Nina L'Elixer: Fruity, Floral, Girly Scent

It's always unfair that the West gets the best stuff before we in the backwaters of Asia do. Take for instance, Nina Ricci's latest perfume offering, Nina L'Elixer, which has just launched in Singapore. L'Elixer actually launched last year in the West, although to be fair it was in the second half of the year. So much for the "global economy". But anyway, I'm sure you're all wondering - for us in Singapore, is this worth the months-long wait?



Nina L'Elixer targets the younger market very squarely, describing itself as a fruity-floral, and the fragrance is fronted by a 21-year old british singer, Florrie. And in the music video for the perfume (below), she's pouting, singing, and generally acting cute and girly. That alone is going to turn some people off. After all, fruity-florals are a dime a dozen when it comes to department-store perfumes. But if fruity-floral is your thing, and if you do happen to be looking for one that is more complex than the other department-store offerings, this could just be worth a look into.



For one, although I myself am not a girly-girl, I have to admit I do like the visuals behind the perfume, and especially the bottle design. It's in the shape of an apple, complete with metal leaves! I love the apple shape, with its connotations of fairytales, and the gorgeous colour palette of pink, red, and white - very feminine, and appropriate for a fragrance targeted to the younger market. And I don't know about you, but to me the bottle looks vaguely like a bejewelled apple. Sort of like an enchanted apple!



Unlike other similar offerings, Nina E'Lixer isn't lazy in its composition. Unlike other flanking perfumes, this isn't a simple rehash of the original Nina perfume from 2006 - you know, take the original, add in a couple of musk or amber notes, throw in more vanilla, and you're done. And it isn't exactly identical to the other comparable offerings either.

Instead, I dare venture that this is better than the 2006 original (sorry Nina). It's deeper, and the hint of lime and lemon in its top notes makes it fresher than the original, too. I know most fruity-floral-gourmand perfumes tend to be overly sweet and cloying, so it's great to have the lime notes in there to balance that out a bit. It's still squarely and firmly within the fruity-floral genre, though, and is still creamy and sweet, but at least this one shows some semblance of balance.



The evolution of the perfume is also one thing in its favour. I didn't like the initial blast of jumbled fruity citrusness that rushed out at me, but the perfume settled down into something a lot more consistent. On me at least, the scent evolved into a creamy gourmand base with some fruit notes, primarily berries, and a detectable jasmine. At the final drydown, I detected musk and amber.



If fruity perfumes are your cup of tea - they're certainly not everyone's, and usually not mine - then this could be worth looking into. The bottle and the visuals are gorgeous, and this is an offering that's better than some of its competitors. Nina L'Elixer launched in Tangs Singapore yesterday, and the launch will continue until the 16th, so do check it out if you're interested.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Liz Earle Botanical Essence No 1: Perfect Summer Fragrance

Finding the right summer perfume can be a tricky matter, because most perfumes billed as summer fragrances tend to smell very sterotypically department-store-ish. You know, they're all flowery or fruity or gourmand, sweet, and generally nausea-inducing if you aren't into smelling like Barbie. In all the sea of pink flowery, overly synthetically sweet fragrances, it can be hard to find a summer scent that stands out from the crowd.

Liz Earle, a brand better known for skincare, released their one and only fragrance so far last year, the Botanical Essence No. 1. And, unlike most other summer fragrances, this one isn't cloying, sweet, or synthetic-smelling at all. In fact, it's quite different, and I can really appreciate that.



The first thing I noticed about this perfume is that it isn't floral. OMG, guys, a summer perfume that isn't floral or fruity! Liz Earle Botanical essence No. 1 is actually more on the green side. The perfume itself comes in a green-and-white bottle decorated with images of plant leaves, very reflective of the scent inside.

The bottle is a basic, solid square bottle, containing a gold-yellow liquid. Nothing much in the way of fancy design, but very functional. It looks tiny, but it does contain 50ml of awesome perfume juice inside (the usual amount you get in a perfume bottle), so don't be mislead by the small bottle size.



The perfume itself is actually very pretty, if unconventional for a mass-market fragrance. I'd call it a leafy, citrusy green perfume, although it's a bit more complex than that. There's a hint of spice in the drydown that gives what would otherwise be a light, green scent a bit of complexity, and darkens the final tone of the fragrance. I couldn't make out any notes, but in addition to the leafy, citrus scent, I could also smell hints of something herbal. I really liked this scent - it really reminds me of running around in open plains in good sunny weather, and does smell like summer to me, even if it isn't billed as a summer fragrance.

The only complaint I had was that the perfume didn't evolve all that much on my skin, although it could just be my body chemistry (and you know, everyone's body chemistry is different). I got a big gust of green and citrus at the start, although the green headiness quickly settles down into a much more muted leafy herbal green scent with a hint of spice. Other than the big bang of green citrus, and the emergence of spice at the end, I didn't really feel like the perfume evolved a lot. And I wished it could have lasted longer on my skin - but then again, given that 98% of the ingredients are natural, it's a tall order, since natural perfumes do tend not to last as long as synthetic ones.



Much as I like the perfume, and much as I think perfume fanatics might like it, I'm not too sure how your average girl who doesn't care about perfumes is going to like this. I know plenty of female friends who aren't exposed to fragrances, and they generally like your usual cookie-cutter cloying-synthetic-overly-sweet-fruity-floral fragrance. I could imagine them scrunching up their noses at this one, although I personally think it's a lovely scent. I think that Botanical Essence No. 1, like so many other green perfumes out there, need a more developed nose to fully appreciate its beauty. Otherwise, it risks being consigned to the depth's of someone's drawer, which would be a waste of something so pretty.

