Beauty and fragrance superstore chain Sephora opened their newest Oregon location on SW Morrison Street in the heart of downtown Portland, so those who live and work in the area no longer need to trek to the suburban malls to shop for their favorite brands. I visited the store on the grand opening day, September 30, 2011 and it was a lot of fun. The sales associates were energetic and enthusiastic and the mood was upbeat. The candy store layout of the shop encourages sampling of both cosmetics and fragrances, and the customers were eagerly doing both. The new store is a welcome addition to the downtown retail scene, especially since the holiday shopping season is just around the corner.
Of course I made a beeline to the back “wall of perfume” right away, but I was briefly distracted by the Philosophy Beauty display. I already like their iconic Amazing Grace fragrance, and I found the fresh green citrus-floral Eternal Grace to be very wearable as well. I will keep it in mind when summer returns.
Okay, on to the wall of perfume to try some new releases. I reached for the recent Kate Walsh Boyfriend, a Sephora exclusive, and found it to be much stronger than I had expected. A big, honking woody-amber note of the sort that is usually found in the cruder masculine scents dominated this one, while I was hoping for something with a more subtle approach. It got a bit sweeter and calmed down after a while, but it was very persistent, so if you are not a fan of this type of note in perfumes, approach with caution.
In contrast, another store exclusive, Jennifer Aniston is a white floral that started off with great promise rather in the style of the original Carolina Herrera fragrance with tuberose and jasmine. However, the good part only lasted about ten or fifteen minutes on my skin, after which, as the famous perfume writer Luca Turin would put it, “the money ran out.” It’s a shame, because I like white florals and they usually bloom nicely on my skin. Shortly after application, this fragrance became flat and nondescript, soon fading into oblivion. Ms. Aniston has claimed that she doesn’t really like perfume anyway, so why she put her name on one is a mystery. She got her wish though, because after a few minutes, this isn’t really a perfume.
The same held true for Taylor Swift’s Wonderstruck, a very pretty fruity-floral with a delightful opening, but literally within a minute the top notes began to disappear and it smelled like any of several hundred others of its kind about five minutes after that. It is baffling to me how much money goes into these celebrity scents for packaging and publicity, while ignoring the “juice” itself. Nice bottle though, and it’s aimed at tweens who will buy anything with their favorite star’s name on it so adults need not be concerned with it; harmless but disappointing.
Not shocking at all: CK One Shock for Her is anything but shocking, an insipid floral with such note descriptions as “jeweled poppy flower” which is interesting since poppies have no scent. The bottle looks like it’s meant for hair conditioner; I’ll pass.
Now for the hits: For grownups, Fan di Fendi is actually very nice, if not approaching the quality of the past greats from the house such as the late and much-lamented Theorema. Fan is a pretty, cool and refined floral perfume with a real surprise – a leather base note. Leather florals are uncommon so it’s good to see something different on the shelves. It begins with soft fruits, mercifully not too sweet, developing into a rose and jasmine heart and eventually a subtle “glove leather” base is revealed. This is one of those versatile fragrances that can easily go from day to evening. Extra points awarded for the stylish bottle. The sales associate made up a sample for me so I could test it at home, and it’s really very wearable.
Lady Million by Paco Rabanne is a perfume I wanted to dislike just for the silly name but I have to admit that it’s well done if not ground-breaking. It’s a klieg-light white floral softened with amber and a pleasing and unexpected honey note. It’s also big and bold so not for the shy; if you wish you could wear Flowerbomb but it’s just too much, try Lady Million as an alternative.
I almost hate myself for saying this, but the Kat Von D perfumes are not bad at all. I tried Saint, Sinner and Poetica, the last being the latest launch, released this year, and my favorite of the bunch with an admittedly saturated nose, as it was the last thing I tried on the day. White florals, exotic fruits, musk and amber comprise this offering. I will have to go back again to try 2010’s Adora which boasts hyacinth and mango, two of my favorite fragrance notes, and re-try the others for a full report later. Let’s just say they exceeded my expectations, which were admittedly low to start with. (I have to say that I really like her cosmetics line too.)
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