Who doesn't love a bargain? I know that I do. So when I saw that Perfumes: The Guide gave Stetson's Lady Stetson four stars and compared it favorably to Chanel No. 22, I knew I had to try it. A trip to the drugstore and $4.95 later, I had an 11 ml bottle of Lady Stetson cologne spray in my hands.
The name "Lady Stetson" might lead you to believe that it smells like a set from Little House on the Prairie or like something a country western singer might wear. When you couple its name with the fact that it came out in 1986, you might even imagine it smelling like a sort of mega-cowgirl adorned in a rhinestone vest and flipping her bleached curls as she kicks up white ostrich ropers. Instead, Lady Stetson is a peachy, aldehydic floral with a sweet, medium-bodied drydown that might have suited Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie better than Charlene Tilton of Dallas.
Lady Stetson starts out with a brisk, tingly aldehyde rush. Soon the aldehydes wear down and the scent of peaches mixed with roses, tangerines, ylang ylang, and amber takes over. It is a lush, easy, drinkable brew — a sort of Snapple in a perfume bottle or what I imagine a supermarket viognier would taste like if it were packaged in cans like beer. Lady Stetson smells as proper but approachable as your high school boyfriend's mother. You can't help but like it. But do you love it?
For my Lady Stetson style of fragrance, I already have and adore Caron Nocturnes, which I find more interesting but just as friendly as Lady Stetson. Other aldehydic florals I prefer but that aren't quite as affable as Nocturnes or Lady Stetson are Guerlain Vega, Balenciaga Le Dix, and Robert Piguet Baghari.
Bottom line: if the perfume genies granted me any four-star perfume listed in Perfumes: The Guide, Lady Stetson would fall to the bottom on the list as I snatched up the wickedly beautiful Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower, Amouage Jubilation 25, Vero Profumo Onda, or even Chanel No. 22 instead. But if you are looking for a perfume that is both fancy (the aldehydes) and welcoming (the fruit, flowers, and amber) and you only have a five-spot in your pocket, Lady Stetson is just the ticket.
Note: image via Parfum de Pub.
Ooo, I've been jonesing for that Baghari, and now I have to try it – it's Angela-approved! (Another four star, too.) I've bought Tocade for $10 and it's five-star, in my opinion and seemingly most other people's, so I think I'll stick with that.
Is it just my lewd imagination or is that ad a little, um, suggestive?
*Helpless laughter*…I hadn't noticed that!
Someday, I, too, will have a bottle of Baghari. I keep thinking that I can't really justify it until my bottle of Le Dix runs dry, but if I see a good deal at a discounter, I know I won't be able to resist.
I really like Tocade, but I always felt like I was wearing someone else's dress when I put it on, so I swapped it away. I loved the bottle, too.
E, Holy smokes, you're right! And you can't tell me it was an accident, either. Well well Lady S…
VG, gotta love those '80s. Nothing subtle about it.
What a blast from the past. My sister in law gave me a Lady Stetson giftset back in the day, probably after it first came out. I wore Chanel Coco at the time and was kind of a perfume snob (not anymore, I'll try anything.) I remember being surprised that LS smelled so good. It must be noted that we all lived in Texas at that time, and the movie Urban Cowboy wasn't that old, and there was a big surge in popularity of precisely the white ostrich Ropers you so accurately describe. I, a girl from the midwest, had no less than four pairs of cowboy boots and I hated country music. I don't esp want to revisit Lady Stetson but I do wish I still had my Frye boots with the multicolor stiching
Those boots do sound great! Someone somewhere is probably still wearing them, Frye boots hold up so well.
I have a couple of pairs of cowboy boots in my closet, truth be told. My father shoes horses, though, so I figure wearing cowboy boots is part of my birthright.
In the vein of “If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all” I will just say that I commend you for trying and reviewing all fragrances!
You should see the stuff Robin reviews! Lady Stetson is a walk in the park compared to a lot of those celebrity flanker scents.
Exactly! It is a little suggestive….. Not like the 80's were subtle in any way!
Goodness, Caron Nocturnes brings back memories….
Hey Angela –
What do you know about the male counter part (it's not called “Man Stretson”, is it?). The Guide gives it 4 stars as well……hmmmmm…..maybe worth a trip down to the drugstore???
