Miss Boucheron is the latest fragrance from the French jewelry house Boucheron, and like most everything else from everyone else, is positioned to attract younger consumers to the brand. In this case, the target market is said to be 25-35 year old women:
"This is for young women who can allow themselves certain liberties," said Jean-Christophe Bdos [sic, = Bedos], chief executive officer of Boucheron. "Miss Boucheron is there to upset the status quo. She is a modern woman." (via Women's Wear Daily, 3/2/2007)
Miss Boucheron was developed by perfumers Anne Flipo and Dominique Ropion, and the notes include bergamot, pomegranate, pink pepper, cyclamen, violet, rose, white suede, cedar and musk.
As with yesterday's Coach, I'll start with the packaging. I love it. The regular Eau de Parfum bottle is PINK, and while I'm getting rather tired of pink perfumes, this one stands out for using hot pink instead of pastel-girly-pink, and the turquoise cap gives it somthing of a jaunty air. But it is the 10 ml refillable "jewel" bottle (shown) that really caught my eye. It is on a cord so you can wear it around your neck or around your wrist, and while I'll readily admit that I'm not likely to do either, it ranks awfully high on the cute factor. Useless, to be sure, but now I'd like all my favorite perfumes to be in 10 ml jewel-topped bottles on cords.
The fragrance itself is nice enough, although again as with yesterday's Coach scent, it doesn't quite live up to its presentation. It starts with peppered tropical fruits, sweet but not so much so as to bring on a toothache. The heart is sheer bright florals, dominated by rose but sheer and blended enough so that nothing really stands out on its own for more than a few minutes. The base is cool and pale, as is the current fashion, and while it stays fruity through much of its development, the end is much drier than the opening. The white suede contributes a bit of depth without smelling more than subtly animalic.
Miss Boucheron is cheerful and light, and more clean than not (it could pass as the summer limited edition flanker to some heavier scent), and as advertised, has a modern, youthful presence. It certainly smells "younger" and more casual than its forebears in the Boucheron line-up (Boucheron, Trouble, Jaipur, among others). Boucheron is calling it a "floral woody" fragrance, but it smells an awful lot like a fruity floral to me, and while it is far from a sugar-coated fruit concoction for tweens, anyone who has been paying attention to recent trends in fragrance will likely get a chuckle out of the notion of "upsetting the status quo" with pomegranate and pink pepper, both of which are very nearly ubiquitous these days.
So: a very wearable, perfectly pleasant scent, and a good match with its relatively tame moniker. It is nicer, to be sure, than much of what I've smelled on the fragrance counters this spring, so it seems almost churlish to point out that it is neither exciting nor innovative, but there it is. It doesn't exactly ooze personality. It does suit me considerably more than the heavier, sweeter Coach scent, and I wish I had one of the pretty bottles to swing around on its cord, but at $102 (at Nordstrom), I'm not likely to shell out for the privilege.
Boucheron Miss Boucheron is an Eau de Parfum, and is packaged in 50 and 100 ml spray bottles or in the refillable 10 ml bottle on a cord. A 50 ml refill bottle is also available, as are matching body products.
More pink pepper. I am surprised there is no litchi. Sounds utterly dull and unlikely to upset the status quo :-), but the presentation is just really sooo cute.
M, it isn't exciting — and nobody would call it cutting edge — but I hate to call it dull. It is so much better than most of the rest of the new stuff. Do smell it!
I'm looking forward to trying it, actually — I hope they have it at my local Nordstrom.
Off the top of my head: is there any fragrance called “Miss” that we really love? Sigh. I'm not sure I was ever a miss, even in my early 20s. On the other hand, I agree with you, that is just one of the cutest packages to come down the pike.
Sigh. Such a beautiful bottle deserves a beautiful perfume to go with it…not just another mildly pleasant fruity floral!
There's only one “Miss” fragrance for me, and that's Miss Dior (the older one, not that “Cherie” what-have-you).
Cyclamen. Ugh. Another one of those notes that seems to pop up everywhere and which I usually read as a code word to warn of a pleasant, but uninspiring (for me) scent.
I'm with you in wishing that all my scents could come in 10ml jewel topped bottles on cords. *Love* that!
for me, the only Miss i love is Miss Dior – the original, not the newer version that smells nothing like it. and some others might also enjoy Miss Balmain – which isn 't wimpy.
So cute, OMG! Although scoring zero on the practical use scale. The Coach tag I can see myself carry on a purse and use as intended. Estee Lauder had a tradition of issuing a different collectible solid perfume compact every year (I don't know if they still do it). It never caught on in a big way, I think because of the price, the impracticality, and the compacts didn't appeal to the young set. What *can* you do with cloisonné crowns and crystal-crusted Cinderella coaches, except to stick them into a glass display case.
