While Robin is on vacation, I'm continuing the annual tradition of hijacking the blog for a week of themed reviews. Last year we did drugstore scents. This year? A walk through the mall. Our first stop is at Victoria's Secret, where I was lucky enough to score a tiny black lace bag with samples of each of the four new Parfums Intimes.
First, let me say that it had been a long time since I'd been in a Victoria's Secret. I'm a girly girl, but Victoria's Secret was still a shock. I felt as if I'd walked into an exploded beauty pageant dressing room. That store must keep half of China busy making panties. To add to the air of unreality, sales associates roamed the floor wearing portable headsets, sort of like linebacker coaches, only cuter and using cleaner language.
And the perfume area! One wall was lined with the Secret Garden series of lotions, shower gels, and body washes in scents with names like Berry Kiss and Delicate Petals. You could buy seven of them for $35. A new line called "Pink" seemed to focus on the training bra set. The Dream Angels series (Dream Angels Heavenly, Dream Angels Desire, Dream Angels Wish, you get the idea) filled yet another shelf. A sales associate told me that Dream Angels Heavenly was the best selling fragrance in the United States. For the "I have a push up bra in every color" gal, one of the lines offered a bottle that purrs when you lift it and another bottle topped with a tuft of pink faux maribou. The Sexy Little Things line looks calculated to appeal to the classic bombshell type and features perfume bottles with bulb atomizers.
Parfums Intimes, Victoria's Secret's newest and most expensive line of fragrances, debuted in April. It consists of four scents, each named after a different fabric. According to Marie Claire magazine, Victoria's Secret's Vice President for Innovation spent six months perfecting the line ("that's three months longer than he devoted to his last hit," the article said). I was ready to be underwhelmed. But Parfums Intimes exceeded my snobbish expectations. Parfums Intimes may not break new ground, but they're nice.
Satin Rose de Mai (rose de mai, Asian honeysuckle, pink grapefruit, and mandarin flower) is a light, sheer rose with a little bit of an earthy, fruity, pear-like undertone. There's nothing powdery or old-fashioned about this rose, and yet there's nothing new happening with it, either. Still, it's a nice rose.
Silk Mandarin Santal (Chinese mandarin, sandalwood, mimosa, honeyed musk, and whitewood notes) was the most interesting of the four to me. It also had the most development. Silk Mandarin Santal goes on with a burst of orange that is a little too much like Tang for my taste. The Tang scent fades within five minutes as a warm sandalwood takes over. Then the sandalwood becomes peppery. To tell the truth, I was surprised that pink pepper wasn't listed in its notes. A touch of orange peel lingers into the finish.
Cashmere Vanilla Jasmine (Mediterranean purple orchid, jasmine absolute, cedarwood, and heliotrope) is a gourmand scent best saved for autumn. I've been testing this in 100 degree weather, and I don't recommend it for anyone prone to migraines. The fragrance explodes in the heat. Jasmine keeps the woody vanilla from turning straight into a praline. It wears like iron. I predict this one will sell well.
Lace Orange Flower (orange flower absolute, Chinese osmanthus, pink grapefruit, and watery dewdrops) is a feminine neroli with the apricot-like undertone of osmanthus and a touch of juicy citrus giving it a young feel. (Don't even get me started on "watery dewdrops".) Lace Orange Flower is the lace of a bridal gown more than of a bustier. It's pretty.
Final verdict? Someone who buys from the Secret Garden wall of bargain scents and who discovers Parfums Intimes is in for a treat. But once her bottle of Cashmere Vanilla Jasmine or Satin Rose de Mai is finished, she might find herself drawn to the richer world of Chanel, Hermès, and all the niche lines that beg to be explored. For that alone, Parfums Intimes has done a real service.
Each of the Victoria's Secret Parfums Intimes costs $55 for a 50 ml bottle of Eau de Parfum or $28 for a 250 ml bottle of Body Mist, or you can buy a set of each of the fragrances in 7 ml bottles of Eau de Parfum for $42.
Now you got me curious about visiting that shop. May not be my cup of tea but sure sounds like a cool experience. We don’t have Victoria Secret in Canada (as far as I know) and I didn’t know they had so many perfumes!
