One of my fragrance-loving friends recently opined in a private e-mail that 2015 “was a banner year for perfume B.S.” I’m inclined to agree. So many instantly forgettable scents tarted up with fancy packaging and purple prose. So many new collections offering so many new scents at once that I couldn’t keep them straight in my head. So many cynical flankers and cheap re-workings of classics.

And what can we say about brands that sabotage their own well-tuned images in order to bring in more customers? Clean was founded in 2003 and established its name quickly and securely with non-perfume perfumes like Simply Soap, Fresh Laundry and Rain. Now it’s offering us the Reserve collection, a range of fragrances specifically not designed to smell “out-of-the-shower” fresh. Why? “Each Clean Reserve fragrance was created to be dynamic and evoke, not memories of the past, but possibilities and experiences yet to be discovered.” Oh, okay then. And this helpful hint: they are “ideal for layering and blending.” (So we can buy more than one!)

The Clean Reserve line has taken up residence in Sephora near other layer-able collections from Philosophy, Commodity and Fred Segal…

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