In Chandler Burr's book The Perfect Scent there is a description of a fragrance Sarah Jessica Parker blended herself which has always sounded tantalizingly sexy to me.
As perfume obsessives probably know it was supposedly a mix of Bonne Bell Musk, an oil from a street vendor in New York and the magical Commes De Garcon Avignon. Before reading this book it was about the last thing I would imagined SJP in but it seems she basically dislikes florals and loves dirty and incense scents.
Although this was the start of the idea for her hugely successful and I actually think excellent scent Lovely in the end it was decided it would be too risky and unusual for her first foray into the perfume market.
I have tried to create such a scent myself with limited success, in fact using musk oil, lovely and the CDG Avignon. I just felt that the combination wasn't really improving Avignon because it's such a good scent to start with (although actually it isn't at it's best on my skin- much to my dismay- but I am happy to spray it on clothes and on any men around me!).
SJP always seems to say she would like to revisit the idea of a more unisex, fuller and riskier scent but her subsequent perfumes haven’t ever really been anywhere near that first magical combination.
Now she and Coty have released the Lovely Collection- a trio of three scents Dawn, Endless and Twilight. Normally any kind of flanker has me yawning but I did read her saying that Twilight was something she had wanted to do for a long time, a more daring musk and my ears pricked up. Could this be the scent I have always wanted to try?
I am very sorry to say it isn't that scent. In fact bizarrely it smelt closer to her other scent Covet than Lovely to me. Admittedly I have had a cold but on the strip and on my skin it is extremely powdery- almost like talc! There is an undercurrent of something musk or incense based but it's totally overpowered by the powder.
It's a shame because I thought the Sarah Jessica Parker line started so well with Lovely, but nothing she has released since has been anywhere near so good.
Couldn't agree more about SJP's line Lovely was well lovely and Covet was horrible on me.
ReplyDeleteHi Jena, yes Lovely is worthy of the praise in my opinion- and very wearable.
ReplyDeleteI even admired her for Covet in that it's not my cup of tea really but it was a bit different but since that didn't do so well it all seems to have become a bit generic.
I'm the other way around - Covet works on me, Lovely doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI tried these three flankers, and was disappointed. Sniffing from the bottle, Twilight seemed the best, but on my skin it was 'meh' and gone in five minutes...
I'm sure SJP could do better. I suspect this was a 'it's a recession, let's stick to safe' decision.
Hi Tania, that's interesting. I really like Covet to start with and bought a little bottle because it was super cheap in a sale but once I got it home it didn't really seem to work on me.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree this range is perfume by numbers and I think they are playing it safe after Covet not generally doing so well.
Maybe next time she will do something more daring.