It’s kind of overwhelming, to tell the truth–sort of like the Las Vegas of lingerie. But I was really surprised at how much perfume they sell. I bet it sells well, too. Going to the mall really woke me up to how out of touch I am with mainstream America.
I think that’s something to be proud of, Angela. 🙂
But I’m so proud of how salt of the earth I am! And it turns out I’m a total snob!
LOL, welcomed to the club!
It’s not being snobbish just because you’re not sucked into rampant consumerism.
Cashmere Vanilla Jasmine sounds a lot like FlowerBomb.
I thought it was more gourmand than Flowerbomb, but I’d love to know what you think if you smell it.
More gourmand? I bet it’ll sell really well.
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
I tried the Cashmere recently and to me FLower Bomb has more depth, deep rich woods and flowers. VS Cashmere to me smells more ambery-sweet (on skin anyway).
Thanks for the comparison!
The Cashmere and the Lace sound wonderful to me. I went into a Victoria’s Secret a few months ago to smell this line, but the entire store was magically out of blotter strips, and there was nothing to spray them on. :/ I certainly don’t venture into Victoria’s Secret that often, so it will probably be awhile before I get to smell these.
No blotter strips! That’s amazing. You’d think they’d have had them overnighted, they have so many fragrances to sample. If you do get the chance to smell them, I’d love to know what you think.
once upon a time, before I was a true perfumista, I wore, among stuff I bought at TJ Maxx (Fendi Asja, Burberry Society, Coriandre and Sung from what I can remember) I used to wear VS stuff. This was back in the day when Penhaligons did their scents (I wore Her Majesty’s Rose and remember VS’s ‘Bluebell’ – same scent), then later when they came out with the Garden range (I wore Freesia almost exclusively for a while) when they actually had some pretty stuff – I belive they did a juniper scent, even. And don’t get me started on the original ‘Victoria’ scent. That, I think is a beautiful, adult boudoir scent without clouds of vanilla. Shame all these got discontinued. Certainly the shift is now to (in their lingerie as well) a ‘girly’ woman or just later high school/college girls rather than women. Anyone else remember the catalogues with Famke Janssen, Stephanie Seymour, with all the lovely jewel tones, brocades and silk stuff?
Wow, Penhaligon’s did their original scents? I never smelled any of them, and I’m so sorry. The original Victoria sounds fabulous. I wonder if they’d consider bringing back any of the originals, or if they are too expensive to make now or simply wouldn’t speak to their market these days.
they were, for the most part exactly what Penhaligon’s sells now! Bluebell was the same Bluebell, Her Majesty’s Rose is Penhaligon’s Elizabethan Rose, I believe! They even came in the same bottles – I had bought my mother a ‘VS’ Bluebell in the same Penhaligon’s style bottle one year from TJ Maxx back in the 80’s!
Amazing!
I was a college girl when the Vicky’s Secret catalogs started popping up in my dorm-mates’ mailboxes. Amid the elegant but shocking (well, to me, whose mother was appalled when at the age of 16, I first bought a bra that was anything other than Plain White Nylon) lingerie, there were also sweetly romantic embroidered cotton nightgowns. I longed for one.
I remember smelling the original Victoria at the mall a few years later, and it was lovely. I couldn’t afford it, or I’d have bought it and then been crushed when it was discontinued. VS did a whole line of scented body products in the vein of BBW for some time, but those were scrapped in the early/mid ’90s in favor of the Dream Angels line, which is about when I lost interest …
Do you remember what Victoria smelled like? Everyone makes it sound so nice!
I absolutely could not describe it, at this point. I did not at the time have any experience with perfume that couldn’t be bought at a Rexall, other than my mom’s No. 5 cologne, and my impression of it at this stretch of time is, um, fuzzy at best! My best guess is that it might have been a floral oriental, because I remember it as being very feminine and very warm – perhaps with rose and amber, certainly a scent I would have loved to have worn. Sigh…
I once owned a knee-length VS chemise, in heavy teal satin with 4-inch cream lace. It was modest and romantic. Ah, how times have changed. Who does lingerie like that anymore?
A rose-amber scent sounds exactly like what I’d imagine. Maybe with a hint of patchouli and a fresh green or mandarin-hint of a top note.