However, with the Coach tag and now this Boucheron jewel, perhaps the miniature trend will return and take off in a new direction. If my favorite perfume house (cough cough, Hermes) starts issuing little 10ml collectibles that has other uses outside the glass case, I would be in trouble. And broke.
As commenters mention below, Miss Dior! I And wondering if it didn't sound quite so “tame” then, before Poison & Addict, etc? “Miss Boucheron” sounds awfully well behaved after Trouble & Jaipur.
Perhaps you'll love it more than I did!
Interesting — pomegranate & pink pepper are so trendy now — I do like them, but they caught my eye immediately. Cyclamen I don't even think I noticed. Is it another new trend, or just a note you don't care for?
Miss Balmain is another I haven't tried. Miss Rocaille I do like, but can't claim it is a masterpiece or anything. Trying to think of others: Miss Habanita, Miss Marisa (and all the rest of the Ebbas) are all I can think of.
Seriously, the first thing I thought of wasn't that I could wear it, but that I could swing it around on its cord. Maybe use it to knock somebody out. LOL!
EL still does the compacts. They are so cute, but as you say, what to do with them?
What we need from Hermes: a charm bracelet, and each “charm” holds one of the Hermessences in solid form. Sign me up!
Now that's a great idea. Dior does those charms but it's usually a lipgloss. What I think of with this scent is that it seems that the *no longer miss* is the one that wants to “upset the status quo” -by wearing something unusual.
At least the notes aren't coated w/ adjectives, like frosted musk or dewy pomengranate ( or furry suede or impassioned rose, etc.)
So true on the “no longer miss”!
But in general I delete the “dewy”, etc, unless I'm in a hurry or think it actually has some meaning in terms of the smell, or unless I just find it funny — and sometimes, the notes are VERY funny! So can't say if these are the same notes Boucheron is using in their ad copy
Heh, buy two and use them as bolas! Whoosh whoosh!
The charm is a great idea but wouldn't it be too big? Gosh, I can't imagine wearing a bracelet with all the charms attached, when I want to freshen up it would be an identity crisis … which to wear, which to wear … ? I would love something cute to attach to my keychain. The keitai and kawaii culture of Japan spawned clusters of cute dangley charms on cell phones, everyone who has a cell phone (everybody) has a charm strap. How cool would it be to have a refillable charm for your phone, yes?
Robin, did you not get my email?
I am a slug, sorry — just responded!
Yes, I guess they'd have to be tiny little charms, and wouldn't hold much actual perfume. Still, guessing they'd sell! Especially if they sold all the Hermes scents separately and you could add them. Or, as you said, attach the charm to your cell, or your purse or whatever. Hermes needs to call me, I already have the design
Just wanted to say that if I could *afford* to start another collection, I would definitely be getting the Estee Lauder compacts. My GOD they are gorgeous. I am completely fascinated by them.
It's not as ubiquitous as pomegranate and pink pepper, but, like freesia, it has been popping up in a number of scents that are fairly decent, but still make me yawn. It's a polite note and tends to be in polite fragrances.
Obvious comment: Sounds quite a bit like their MyQueen. But a better bottle.
*sigh* Will try.
Whenever a note like that starts cropping up all over the place, I assume one of the cos. has developed a new, cheap synthetic
LOL at your first thought, and the knock out!
I would love a charm bracelet of the Hermessences! I bet it'd be wildly expensive though
Nice bottle….but then again Boucheron has never been one of my favourite perfume houses. Good marketing though.
They aren't my favorite house either, but so agree on the bottle & marketing — nicely done.
Rosarita, your post made me smile. Some people look forward to the Escada LE's to see what they smell like. To me, they're all the same , but I just get a kick out of seeing how creative they can get with naming the notes. Dried Victoria Apple… Costa Rican Driftwood? Does that smell any different than driftwood from the Jersey shore?
I'm not a huge fan of the sweetened-up, fruit-tarty “Miss” flankers, but Miss Boucheron is, to my nose, in a different category. In fact, it's my favorite Boucheron of all. Floral and richly woody, with good sillage and staying power, youthful without being childish. more than simply mildly memorable — in fact, it's been on my mind since I spritzed it at the stores a couple of months ago, and I might just break down and buy it! There's something very classy and “French” about it while still being modern and fresh. Just one nose's opinion. . .
Not to imply that Miss Boucheron is technically a flanker. You know what I mean. . .
Completely agree with “youthful without being childish”
Very elegant, not so heavy as classical. Noticeable , eminent notes. I like it ,byt it is't my favorite
It is nicely done — it isn't my favorite either, but as the 2007 releases continue to arrive, it is looking better & better to me!