Marko
I really like Nocturnes, although I have a hunch that not everyone agrees with me. But if you haven't smelled it in a while, it's worth a sniff, especially if you don't mind an aldehydic lift.
I haven't tried Man Stetson (dorky name!) but I'd love to know what you think of it if you try it.
I know, I can't stop laughing at it!
Don't get me wrong, your review was great, I just don't care for Lady Stetson. And I really do appreciate the reviews of every class of perfume.
I totally agree about the flankers! The bottles are all so similar and the perfume seems to be, too!
It is really funny!
I knew just what you meant and took your comment to be pure sympathy, which I appreciated. I'm planning to do reviews of some other drugstore fragrances, so stay tuned.
And for a completely worthless bit of trivia, a big bottle of Lady Stetson can be seen in the bathroom of the character that Susan Sarandon played in “White Palace.”
This is exactly the sort of trivia I love! Someday I want to do a post of Perfume in the Movies.
OMG. How amusing this review is and where else could I possible have read about Lady Stetson and Amouage in the same breath?!
Wow, how great to see this review! I also was very curious about the Stetson fragrances after reading the guide. I must say, I like Lady Stetson very much. And I am always so pleased when my husband says “What is that you are wearing? It is very nice!”, and I am wearing a cheap drugstore or TJMaxx scent like Lady Stetson, lol. I love cheap thrills.
Angela, do you think it really does resemble Chanell 22? I have never smelled it.
And speaking of drugstore scents, I bought Chanel No. 5 at CVS today!
Yep, we at NST try to satisfy all our readers…
Wow! Real Chanel No. 5 at a drugstore? I didn't know they were doing that these days (although I have seen Shalimar at my local Walgreen's).
As far as I'm concerned, you'll never confuse Lady Stetson with Chanel No. 22. They're related in that they're both floral aldehydes with a fat emphasis on the aldehydes, but Lady S. is much fruitier and less complex than No. 22. No. 22, to me, is more elegant, and I like its incense base better than the amber, “oriental lite” base of Lady Stetson.
Yes, they had No. 5 EDT and Shalimar in both EDT and EDC! In fact I was sort of hoping for a more “cheap” collection of frags, but alas, lol
I will have to try Chanel No. 22. I usually ave great luck with the Chanel line.
I'd love to know what you think of No. 22 and Lady Stetson, if you try them.
…I mean, try them together, of course.
LOL :))
When I was about 15-16 years old, I remember buying Lady Stetson for about 12$? I would wear it until my mother said : ''you're wearing a grown-up smell!!''
I realized she was right, Stetson was a bold in-your-face fragrance so I gave her the bottle. At the time, she would wear Evening in Paris (by Avon???) and Chanel 19. Anyways, these adult scents suited her better.
I went back to wearing Anaïs for a couple of years….
I cannot stop reading this blog!
Your reviews are great…Even if I don't always agree, I am reading and learning English at the same time. Fun!
Question for you, for fun (not sure you've been asked that) ''which discontinued fragrances would you like to have return on the market?'' ???
S
I cannot stop reading this blog!
Your reviews are great…Even if I don't always agree, I am reading and learning English at the same time. Fun!
Question for you, for fun (not sure you've been asked that) ''which discontinued fragrances would you like to have return on the market?'' ???
S
Original Diorissimo by Christian Dior; original Tosca by Muehlens, Red Heels by Dana.
My husband and I dearly wanted a speed boat for waterskiing so we decided to take part-time retail jobs at a local mall one holiday season to feed our 'boat fund'.The employee parking lot was just outside the mall's drugstore and we had to pass the fragrance and cosmetics counter to reach the mall center. As we were usually coming directly from our day jobs and hadn't had time to refresh our grooming, we'd often grab a spritz of whatever tester was on the counter as we passed by. Stetson and Lady Stetson were very popular at that time so those would often be the fragrances we'd spritz.
“Mr.” Stetson smelled great on my husband. It was all leather and horse and sage and other cowboy-related notes and actually suited him quite well.
“Mrs” Stetson was not quite as good a fit for me, but it was perky and peppy and had some pretty decent lasting power, as I recall.
I surely do miss the days when all the stores had testers readily available without having to round up a sales clerk and plead for them. What a shame that the overall moral character of Americans declined to the point where testers developed 'legs' and started walking out the door, making it cost-prohibitive for even the humblest of retailers to offer them readily.