La Perla, but it’s’ pricey! I’d rather spend my bucks on Perfume and be warm! 😛
VS’s three original scents were Victoria, Rapture, and Encounter. Rapture is the only one they still sell, and I believe that is the oriental. I can’t remember for certain, but I think Victoria was a chypre. And to the person that mentioned juniper–yes they had a juniper line–I notice things like that since it’s my name ;-). (I have the juniper bottle that was a flower stem-the cap is the flower-and a stand came with the bottle–anyone remember those?)
Good information, thank you! We could do a history of Victoria’s Secret here.
I still have that pear scent with holder and and the stem and flower design. I still wear Rapture, an unusual Bulgarian rose. I still have an empty body of Victoria, and it was sexy, classy..very English and probably is a chypre?
That’s when Victoria’s secret was plusher and carried more romantic apparel, before the mass marketing. Before racier and youth pleasing took off. Before they took off from the very sweet and pretty reputation. They still sell the *original Pink*..neroli and tuberose with some green which I love on occasion.
even though Pink has branched out to fruity scents and tween underthings.
I have always had this feeling that perfumistas haven’t gave V,S, a fair chance. But I think the snobbery is obvious now.
If I feel like I should be shopping somewhere, I remember Frederick’s Of Hollywood is just a few doors down.
Those old VS scents sound really lovely and so fitting for, especially, what they used to be. I did pop my head into Frederick’s of Hollywood the other day to see if they had a perfume, and they have some scented, um, massage oils.
Yes, I remember those catalogs. VS was a different store back in the day. The catalogs were tasteful, with good photography and gorgeous settings (always seemed to be set in a French chateau). The lingerie was more expensive and tended to be imported from Europe. And the perfume …. yes, I remember it as being very much like Penhaligons. Back in the early 80s I wore their Stephanotis regularly. It was lovely.
Sounds nice. Especially the chateau part. There’s no chateau about VS these days.
In a nutshell, I think the VS woman now is a girl next door sorority gal style bombshell tomboy who watched football and drinks beer with you (in her lingerie presumably) and the VS woman from the late 80-‘s early 90’s was a well travelled intelligent sopisticate who could choose from a wine list and seduce you in French. Le sigh :-p
The first Victoria’s Secret I went into had to be 20 years ago, and it was just as you describe it. I remember buying a gorgeously made, charmeuse bra and panty set with tatted silk lace. It looked like a 1930s design–no elastic anywhere. Everything was fastened by tiny, mother of pearl buttons.
Yeah, I had forgotten how much they’ve changed over the years. I recall buying Victorian lace nightgowns there in when I was in high school, as I fancied them the perfect thing to wear while reading Jane Eyre in bed at night. What I really wanted were the beautiful corsets and bustiers they sold at the time as well, but my mother wasn’t having any of that.
They really have changed. When I was 18 — 20 years ago — my best friend bought me a gorgeous Victorian-looking nightie thing from VS, which is so beautiful I still have it. It looks nothing like anything they sell today!
Sounds just like the set I bought.
Good old mom. Making sure her girl doesn’t become a hussy too early on.
that’s right….there’s plenty of time later on to become a hussy.
I bought my first ‘adult ‘lingerie there; a few pretty pieces – all well made. I really liked VS then; now my 16 yr old step daughter shops there and it’s perfect for her lifestyle.
They might do a better business that way, too.
So in other words, they went from Catherine Deneuve to Kendra from “The Girls Next Door.” No wonder I don’t shop there. (Ok, so I’ve been known to buy bubble bath…but that’s it! I swear! Oh….and there’s the body sprays I bought during a hypoglycemic fit of bad judgment. But, uh, other than that…)
I still have a sneaking craving for the Pear Glace stuff from time to time. And the Amber Romance pretty nice too, when you want a very gourmand amber. I think the quality of the body creams and bath/shower stuff isn’t too bad, actually.
I am a fan of the Amber Romance too. 🙂
LOL “hypoglycemic fit of bad judgment” —oh boy, do I hear that! Next time try something protein rich and lay down for a bit….better for your blood, better for your wallet.
It’s at least better than the one time in my life I went to the mall drunk (after a conference on child abuse, no less). It was years ago, so I don’t remember much, but I do recall buying ruffly panties at Fredericks of Hollywood (where the REAL trashy ladies shop…like me!), thinking it was a good idea to buy a lot of cookies, and being terribly frightened of the massage chairs in the mall. Just buying Costco-sized bottles of Love Spell and Strawberries and Champagne suddenly doesn’t seem so bad by comparison.
