at Victoria’s Secret. Ten years ago, a lot of my clothing came from department stores.

Then I changed careers, and my income dropped. At the same time, style began to interest me more than fashion. Suddenly, the clothing on Macy’s racks looked cheap and soulless. My curly hair, pale complexion, and midcentury curves would never jive with the streaky highlights and tight jeans that roamed the mall’s climate-controlled walkways. Seeing stacks of the same item on one table only dimmed its allure. Plus, the odor from Cinnabon turned my stomach. The mall and I called it quits.

To me, Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy and its spawn, Viva la Juicy La Fleur, are predictable and one dimensional. In short, they’re mall in a bottle…

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Dior-Dior by Christian Dior ~ fragrance review

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Rene Gruau Dior-Dior advert, detail

A few more spritzes from my sample tube, and there it goes — the last of my Christian Dior Dior-Dior. Finished.

Lately I’ve been working my way through the crystal cocktail glass storing my most precious samples. A few unexpected (and in one case, fatal) accidents in my world during the past few weeks have startled me out of complacence. We’re not going to live forever. Meanwhile, those few drops of old Guerlain Mitsouko parfum, that dram of Lanvin Scandal parfum, that tiny vial of Christian Dior Dioressence parfum, and, yes, a two ml spray of Christian Dior Dior-Dior Eau de Toilette were going unappreciated. I put an end to that. It’s hard to use a vintage, discontinued fragrance knowing that when it’s gone it’s likely gone for good. But enjoying a perfume sure beats simply having the perfume…

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Christian Dior Miss Dior Eau Fraiche ~ fragrance review

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Christian Dior Miss Dior Eau Fraiche advert with

I love both Christian Dior Eau Fraîche (1955) and Miss Dior Original (1947). I rightly suspected the new Christian Dior Miss Dior Eau Fraîche wouldn’t be like either of these.

Vintage Eau Fraîche teems with oakmoss and tart citrus. I took a decant with me on a 900-mile, one-day road trip a few years back, and spritzes of it — along with a thermos of coffee and several books on CD — kept me alert while summer-crisped stretches of the high desert flew by. As for Miss Dior Original, the jolie-laide leathery green chypre fascinates me enough that I laid down a lifetime supply of the vintage a long time ago.

Naturally, Miss Dior Eau Fraîche couldn’t live up to either of those fragrances. Lately my relationship with Dior has felt like a bad marriage. Remembering the early days of the romance — Diorella, vintage Diorling, my beloved Miss Dior, vintage Dioressence — I keep going back hoping to feel the same happiness. But the reformulations have consistently let me down. As I made the sample of Miss Dior Eau Fraîche from the department store’s tester bottle, I girded myself against more heartache. I needn’t have worried. Sure, it’s not Eau Fraîche or Miss Dior, but I really like it…

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