On another note - why should this just be for girls? Because it's a leafy green scent, I do think it would be great for guys in addition to girls! I know it's not a unisex perfume, but I could imagine both men and women pulling this off with aplomb. You know those "For Him/For Her" perfume sets we always see around? Now you don't have to share a perfume set, you can even share the bottle! Some of the most famous perfumes of all time were unisex perfumes, like Annick Goutal's Eau d'Hadrien, so that's pretty cool.



So would I recommend this? If you're into green fragrances, or would like something a little less sweet and cloying than the usual summer offerings, this is a good one to look into. Or if you want to wear the same fragrance as the man in your life, this is also a great one to look into. Summer, we're all ready for you - please come soon!

(Product sent for review. Review is my honest and complete opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Love, Chloe: A Department Store Fragrance That Smells Niche!

For the hardcore fragrance fragrance aficionado, most fragrances are broadly classified into two types - department store, and niche. Sadly, department store fragrances are usually seen as somehow less worthy than the niche brands (you know - the stuff "plebians" wouldn't have heard of - Serge Lutens, Annick Goutal, CB I Hate Perfumes). This is not without cause, as department store fragrances tend to be more mass-market than the niche ones, and so after a while, they do tend to all kind of smell the same. Part of the challenge of being a perfume nut is sniffing them all and finding that rare department store perfumes that doesn't smell generic. Those are the rare gems that smell more expensive than they really are (and thus awesome value for money).



Enter Love, Chloe. This was love at first sniff! The official notes for this are orange blossom, pink pepper, iris absolute, lilac, hyacinth, wisteria blossom, heliotropine, powdery musks, talc and rice powder. It was the orange blossom that prompted me to try it, because I'm a huge fan of orange blossom. And I'm glad I did - because here is the rare department store fragrance that doesn't suck.

On me, this is best described as a powdery floral that is very pretty and very wearable. The floral notes are most obvious at the start, but as they fade, the talc and rice powder emerge as dominant in the drydown. On my skin, I get mostly orange blossom, talc, and rice powder, and just a teensy bit of something that smells a little like rose, although it's not in the official description for the perfume.The net effect is to produce a scent that is fresh, feminine and soft, without smelling like every other floral perfume out there. In addition to the orange blossom (which I'm partial to), the rice note also comes out quite strongly on me, but that's not a bad thing - it adds a sense of softness and comfort to the fragrance, and it makes it stand out a little bit more from the other floral offerings in the market. And I'm always partial to a well-placed rice note, because rice was my staple food growing up, and a warm bowl of soft fluffy rice is the Asian equivalent of a hot bowl of chicken soup (only that I don't think chicken soup would make a good fragrance note, LOL).



Sillage on this is small, as it wears close to the body, so while this is a Fall release, it will also definitely be wearable during warmer months, and can be worn very well throughout the entire year. In fact, I think this will be ideal for people who work in closed, small areas like offices - you won't have to worry that you'll unleash your perfume on the entire floor with this one! So if you'd like to wear perfume, but you're concerned that your colleague in the next cubicle or your housemate sharing your room is sensitive to perfume, this is a good one to try because it doesn't carry very far. In fact, I kind of wish it had a larger sillage, because the scent is so pretty.

Wear time on this perfume was good. Half a day after I first sprayed this on, I could still smell it, although the wear combined with the already small sillage meant that I had to stick my nose to my wrist to be able to smell it. I think if the sillage were a bit larger the wear wouldn't have happened so fast. In fact, there isn't much about this that I don't like, other than I wish it had a longer wear time and a slightly larger sillage.



The best thing about Love, Chloe is that it's as universal as a department store perfume can be. Unlike some overly-sugared perfumes that seem to shamelessly target the Justin Bieber fanclub, Love, Chloe will smell lovely on pretty much everyone of any age group - I can envision my mother wearing it as beautifully as I do, an I can definitely see myself still wearing this a few decades down the road. Like a good neutral pink blush colour, or a pretty taupe eyeshadow, virtually anyone will be able to wear this. It has deftly managed to attain that rare quality of being accessible to all age groups, and easily appreciated, yet not boring or generic. This is a crowd pleaser, but with something extra for slightly more demanding noses.

And lastly, the bottle. I know that it's the scent inside that counts, but hey, a pretty bottle doesn't hurt either. This bottle is pretty basic, but what I really love about it is that the cap is attached to the bottle neck by a small gold chain. That's actually really nifty, because I'm always misplacing my bottle caps for fragrances. The decision to include the chain probably had more to do with aesthetics than practicality, but I'm glad to say the two coincide on this one!



So you don't need me to tell you to go and buy it, or at least try it out to see if it's something you'll like. Although I can't imagine who wouldn't like this, because it's so universal. If you're looking or a fresh floral that's still soft and comforting, this one is a good one to try. Heck, I'm going to put it out there and say that if you're female, this one is a good one to try. :P It is currently available exclusively at Harrods, but will be available from 22nd September nationwide in the UK.

(This product was sent to me for review. I am not affiliated with or compensated by the company. This review is my honest and complete opinion.)