Hey, you got me wondering if Fredericks of Hollywood has its own perfume? If not, they should have!
Yes–we should all carry string cheese in our purses!
Um, okayyyyyy….I was thinking more along the lines of a nutrition bar. LOL oh, the mental image of finding a years old string cheese at the bottom of my purse! ack!
I was just talking to the PR person for Organic Valley dairy, so I guess that’s why string cheese came to mind.
Ha-ha – “Catherine Deneuve to Kendra”! Perfect.
I agree!
I just had to Google to find out who Kendra was. Good grief.
Not exactly living the Emily Post life, is she?
Now it’s time for true confessions!
I dunno, I avoid the Mall like the Plague….and I’ve had some bad headachey experience with those Heavenly scents, that has resulted in an anti-VS prejudice. If I somehow find myself accidentally in the mall I will do my duty and stop in the VS for a sniff….in the meantime I will ponder what dew-drops would be other than ‘watery’ ?
Frankly, having a dog and all, I’d be mighty suspicious of dew drops that did not smell “watery”.
I was thinking that very exact same thing….but for once was trying to curb my naughty type-whatever-pops-into-your-head-fingers.
Thank you for filling in the gap. 😉
Any time!
probably ‘sparkling’, ‘misty’, ‘frosty/frosted’ or ‘frozen’. most of which are all variants of watery anyway 😀
I do find perfume ad copy to be quite entertaining. I always imagine them thumbing feverishly thru their Roget’s looking for even more floofy descriptives!
Hmmm…something “refreshingly glacial” should be coming our way soon. That or something “hoary” :).
Hmmmm. Many years and pounds ago, I remember buying a stunning nightgown/pegnoir set @ VS to take on vacation. Very film noir, IIRC. Fast forward to my daughter’s wedding several years ago, and my attempt to find something classy and gorgeous as a gift. Don’t know if they’ll come out with a fragrance labelled as *hoary*, but the word with different spelling certainly describes the lingerie these days.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, lol – just read my comment and realized how disapproving it sounded 🙂
Better “hoary” than “whore-y”, I guess (pardon my French).
well, ladies, doesn’t matter how it’s spelled it’s gonna sound the same when you have to tell someone what you’re wearing. Twice as bad when they respond “yes, I know…but what is it called?”
As Guerlain learned with their ill named Mahora!
LOL! Hoary…that’s perfect.
Actually, we’re on the downside of a heat wave where I live, and glacial sounds divine!
You should enter the Eau Faux contest when NST posts it again! The responses are hilarious.
“Sparkling” is always popular.
I haven’t been in a VS for years. I still have a [very pretty glass stoppered] bottle of the Victoria bath oil, that has a little bit of the contents left in it. It really was a lovely scent [or at least I thought so at the time – I haven’t been able to remove the stopper from my bottle for quite a while now to refresh my memory]. I haven’t been tempted by a VS scent in a long while until now. Hmmm – that set of the four different fragrances sure sounds interesting… 🙂 Thanks for the review!
Glass stoppered, even. That’s a darn sight classier than anything I saw on my trip to VS, except maybe for the Parfums Intimes.
Hi Angela. I laughed but darn near cried at your line about keeping half of China busy making panties. Ah, the joys of the global sweatshop trade!
Needless to say, I’m not in VS’s target audience (trust me on this), and I doubt I’ll ever try these, but you’ve done a great job reviewing these scents. I’m glad you admit that your snobbish expectations were exceeded — most of us admit that cheap can be fun and smell kind of good to boot. I found myself GREATLY enjoying a sample atomizer of CSP Vanille Coco on Saturday night. I look forward to the rest of your week with us!
Also, BRAVA! for testing ANYTHING in 100-degree weather. What the heck’s going on up there? I’ve gotten so used to our daily 75-degree high that I’m not sure I could EVER live anywhere else again.
I took the samples to the basement, which is where I set up camp with an air mattress, my clock radio, and a reading lamp. Perfume was a lot more bearable down there.
Yes! I second Joe in thanking you for your bravery in going above and beyond the call of duty to keep us informed and entertained. Braving the mall AND the heat. But it was a very enjoyable review!
