Tocca- Liliana

A confession: I've been spending a lot more time than necessary wearing Liliana, the new perfume from Tocca. Based on the list of notes and a preliminary sniff I was expecting to hate it. A fruity floral with a prominent watery peach note, a hefty dose of muguet, and a sweet musk base? Give me a break. But somehow, perhaps through Tocca's uncanny ability to churn out easygoing crowd-pleasing perfumes without insulting the intelligence of their customers in the process, I had enough fun with Liliana to warrant making it my scent of the day several extra times over the last few weeks.

As a rule, Tocca's Liliana is a bit too wide-eyed and innocent for me. It's girly to a fault and on bad chemistry days the watery aspect bothers me even more than the daintiness of the floral notes. But a lot of the time Liliana feels and smells like a lighter and airier relative of Jean Patou Sira des Indes which I truly love, banana and all. I appreciate that Liliana is more pretty than cute and isn't very sweet so it never smells cheap. The dry-down has a fruity musk quality that I tend to enjoy, and while the official notes mention sandalwood, I smell something closer to a very smooth cedar.

All in all, Liliana is a rather safe spring choice that's perfectly blind date or office appropriate and will make a nice gift for a loved one starting high school or college. It lasts for a full day (two sprays are enough) and offers a polite sillage and projection.

Notes: Italian Bergamot, Neroli, Watery Peach, Lily-of-the-Valley, Gardenia, White Peony, Sandalwood, Musk, Benzoin, Patchouli.

Liliana by Tocca ($68, 1.7oz EDP) is available from Sephora and select department stores. The press sample for this review was sent by the company's PR.

Photo: Model Evelyn Tripp for Harper's Bazaar, 1952, via myvintagevogue.com.