For my last review during Drugstore Week, I wanted to track down an old drugstore classic, like Coty Sand & Sable, Jovan Jungle Gardenia, or the fragrance I eventually landed, Dana Classic Fragrances Love’s Baby Soft. You’d think this would be easy, but no. Drugstores have really classed up their fragrance offerings.
At Walmart, my first stop, a half ounce bottle of Coty Exclamation was $14. Forget it! Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of a cheap thrill? Nine-tenths of the fragrance display was celebrity fragrances and perfume you can find in a department store. I moved on to Walgreen’s. A friendly SA with virulently blue contact lenses attended the locked display case. “Among the older ladies, the Elizabeth is popular,” she said, nodding toward Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds. “The younger ladies like Jessica, and I absolutely love Dare Me,” she said, referring to Fancy Jessica Simpson and a Baby Phat fragrance. “Have you smelled the Hilary? It’s quite nice.”
For a moment I wondered if Hillary Clinton had fronted a perfume, then recalled Hilary Duff…
