Lolita Lempicka Perfume

Don't mind the watermark to my nail blog. I put the photos together before I created this sub-blog and had thought the perfumes were amazing enough that they warranted a post (even on a nail blog!).

I am having a love affair with my new Lolita Lempicka perfumes.  This one is the original.  It is Lolita Lempicka by Lolita Lempicka.  It was created in 1997 by Annick Menardo, who is known for creating other perfumes like Hypnotic Poison, Armani Attitude for men, etc.  This perfume is a fun twist of changing scents.  They're kind of unexpected and don't seem like they'd belong together.  Somehow, though, they work and mesh perfectly with one another and play nice together.

When I first put this on I definitely picked up on a licorice note.  It wasn't a strong black licorice but perhaps a bit more soft like anise. That is not my favorite of smells. However, because that is the top note, it fades away rather quickly. Even with it not being a favorite smell of mine, it wasn't cringe-worthy.  It had a fresh, crisp quality to it.  It was almost refreshing in a way.

In a matter of a couple moments, it took on a slightly powdery quality.  I can see some saying that it is granny-ish, but I find it nice.  It does remind me of something I would find at my grandmother's dressing table.  I do get immediate images and flashbacks of playing at my grandma's mirrored vanity table, rummaging in her makeup and swiping on her little sample lipsticks that she kept for her dozens of grandchildren.

Hanging on heavily is violets.  I couldn't figure it out immediately, though it only took a few seconds for me to realize it was violets.  I don't know why I didn't remember hearing violets in the reviews I read/saw for it.  It is as plain as day in there. It isn't hiding in the slightest bit.  I love violets.  I don't mean to compare it in any way to this, but there was a 2005 limited edition Bath & Body Works spring fragrance that was put out which I adored.  I tried to buy as much of it as I could so that I wouldn't run out.  I loved it so much.  I still have one single body splash bottle left...but only half remains.  I would bathe in the stuff if I could get away with it.  Violets are such a beautiful scent, in my opinion.  In fact, I have recently been researching to find a new perfume or splash to replace it.  Well, the violet in Lolita Lempicka is clean and strong...yet soft and feminine.

After a couple of hours all the powder goes away and it takes on a candied kind of smell. Candied violets? Is that possible?  I don't know. Violet is still there but oh so faint. I definitely pick up on the vanilla more at this point, though. It is a sexy, musky vanilla with hints of violet.  The dry down is very pretty with this one.  Another note that seems to linger the longer it wears is tobacco.   Though I had known it was there from initially reading the list of ingredient notes, I didn't really pick it up the first time I wore the perfume.  However, the second time I had it on, I kept smelling something that I couldn't put my finger on.  I pulled up the listing of the notes again and there it was.  It hit me that what I was picking up was the tobacco.  It kind of takes me by surprise that I am smelling it, but it is there.  It is a creamy, almost vanilla-tobacco. It is very smooth.

All day I just keep smelling my wrists.  It is such an irresistible perfume. I was looking for something nice to wear this fall and winter and this one really fits the bill to perfection. I'm glad I didn't write this one off based on the top notes that are initially there.  If I had been sweeping through a department store, sprayed this on one of the paper sheets to test and smelled it, I'd have been turned off.  Rarely do I allow a perfume to set longer than a moment...just enough for me to determine if I like the opening of it... and that is a shame.  If I had done that, I'd have missed out on this glorious fragrance. The opening of it only lasts for a couple of minutes, at most, and then it is violet bouquets that later roll into light vanilla musk.

The official listing for the notes are....
top: mahogany,pineapple, violet, ivy, anise, lemon
middle: iris, amaryllis, jasmine, vetiver, lily,licorice, orris root
base: tonka bean, almond, vanilla, vetiver, heliotrope, white musk, tobacco, praline