When I reviewed the Pink Sugar fragrance back in 2007, I noted that it had been a top-seller at Sephora since shortly after its launch in 2003. It’s still a top seller, and in the interim, it shot past Thierry Mugler Angel and J Lo Glow to become the most-reviewed fragrance at MakeupAlley. You’d think there would have been a long string of flankers by now, but Aquolina has been relatively conservative, mostly sticking to new formats — everything from solid perfume to hair perfume to shimmering perfume roll-on. Enter Pink Sugar Sensual, which launched last year but took a good long while to reach the US. As you might have guessed from the advertising, it’s meant to be the sexy, grown-up version of Pink Sugar.

Pink Sugar, for those of you who have never smelled it, is pretty much what it sounds like: a blend of red fruit + cotton candy. On my skin, it smells most unfortunately like red fruit + cotton candy that’s been scorched onto melting plastic, but no matter, plenty of other people (including quite a few perfumistas) love it. I can see the charm of the original Pink Sugar, even if I don’t love it — after the strawberry wears down and before the sugar notes melt and char, it’s a perfect gourmand comfort scent for someone with a sweet tooth: a bit of musk, a bit of caramel sugar, nothing fancy or complicated…

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