Fragrance Review-Love2Love Fresh Rose and Peach

Love2Love Fresh Rose+Peach was a $5.99 blind-buy at Marshalls last winter that I've just started wearing with the warmer weather. I cannot stop spraying myself (and everything from my linens to my shoes) with this easy-to-wear rose scent. I'm starting to worry this scent might have been a gamble that Coty discontinues before it ever becomes established, and I shall be stockpiling accordingly. My gym shoes never smelled so good.

Bulgarian rose and peach sound heavy on paper, but combined in Love2Love, they're quite light-almost too light and I find myself wishing it had a bit more ooomph. I realise that's asking a lot for $5.99. I apply generously, and re-apply after an hour which isn't something I'd ordinarily do, but that rose note is so delicious I have to keep reviving it rather than let the fragrance unfold and fade as intended. When left alone after one application, I get about four hours, but it is very faint after about three. There's a musk note at the base, but it doesn't stick around in a noticeable way. That's all for the good as Love2Love really doesn't need it.

There's a barely there geranium note which is so rose-like I can barely detect it apart from the Bulgarian rose. I have that trouble with geranium, at least in combination with rose notes. My own geranium plants don't smell of anything in the flowers, but rubbing the petals between my fingers I get a hint of what distilled geranium is like. Still, I have a hard time picking it out here other than to say it somewhat lightens the Bulgarian rose-if that makes any sense.

The peach in Love2Love is bright and floral avoiding that dead smell somewhere between unwashed hair and roadkill peach can sometimes develop. I'm not saying that's a bad thing-it has a place in perfumery (I'm looking at you, Mitsouko) but combined with Bulgarian rose and litchi, it might be, as my husband is fond of saying, "A bit much." Love2Love never approaches even a tiny "bit much."

I'm surprised I'm enjoying Love2Love so much. I don't typically like light fragrances of this sort, and litchi will always smell unpleasant to me, like a bottle of cheap, turned wine you wouldn't even cook with. Here, it just smells a tiny bit grape-like without the smell of grape chewing gum and cider vinegar. That said, around the second hour it does develop a slightly sharp note that I suspect is the litchi wearing off and the orris root taking over. The exchange is interesting-almost metallic. It doesn't last long, and this is generally the point where I get out the bottle and re-apply. The rose completely disappears, and without re-spraying you're left with a bowl of fruit sitting on the kitchen table with a slight scent of kitchen cleanser. Not a bad smell exactly, but I find myself missing the rose.

The nose behind Love2Love Fresh Rose+Peach is Calice Becker, best known (to me) for the re-launched version of Vent Vert in the 90's, and Tommy Girl. I despise Tommy Girl, but I thought the 90's Vent Vert was rather nice-so I'll call it 50/50 for me personally on Becker. J'Adore was also a Becker creation which I don't personally like on my skin, but find lovely on others. What I'm getting at is, Love2Love wasn't thrown together by an amateur.  At $5.99 you're getting the work of an experienced nose for one hell of a bargain. Do I wish the quality of the ingredients matched the skill of the nose? Sure, but again, it is so cheap you can re-apply as needed. A nice spray every couple of hours does seem to lift my mood.

Let's talk about the horrible bottle for a moment. The cap isn't a cap at all, but a silly design feature that leaves the sprayer open to the air. That's bad. Worse, the silly plastic "hat" if you will (as it reminds me of a sun visor) comes off easily when lifting the bottle sending it crashing into other items on the perfume tray. I really hate that. Either make a proper, secure cap, or don't make one at all. To have something that serves no purpose other than to annoy seems a waste. I'm starting to become irritated by bottles that don't play nice on the perfume tray, or take up unnecessary space with odd shapes.

What's in Love2Love Fresh Rose and Peach? Not all that much, actually.
Peach, litchi, Bulgarian rose, geranium, musk, currant buds, and orris root.

That might be the shortest list of notes I've typed out in some time. Interesting to me is the absence of citrus notes. I'd swear there was a Mandarin note in there, but I haven't found it listed anywhere. I wonder if that's my nose, or my brain thinking it ought to be there. Spend enough years thinking about perfume and sometimes your brain takes over your nose.

I haven't tried any of the other fragrances in the range, but they sound interesting. Bluebell+White Tea, Freesia+Violet Petals, Jasmine+Sparkling Mimosa, and Orange Blossom+White Musk. They're such inexpensive fragrances I can't see any reason to skip them other than the increasingly troublesome lack of storage space for my collection. At worst, they can be deployed around the house as air freshener. I'm not the only runner in this family with stinky shoes.