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Until a short time ago I had never heard of Annie Oakley fragrances. The famous sharp shooting cowgirl was a heroine of mine when I was a child, and I knew that her name had been used to sell all sorts of products back in the day, just like other famous people had and still do now, but I did not know about these perfumes. They are a more recent development, which I ran across at a local farm and garden store.
There are now nine feminine scents and two for men. Among the women’s offerings, I liked the White Lily and the Honeysuckle the best; they had a more natural aroma than some of the others. These are not top shelf fine fragrances by any means, but they are nice, and suitable for casual wear and for young ladies just starting to wear scent, as most of them are light in character. I know I would have jumped at the chance to wear an Annie Oakley perfume back when I was wishing I were the one in the fancy cowgirl outfit, brandishing my pistols while riding my trusty steed.
The men only get two scents, and Sagebrush is made in a relatively standard style, a bracing brew with lots of lime entwined with sage and sandalwood. It has the typical “manly” feel of a conventional masculine scent, but it’s not bad at all.
Of all of these, the biggest surprise and by far my favorite in the group is Stampede. It is warm and inviting and not at all what I expected. A woman could easily wear it as a sporty scent, as it does not give off a strictly masculine aura. The Annie Oakley web site does not list all the notes, but does say that it contains “woody herbals, cactus rose and the essence of Spanish moss.” Frankly, I have no idea what is meant by cactus rose, unless it is a nickname for cactus flowers, which to my knowledge do not exist in sufficient quantity to be used in perfumery. (I do detect some actual rose in this formula.) In any case, Stampede is much softer in character than many masculine types of cologne and is very easy to wear. It actually reminds me a bit of a lighter version of a well-known women’s perfume, Clinique Aromatics Elixir. That powerhouse perfume of the Seventies always appealed to me, but it was so strong it was hard to wear. Stampede has a similar mossy/grassy quality but it is far more restrained. After the opening of light, sweet citrus it gradually becomes woodier, with an undercurrent of soft musk, until it’s like being in a really nice horse barn with sweetly scented hay and freshly fluffed bedding. I can’t think of a nicer place to be.
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