Count me as a Diane von Furstenberg fan from way back. I read her beauty book/memoir when I was in college and felt we must be sisters. Maybe I didn’t marry a prince or launch a fashion empire, but I sure understood her struggles with curly, frizzy hair. When she re-launched her clothing business, I snapped up silk jersey dresses when I could, and now I have seven of them, plus two skirts and a blouse. The flattering cuts, the easy fit, the exuberant prints — I loved it all. Naturally, I dogged perfume counters when Diane Von Furstenberg Diane came out. Verdict? Sadly, not for me.

Diane von Furstenberg describes Diane as a “woody floral” fragrance and says it is “powerful and seductive, without being aggressive.” Perfumer Aurélien Guichard developed Diane, and notes include frangipani, violet, patchouli, myrrh, and musk. That list of notes is seductive, seemingly paving the way for a fragrance with an oriental twist: alluring, earthy, and feminine. Not so on skin. In a nutshell, Diane smells to me like a rose chypre someone tried to wash off with the lily of the valley soap normally kept for show in the guest bathroom…

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