LGFV gets compared to Burberry Brit on perfume websites, and that isn't a crazy comparison. I personally think the vanilla is done better in LGFV. I can smell what I think of as jasmine, which tells me it is synthetic not natural (or I'd be unable to smell it). This is a very nice synthetic jasmine, with just enough indole to keep it from being too sweet. That's important here as LGFV is a very sweet perfume.
I love good citrus topnotes in a perfume. LGFV goes for plain orange rather than Mandarin or tangerine which can be tricky to get right without it smelling soured rather than sour. This orange is anything but sharp, it is more like the grated zest of an orange than the juice. The lemon also comes in as well-rounded and soft almost like limoncello. The sweetness of the vanilla helps soften the acidity of the citrus. The danger is that done wrong, you can end up with something that smells like orange oil furniture polish, and LGFV most certainly does not.
It's funny how I can be so adamant about what I dislike, and then find myself completely enchanted by a cheap, fruity fragrance I picked up at Marshalls on a whim. Ginger and pears? I'd have run a mile from the stuff had I known it was in there. Musk and sandalwood? With fruit?! This is why I like to make blind buys-to remind myself that I don't know myself as well as I think I do. I really have to work at remaining open minded because it is so easy to be swayed by my biases. I'm glad I gave LGFV a try as it is a light, lovely fragrance with decent longevity, even if the bottle is absurd.
Would I buy it again? Probably not, as it isn't something I can imagine appealing to me save for a few weeks each year at summer's end. LGFV won't ever be the sort of thing I reach for first, or would mourn if it were discontinued, but for the money it is an appealing fragrance that I wouldn't be embarrassed to wear-so long as the bottle remained out of sight.
4 comments:
According to Fragrantica- Top notes are grapefruit, orange and pear; middle notes are jasmine, ginger flower and peach; base notes are musk, sandalwood and vanilla.
Sounds yummy & almost tropical in theme- if done well.
It's amazing how some synthetics can be better than the real thing. A good example would be imitation maple syrup as it is often better than genuine maple syrup.
That sounds jolly pleasant. I don't do blind buys any more - don't have space for the bottles - but I do occasionally try stuff on in the chemist. The last one was a Britney one, which was pleasant in its fruity way, but not much different to a body spray sort of scent, and I think I'd want more from a perfume that cost many times more than a body spray.
What do you do with all your bottles? Keep them all? Goodwill them?
I think that sounds good - I like a fruity perfume. I just bought some Escada Sexy Graffiti - worst perfume name EVER but I like the fruit. And it was cheap, so I'm prepared to wear a fragrance that sounds like something a 17 year old trollop would like...
And I just got some pear and ginger body wash in a cheap shop, it's lovely. I'm a fan of ginger! xxx
@Bibi
Yep, there are some excellent synthetics out there, though the association with something being, "fake" can be hard for some people to get past. For the last 100 years or so, a good chunk of perfumery has been synthetic, it is the combination with natural products that can get the overall effect. Personally, I prefer synthetic civet to the real thing.
I didn't smell grapefruit at all in this one. I believe it is there, but I'm not picking it up (I wish I were).
@Mim
Every few years I do a formal cull of the things I really don't like. I try to pass them on to young people that wouldn't otherwise be able to play around with several perfumes. Last time, it was a daughter of one of my husband's co-workers that received them. She didn't like Liu either!
I do try sticking to decants, or small sample bottles as it can quickly get out of hand. With the full bottles that were too cheap to pass up, I keep them if I like them, or decant some and pass the rest along. I am a collector of vintages, but the stuff I grab at Marshalls is more for use than collecting. There are exceptions of certain things I'm trying to stockpile as they become rare. Danny on the other hand...once he has something, he isn't letting it go. I suspect he will shortly be overrun by bottles and have to reconsider.
@Curtise
I think that's a GREAT name! Dominique Ropion has several successful fragrances credited to him, and although I'm no fan of Angel, I can see the appeal of something like, The Night. La Vie est Belle is also his, and while I personally can't wear it, I do like it on other people. The listed notes for Sexy Graffiti sound lovely-who can find fault with raspberries, strawberries, and blackcurrant? Violet and lily of the valley are good florals, and a bit of musk in the base sounds terrific. I'll have to get a sniff next time I'm at a perfume counter-I'm curious now. Thanks for tipping me off to that one.
As for ginger, it isn't all that common in perfume, and I don't know why. There's the Jo Malone ginger perfume (expensive) and a Roger and Gallet ginger (cheap) but that's all that springs to mind for a fresh ginger scent (there are plenty of gingerbread scents, with other heady spices).
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