You can blame it on Angel. After all, just about everyone else does. But I have a feeling it's more than Thierry Mugler's creation that created a social climate in which women of any age find it acceptable and desirable to smell like cheap candy. After all, "yummy" scents have existed before 1992. Just think of Nirmala, Molinard's 1955 classic that more or less (more, if you ask me) spawned Angel. Yet, we (as in those of us born before the 1980s) grew up associating womanly, adult scents with Shalimar, Cuir de Russie, Opium, Miss Dior... We dreamed about the day we would be allowed to wear wicked chypres and dangerous orientals or the Queen itself, Fracas. How disappointing it was to come of age and discover the shelves full of marshmallow fluff.
But we're here to discuss the original Hanae Mori for women, a perfume I usually tend to avoid at all costs. I was more familiar with the EDP, so when an EDT sample showed up here I remembered some people saying this Hanae Mori version was airier and less cloying. Which meant I had to try it.
The good news is that I survived.
I don't know what I expected from notes such as strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, red currant, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, vanilla, praline, patchouli and sandalwood. It was all pink, all the time. Regular readers know I actually like vanilla and many sweet gourmand scents. It's the sticky, sickly synthetic fruit notes that do me in every time. While I've definitely smelled worse than Hanae Mori, it was still like wearing a bag of pink marshmallow. And it's time I face reality and admit I simply cannot deal with strawberry in perfume. No way, no how, not in a million years.
While the late drydown is quite faint and pleasantly vanilla-like, it isn't worth the agony of smelling like I've had an unfortunate encounter with Strawberry Shortcake (and she won).
Hanae Mori EDT ($90 for 3.4 oz) is available from most department stores and the like, while online discounters offer it at half the price. My sample most likely came as a GWP from Sephora.
Photo: cafemunchkin.com
LOL at "I simply cannot deal with strawberry in perfume. No way, no how, not in a million years."
ReplyDeleteIt takes me back to about 1972 -- headshop strawberry oil and strawberry incense. Just no.
I think of the White Rain strawberry conditioner all my friends were crazy about in Junior High; it's a fond memory, but it means I can't wear strawberry without feeling 12.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy sugary scents in the winter though, there's something warming about it. I've pulled out the Bath & Body Works Cherry Blossom EDT for the holidays, both because it's weak enough to set off my mom's allergies and it reminds me of spring without being too green.
I love your blog, you truly are fabulous!
ReplyDeleteI am blonde and sick of smelling sweet, what is a good oriental that I can carry off....
My boyfriend wanted to buy me perfume for my last birthday. I'm far from a perfumista, and he's bad at shopping for beauty products, so we went together to Macy's on a sniffing expedition. We both smelled this one and the following exchange took place:
ReplyDeleteMe: Is this.. cotton candy scented?
Boy: Ooh, it DOES smell like cotton candy.
Me: That's... I'm not sure how I feel about that.
Boy: That's a really weird thing for perfume to smell like.
So clearly, not ALL the men want their ladies to smell like dessert. ;)
Oooh, just the notes themselves make me feel a little ill, like after you eat too much candy.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite perfume shop owner likes to tease me with scents I'd never wear, so I've smelled this on a card before. I thought it was very pleasant, actually! It's a delicious smell! Uh, just not something I'd want to WEAR. I'd maybe EAT that? Or put it on vanilla ice cream! MMMM.
Why do girls want to wear candy-berry syrups as their SCENT?