Coach Poppy Perfume

My husband gifted this perfume to me this past Christmas.  I first came across it in a magazine as a paper sample.  I swiped as much of it as I could onto my skin to test out.  I absolutely adored it and decided right then and there that I was going to own it at some point.  :-)

Poppy opens very crisp, fresh, and clean.  Initially, it can be strong, but give it a bit to settle in and it is beautiful.  A lot of people say they pick up on cucumber when first sprayed on.  I don't know that I can 100% say I smell that, but it does have a similar fresh kind of feel to it.  It quickly moves into a more sweet fragrance, but not sugar-sweet, in my opinion.  I pick up a good mix of floral in there, too.

About 15-20 minutes in, I know this will sound crazy, but there is something reminiscent of Curve.  Not full blown, by any means, but when I'm sniffing my wrists I get this odd deja-vu.  The two must have some similar notes in them.

At the 45 minute mark, the fragrance has settled into the skin and melded better.  Instead of seeming like a perfume that is just hovering over the skin, it has mixed in.  Now, is when I start smelling more sweet notes.  Only when breathed deeply, however, I pick up a sugar scent and the vanilla. Also, it seems that it is on the second inhale that I really notice it...almost as though the exhale from the first breath has to warm up the skin in order for those sugared layers to come to life.   It is a warm, sweet note...tons of candies and vanilla combined.  Maybe the marshmallow is what I am smelling. That is what it reminds me of at this point.  It is an extremely delicious scent.  Now, if these were the notes, constantly, from top to bottom... I would probably get bored of it and crave something to mellow it out.

I find that it has quite good projection.  My husband tells me he is able to smell it on me when I'm near him.  I prefer a perfume that can be smelled when semi close.  I don't want it to be so weak that you can only smell it if you hug me, however, I don't want it so strong that you can smell me from across the room.  Being able to pick up hints of my perfume's scent while sitting/standing near me is fine.

While the looks of the packaging and the bottle shouldn't matter, I can't help but appreciate a lovely presentation. I think the bottle is very pretty!  It isn't overly fancy, in that it is just an oval(ish) bottle, but it has a pink juice inside that lends a girlish feel to the whole perfume. I really adore the lid.  It is a golden ball with Coach texts embossed.  It says things like "coach", "love", "poppy", "1941", etc. Below that is a delicate little red orange (It has taken me FOUR MONTHS to realize this isn't red, but orange. Wow, brilliance at its finest right here!) ribbon, which is attached by an elastic.   Even the box that it comes in is eye catching.  It is a red orange with white and spatterings of yellow text.  The top, where the logo is show, is golden.  I think the bottle is pretty enough to be out on display on a mirrored tray.  Mine, however, is kept in its box in a corner shelving unit to preserve the perfume.  It is best to store fragrance in dark, cooler areas, so I have tried to do this as much as possible.

Over all, I really enjoy this perfume.  I have been wearing it quite often, even though most believe it is best suited to spring and summer. I just can't get enough of it.  As with any fragrance, it is very personal, too.  While I really love that it goes from crisp and fresh to sweet and youthful, others will think that somehow makes it boring.

The official notes are as follows...
Top: sweet, cucumber, marshmallow
Mid: mandarin orange, vanille, freesia, water lily
Base: gardenia, rose, sandalwood, jasmine, Virginia cedar

Lolita Lempicka Forbidden Flower Perfume

Please don't mind the watermark to my nail blog. I had put the photos together before this blog was up and running.  Originally, the review was going to be placed on the other blog. :-)

I wasn't going to review this one yet just because it isn't exactly the "right" season for it (according to majority).  However, I didn't want to end up forgetting about it, so I will just go ahead and get it out there now.  This one is Lolita Lempicka Forbidden Flower.  It was created in 2008 by Annick Menardo, who also created the original Lolita Lempicka, but not the L De Lolita Lempicka (both of which I have already done reviews on).  This is considered a fruity floral gourmand fragrance.

This one is a little bit reminiscent of Lolita Lempicka by Lolita Lempicka, I'm assuming because of its violet note.  It (the violet) doesn't seem as soft and powdery as it did in the original Lolita Lempicka.  It seemed more classic and vintage in that one and fresh in this one.  While this one opens pretty quickly with violet (more so than the original) it still isn't the first thing I pick up on.  The extreme first scent I get is fresh cut grass or leaves.  Not dry, dead leaves but fresh spring or summer leaves.  It seems like an usual smell but it works very, very well in a scent directed for that time of year.

I know there are peony notes in this perfume, but on me they seem pretty light.  They don't stand out very strong.  I know most of you will be familiar with, say, the peony scent from Bath & Body Works. While I enjoy that scent because I can recall my grandmother always wearing it, this isn't the same.  It is softer in this perfume.  It isn't as sharp. It melds and blends in better here.

After a little while, I pick up on hints of dark cherry.  It is the strangest thing because it isn't settled there.  I can take a whiff and smell it and think "yum, that smells really nice" and so I'll sniff again, but get NOTHING in the way of that cherry scent.  It comes and goes.   When it is there it is a pleasant surprise.  This is the start of the cherry rolling in, because give it about an hour after initial application and BAM!  Chocolate covered cherries!  I get the sensation of the deliciousness that is inside of a chocolate covered cherry, you know, the cherry syrup that surrounds the actual berry PLUS that cherry.  Yum!

