This article from LiveScience explains how strong the connection is between scents and memory. Scents are my drug of choice. Which is sad, because my TMD problem has affected my sense of smell in recent years and I need more than a few spritzes just to be able to smell stuff.
Let's start first with my personal favorites:
CK One Summer
The current version is in a blue packaging, but back in the early 2000s, this was how summery it was. The colors also mirror how it smells: oranges, pineapples, lilies, with just the right amount of woody musk scent to balance the floral fruitiness. I don't know why they changed the bottle to blue, the scent is nowhere near calm, serene blue. It's fun, fresh, energizing, and youthful. I wore this in high school, and the scent reminds me of fresh air and sunny days. I recommend this for pre-20s to early 20s women who do not want ultra-feminine, seriously elegant scents.
Tommy Girl
I loved this scent in college and I still love it now. It's a sporty, casual fragrance that's light and with just the right blend of citrus and floral notes. It's a young girl fragrance, and can smell very powdery and cologne-y. I remember how this smelled so much like my Nivea lip balm in Velvet Rose. I don't imagine this being worn by a grown woman. There's just something about it that reminds me of soccer fields and lemonade and grass and laughing without a care in the world.
Versace Bright Crystal
I received this as a gift on my 19th birthday. Back in the day I wasn't exactly into luxury brands and only knew Versace as something career women wore. I was reluctant to wear this to school because the scent was too strong and it just grabs attention and just lingers. It smells like nothing I've used before. No shampoo, soap, lotion, or any perfumed product smells like this. It has this air of exclusiveness that it has its own scent category. But it's a scent that you eventually get addicted to. Like its packaging, it smells ultra feminine, luxurious, with a strange clarity to it, like... bright, sparkling crystal, like you're bathing in pink and white roses, like you're spraying cold, expensive air, if that makes any sense. I recommend this for women in their 20s who want to smell and be treated like a princess.
Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue
This scent is so so so versatile and wholesome and beautiful that it's everyone's favorite. In fact, when I wore this in my early 20s, I smelled like my boyfriend's sister, and the girl who wanted to snatch him from me. LOL. Everyone was wearing this that it's annoying. I took a whiff just now and all the annoyance came back. Anyway, like the packaging and its name, this scent is reminiscent of clear skies and calm waters. It has an interesting mix of apples, lime and cedar with a breezy, sparkly, lingering scent. I recommend this for... no one, everyone has practically worn this at some point in their lives, I feel. It's a tired scent. Or I probably just associate it with too many bad memories. LOL.
And before we get to my perfume recommendations, let me get this out of the way, so you can gauge if you'd like my recommendations. Fragrance I do not like:
Victoria's Secret Love Spell
People who love this fragrance, you may now stop reading. I never understood the popularity of this scent. It's too dark, too heavy, too artificial. The first time I heard someone talk about this was when a friend was trying to get me to buy this lotion that according to him, smelled exactly like VS Love Spell. So I was under the impression that this was a popular scent that people were actually replicating it in other products. Imagine my disappointment when I first caught a whiff. I literally got dizzy. It's just too strong. I normally can tolerate masculine scents, I love musk, so it isn't that this is not light and feminine, it just tried too hard to smell seductive and powerful that it ended up smelling stinky and overpowering. I hate it. I hate it. It reminds me of dizzying car rides - that's exactly what this smells like, it doesn't smell like a girl or a woman, it smells like a car.
Now that that is out of the way, let me present to you my top recommended fragrances for women.
Victoria's Secret Bombshell Seduction
Recommended for: Bombshells
Where VS Love Spell failed, VS Bombshell succeeded. Victoria's Secret, this is the right way to seduce, the right scent to draw a lover in. Much like Versace Bright Crystal, this scent grabs attention, scratch that, this scent demands attention. This can only be worn by alluring, fun, confident women who want to cement their sexy status. The notes are jasmine, tangerine, vanilla, strawberry and musk.
DKNY Be Delicious Apple
Recommended for: The Au Naturel, Effortlessly Pretty Girl
I first saw and smelled this on a US magazine. You know how they have testers of perfumes printed in between ad spaces? The photo accompanying the tester was enticing, I remember it was of a pretty girl in a green dress, biting into an apple. Like the packaging, this smells like green apples. It has a refreshing mix of cucumber, grapefruit, lilies, and roses. This is perfect for girls who want something light, fresh, and delicious. This has zero sexual undertones and can be perfect for daily, casual wear.
Paris Hilton Heiress
Recommended for: That Sickeningly Sweet Princess
I mean no malice. There are girls who take pride in being sickeningly sweet and this is just the perfume for them. This smells like candies and glittery unicorns. The notes are champagne, peach, orange and a whole lot of jasmine. The champagne scent is the redeeming bit in the mix. Reminds me of pink kisses aroma beads in the 90s. Nonetheless, I wear this with pearls when I want to feel extra pretty. It's an addictive scent, so beware if you want to steer clear of that sickeningly sweet image.
