I'm not the biggest fan of Fresh Sugar perfume series. The over-sweetened lemonade note in Fresh Sugar and Lemon Sugar, not to mention Sugar Lychee (mango and lychee fruit. Shudder) were obviously aimed at a consumer who is not me, despite my love for a good gourmand. I had very little hope for last year release of Brown Sugar, especially since I don't even like the body cream (the scrub is nice, though). But I try stuff so you don't have to, so I was willing to give it a chance. Sample after sample were drained, so I guess I have to admit that I really really like it.
Fresh Brown Sugar has some scary-sounding notes (Sicilian lemon, tangerine, açai berries, sugared magnolia, honeysuckle, peach nectar, caramel, warm amber, cypress), but on my skin it is far less fruit than I feared. This fragrance has a pleasant lemony opening and a nicely caramelized body. It is sweet and smells as edible as they get, but it's really not in Pink Sugar territory: no plastic and regurgitated strawberries here. I've never eaten a Canadian butter tart, but this is what I fantasize they smell like: vanillic, sugary buttery goodness.
Fresh Brown Sugar somehow avoids being too heavy or cloying (for me, at least), yet it's quite long lasting. After the sillage disappears there's still enough left on the skin, making for those embarrassing nose-to-decollete gestures that identify fragonerds everywhere. And that's a good thing as I'm not ready to let it go after half a day.
Fresh Brown Sugar is a cheap thrill ($32, 1 oz EDP), available at Sephora and many department stores.
Photo of Canadian butter tarts from instructables.com.
I cannot understand why perfumers think we want to smell like food.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! I had never tried any of the Fresh but I got the Brown Sugar scrub adn body lotion for Christmas and I was surprised at the scent--I expect some overly sweet, sticky, cloying mess but I think the lemon cuts that enough for it to be pleasant.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks for this review. I think I'm going to email you because I wanted to leave a rather long comment, but the gist is: it's neat that you post about quality inexpensive perfume as well as the more luxurious stuff.
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