What lingers, and is the last thing I detect, I can't figure out.  I can tell you it smells clean.  It has a soap kind of smell, but not at all in a bad way. It definitely smells like one of the bar soaps I have used at some point in my adult life, though. I want to say one of the Olay ones. And that might make sense because I think they may have had some kind of "Cherry Honey" or "Cherry Almond" scented one. It isn't offensive and I think most people would enjoy it.  If you were to go in for a hug/handshake with someone or sweep past a person, you'd just smell....clean.

While this perfume opens very crisp and a bit sharp, I think the dry down on it could work perfectly in the cooler months, too.  It has a cozy smell to it that I enjoy when it is chilly, but also that clean aroma that would be refreshing in scorching temperatures.  Let's just be fair and call this one a year round appropriate perfume.  I think most people will find this one easier to wear than the original Lolita Lempicka.

The official notes of this perfume are...
top: strawberry leaf, mimose, green notes
middle: peony, violet, anise
base: almond, cherry, musk

L De Lolita Lempicka Perfume

Please don't mind the watermark to my nail blog.  I had put the photos together before I had this blog up and going.  Originally, the reviews were going to be placed on that blog.

This is the second of three Lolita Lempica perfumes that I recently purchased.  This was the perfume that initially called my attention and started my purchase. As I researched Lolita Lempicka, I became intrigued and just kept adding more from that house to my cart.  While the original Lolita Lempicka was created by Annick Menardo, L De Lolita Lempicka was not.  This one was created by Maurice Roucel in 2006. He is known for other fragrances such as DKNY Be Delicious for women, Guess for women, Harajuku Lovers Wicked Style Love, etc.

Looking at the fun, blue bottle with gold netting on it you'd think this would have a very beachy, tropical smell.  Not even a little bit. That couldn't be further from the reality of what is inside.  The juice is the complete opposite of what you're anticipating.  For me, this is absolutely a fall/winter perfume that is more warm and cozy.  It isn't something I'd want to sport in hot weather.  While talking about the bottle and the juice inside...this is one that is notorious for being finicky and changing color.  It starts out as a beautiful blue, but because of the vanilla in it, it can change to a dark amber color if exposed to light over a period of time.  It won't change the scent at all, but will change the appearance.  Just a heads up that I felt I should mention.

This one opens in a very, very strong wall of black licorice.  I find this incredibly strange because no where is licorice or anise listed as one of the notes for top, middle, or base.  It is nowhere to be found.  However, I swear to you that is what it opens up to me as. Thank goodness this only lasts for about 2 minutes, though. If it lasted any longer I would give up on this perfume. They claim it is a bitter orange to open.

Once it starts to settle on the skin it starts to warm.  The licorice nearly completely goes away.  There is the very tiniest hint remaining...and from someone who doesn't care for licorice scents, it is nice.  Just the tiniest bit is actually nice.  It is so small that it works in the over-all picture of the fragrance.  I can smell cinnamon rolling in and warming up the whole fragrance.  It becomes a more cozy perfume.  I can pick up on hints of vanilla but it mixes with the cinnamon and keeps it from being a typical vanilla that you'd find in every fragrance store in the fall/winter.

The longer it sits the stronger the vanilla comes out.  It remains a warm vanilla, though.  A warm, musky vanilla is the only thing that comes to mind.  It isn't a cheap, artificial kind of vanilla.  It is delicious.  I watched a video by RedHeadPHD on YouTube, who described this as an orange glazed cinnamon roll scent...  I can kind of see that.  For me, that comes in to play once it has been on the skin for about an hour and some odd minutes, though.  It is once it has really settled down that it turns to a glazed cinnamon pastry.

While this has sweet, foodie notes, I don't think this is an overly young scent.  I don't think the teenage crowd would enjoy it overly much.  I think the women in their 20s and beyond who still enjoy a delicious gourmand but don't want to smell like the zillions of others wearing foodie smells are the ones who will most appreciate this perfume.

There are a lot of MEN who like to wear this perfume.  I don't know...  wearing it, myself, I can't imagine my husband wearing it.  I don't know that I'd enjoy smelling it on him. There are notes that make it so that I can understand men pulling it off, but I can say I don't want my husband wearing it.  Especially once it has fully reached its base notes, I don't think I'd like like it as much on a man.  But, to each their own, right?  If you are a man who enjoys scents marketed towards women, so be it! And the other way around.  This is just my two cents.

I already said in my review of Lolita Lempicka by Lolita Lempicka that I will be enjoying that one through the colder months.  The same goes for this one.  I will be alternating between the two and then an amber fragrance I have in my collection. This is the perfect time to fully enjoy L, I think. It has the coziness that meshes well with with the chill in the air and the layering of scarves, boots, and sweaters. Plus, I enjoy that it really clings.  When I say that, I mean it CLINGS!  This baby isn't going anywhere once you have spritzed it on. I can put some on at, say, noon and go about my day, shower at night, go to sleep, wake up the next morning and late in the morning I will still detect traces of it on my wrists.  I suppose it is a good thing that I absolutely adore this perfume, huh?

The official notes are:
top: bitter orange, bergamont
middle: immortelle, cinnamon, musk
base: tonka bean, vanilla, sandalwood