Recommended for: Adult Sickeningly Sweet Princesses
If you still want to smell sweet but do not wish to be seen as juvenile, this is the scent to wear. The unconventional bottle mirrors its scent: rose, black currant, opoponax, vanilla, and incense. It's very wearable and the sweetness is forgivable. The balanced mix of serious and sweet - which before experiencing this scent was not even imaginable.
Elizabeth Arden Green Tea
Recommended for: Simple, Fuss-Free Women Who Want to Smell Fresh
This smells exactly like how you imagine it would: Green Tea. Why would anyone want to smell like tea, you ask? I don't know. But this is a surprisingly beautiful scent that leaves you calm and centered. The notes are, well, green tea, jasmine, fennel, cloves, and mint. Another Elizabeth Arden fragrance I love is Red Door, which did not make this list because I currently do not have it and can only imagine what it used to smell like. Nonetheless, if you happen to be in a store that carries Elizabeth Arden, then these two are worth checking out.
Estee Lauder Beautiful
Recommended for: Mature Women Who Find Chanel No. 5 Just Too Much
This scent was launched in 1985 and so has reached hall of fame level of popularity. This surprisingly does not smell dated, you won't smell ancient, just romantically beautiful as the name suggests. It's marketed as the perfume that smells like a thousand flowers, and looking at the loooong list of notes, it does look like it was formulated with dozens of flower scents. It smells like an entire garden with jasmine, marigold, rose, lilies, magnolia, lilac, freesia, geranium, and all of 'em flowers.
Chanel No. 5
Recommended for: Mature Women Who Do Not Find Chanel No. 5 Too Much
This was launched in 1986 and like Estee Lauder Beautiful still gets included in lists of top perfumes year after year. I used to not like the scent, I don't know why I find it beautiful now. The first time I smelled this over a decade ago, I was reminded of my mean-spirited wealthy aunt and her equally mean-spirited wealthier friends. Jasmine, vanilla, patchouli and vetiver grass make this one strong, statement-making perfume. It smells like wealth and traditions and haughtiness. I bought a Chanel Mademoiselle thinking I'd ease my way into Chanel territory, but Chanel No. 5 is a pleasanter snooty scent, so I took the plunge and committed to Chanel "Too Much" No. 5.
Recommended for: Women Who Like D&G Light Blue But Associate It With Bad Memories
Okay, so from two classic, haughty scents to a charming, light-hearted scent. Secret Wish smells like lemons, melons, pineapples and peaches, balanced out by musk and amber. This smells a lot like D&G Light Blue but lighter and does not remind you of your cheating ex boyfriend. The bottle looks juvenile, but the scent is versatile and is still wearable for women in their late 20s. The problem people have with Anna Sui scents in general is the lack of longevity, so I guess we have no choice but to go back to D&G every once in a while. Or just maybe move on from past heartbreaks.
Recommended for: Androgynous, Happy Women
LOL. I write my captions and I go wtf. So anyway, this is a rather popular perfume. Especially in the early 2000s. Clinique has since produced variations of this that smell nicer (Clinique Happy in Bloom, Happy Summer, Happy Smile - all happy smelling things) but this remains to be cult favorite. I now find it smelling like glue for some reason, this smells like glue on me, but smells okay on other people, for some reason. This is also very versatile that even the variation for men - Clinique Happy for Men - can smell good on women. Notes are orange, apple, lilies, freesia, rose, and orchids.
Jo Malone Nectarine Blossom & Honey
Recommended for: Women In Their 30s Who Like Fruity Scents
This smells like every fruit-smelling shampoo I've ever used. So If you like smelling like freshly washed hair, this is the fragrance for you. My older friends love this and they tend to have a couple of things in common: a career and family to juggle and a fascination with all things American. This is from London but it does smell American for some odd odd reason. So I guess it's for family-oriented but still ambitious women with Western tastes? It's very fruity and green and organic and... fruity. It reminds me of Jessica Simpson for some odd odd reason. IDK with my mental associations. Bottomline: I don't personally like this, but most late 30s women I know love it. I don't really know why.
Lacoste Love of Pink
Recommended for: Women in their 20s Who Enjoy Warm, Fruity Scents
This smells like mangoes despite it not having mango scents in it. The notes are passionfruit, lemon, magnolia, vanilla and musk. It's fruity and fun but the vanilla and musk balance it out and make it smell wholesome and warm. It is not too sweet, despite the name and packaging, which makes me wonder why it's called Love of Pink at all. The only fragrance I know that fully embodies the color pink is Gucci Pink, which Gucci has sadly discontinued. This fragrance from Lacoste is wearable for days on end and does not overwhelm with saccharine aromas. I suggest they rename it Love of Fruit. Or Love of Mangoes. No, okay, I now understand why they chose Love of Pink.
Great review. All this product are good.I've been looking for a product like this. I bought a product called Yuja Niacin Brightening which is similar to this product that you reviewed. Thanks for the review.
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