I saw that review too! My mom still has her bottle, I will smell it just to see what your talking about.
I know!
Lady Stetson does smell grown up, although Anais Anais shares a little of the same style, I think. Is that what you still wear?
Evening in Paris is a great old classic by Bourjois, I think.
I'm so glad you like the blog!
If I could wave my magic wand, I'd have Lanvin Scandal, Millot Crepe de Chine, Fath Iris Gris, and the old formulation of Dior Diorling reappear on the market. A girl can dream….
I love it that you and your husband are such a great team! And it's funny that you did the “his and hers” Stetsons, too.
I hope you got that boat.
It's worth a smell, and who knows? You might love it!
Anaïs seems more subtle to me, I think it might have been one of my first ever fragrance purchase, along with L'effleur.
I would not wear Anaïs now, for some reason, I'm all-over-the place perfumewise. Lately I usually wear Sables by AG, Dark Amber & Ginger Lily (Malone), Feminité du bois (bottle's almost empty!!). Then sometimes Organza indecence, when I want some ''special attention'' from my man, and Boudoir (VW), when I want to get evyerbody else's attention (it smells strong) –not a Summer smell.
Oh my, I need to find out what these fragrances are, I am no connaisseur. I would suspect that I would fall for the Diorling… Lanvin Scandal? By the name it must smell like ''my sin' but more sexy?
I really would love to have Armani, the original smell. It's nothing strinkingly amazing, it's a warm comforting smell. I have one drop left that looks like caramel now it's original bottle… Not sure if Emeraude still exists, mom used to wear that too, in the early 90's. I didn't really like it though. But she asked me if it existed still the other day… Memories!!!
I second the Feminité du bois, such a lovely fragrance. Do they still make it?
I remember the original Armani–I remember really liking it although I have no memory now of what it smelled like.
Emeraude is still on the market. You should be able to pick it up at the drugstore.
N, all those perfumes sound wonderful. And there's nothing wrong with being all over the map!
It's not easy to get, but it's still being made.
I saw it a few times around here (montreal)… But now you got me worried!!!!!
I actually fell in love with in the 90's when a male friend of mine was wearing it.. I thought it suited him well. I find it's a unisex smell. It's not as mainstream anymore. I'll never get tired of it.
I've gone and lent my copy of Perfumes: The Guide to a friend so I can't refer back to it, but didn't Tania Sanchez make fun of Stetson, saying it was the most unmasculine masculine scent imaginable?
Anyway, I think it's terrific; piney-resinous at the top, then warm and balsamic all the way through, with leather, tobacco, and lots of vanilla and amber. Cheap as hell, but gorgeous; if you like warm ambery scents, it's just as sexy as all get-out. If you told someone it was a niche scent from some little Italian perfume house they'd probably believe you.
OK… The first thing that struck me about the ad was the precise placement of the bottle over the joyous woman's crotch… lol
It's a classic.
Well, with that recommendation, I'm definitely going to try it. Thanks!
And you can't tell me it was an accident, either.
Stetson for men (it's just called Stetson in Canada!) is a delicious masculine guilty pleasure for me. Not sickly sweet or overpowering like some 80's men's scents. Just soft sexy man skin. Love it. I guess if I were to compare it to something Ralph Lauren Chaps might come close. It is not strong enough imho to be offensive. Je l'adore
This sounds like a definite must try for me. Thanks!
As recently as six months ago, I couldn't stand aldehydes. Now I quite enjoy Le Dix, Baghari, and yes, Lady Stetson. I'd love to try comparing it to Chanel No. 22, but an SA at Saks told me it was being discontinued.
No. 22 discontinued?! Discontinued at Saks, sure, but definitely not by Chanel. Chanel did stop (as far as I know) making the small bottles of EdT and distributing them widely and instead started packaging it with Les Exclusifs in 200-ml bottles to be sold only in special locations. The SA shouldn't go around giving perfume lovers like me shocks like that!
Ohh I hope that's not true, that's an oldie but goodie. I'll have to call my Saks SA and get the scoop.. This is just the kind of thing that gets me all fired up and buying 20 bottles to have a backup supply…..
Well, now I really need to hunt No. 22 down and try it!
Every perfume lover needs to give it a sniff!