The mall was the easy part. Air conditioned!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! It’s so much easier to get on board with really cheap fragrances for me. It’s the middle-of-the-road scents cost-wise that test my snobbishness and challenge me to get real.
there is a new-ish line of scents — i can’t remember the name of the line– but i like one of them that’s jasmine & violet. actually, i love the price more than the scent (i think it’s about $10 for a lotion and $8 for a splash). it starts out lovely and light, like a terrific, generic lotion, but quickly fades into a plasticky mess. sometimes, though, i like plasticky messes. 🙂
There’s a time and a place for everything, right? Sometimes it’s good to have cheap, plastic-y stuff around. 🙂
You bet.
I know exactly what you mean! Sometimes a gal wants to smell like a Barbie doll.
ps, i meant to say that this jasmine-violet line is at victoria’s secret.
Must be one of the Garden scents. I’ll have to look for it. I know you love your violet!
i do indeed! i think i love it more because it’s so evasive in the u.s. it seems it’s just fallen out of favor- out of the times- which is too bad. i find it so simple and lovely.
yes- i think it’s the garden line at VS. 😉
Angela, the Silk Mandarin Santal was my fave, too! I stumbled across this line in April, desperately trying to find something of actual interest and quality in the mall genre, and was genuinely intrigued by these. Sadly, neither the SA or corporate coughed up samples, so I never reviewed them. The budget line I’m really impressed by, though, is the Gap The Individuals line. So nichey-interesting, and so cheap! Might you be covering them in this (another) great idea for a series?
That one sounds like a rip-off of Ambre Narguile which is meant to conjure cashmere too. Then VS pandered to their customers by adding fruit (I’m shocked! shocked!).
I’m with you on the fruit, but this one is super peppery after a while.
Now I’m craving a drop of Ambre Narguile.
I second your craving for Ambre Narguile….one of our other resident super enablers….oh Rapple, where are you today?…..sent me a sample and darn it, now I’m saving up to buy a bottle. Egad, it’s always the pricey ones that get me! If anyone out there is interested in splitting a bottle let me know! (here I go again!)
Here I am! Hard slogging today, but I have to support this habit! LOL!
yes, I can practically hear you cackling away every time I hit the “buy it” button.
Hmmmm….. yeah… *funny* how it’s always the pricey ones that get you. 😉
Joe —yeah isn’t it though? funny or tragic….it’s a tough call.
I better get down to the mall and stake out the Gap! I was looking for something for Friday’s review, and this might just be the ticket.
I believe the Gap ones have been discontinued…
I saw Grass, Heaven, etc., plus their new scent, Close, but it looks like the more interesting line (Visionary, Original, etc) is on its way out.
The bottles and packaging look extremely similar to Liz Claiborne’s Realities. I found a bottle of this Liz Claiborne in the drug store when I was on vacation visiting a friend recently. I left my perfume at home! I still can’t believe it! So before I had total perfume withdrawal I took a chance cos it was so inexpensive. And I wont buy another bottle but it’s not awful. I wonder if they were made or marketed by the same people. Going to google now…
Let me know what you find!
Hi Angela! I eagerly anticipate your adventures in Mallville.
I tried all of these on a strip in April (or May) and only tried on Lace. I described my adventure to Robin on the announcement thread, so here:
“Gave the bottles a quick sniff and tried Lace, the most interesting, on skin. Cashmere is sweet (SWEET), Satin was sour-ish, and Silk… I can’t remember. And this was maybe 80 minutes ago.
Lace one-upped Infusion de Fleurs de Oranger. Really. Lace doesn’t change like IFD (that’s an ugly acronym; so much so I hope it’s not a cult classic. Kinda sounds like an agency or something: International ‘Fume Department ;D ). It doesn’t have the 3D orange top note that IFD has for literally 30 seconds. On the plus side, it doesn’t dry down to some cheap white musk. It would smell better as a soap but I prefer it. Hands down.”
As a guy, I tend to get trapped in Victoria’s Secret a whole lot and I invariably end up in the perfume section. If I thought B&BW scents were sugary, VS’s are dollar-store candy. Or worse. o=
And I just burned myself on a cookie sheet, so I’ll talk to you later.
-Eric
A cookie-baking, perfume-loving man! Let’s get married.
LOL
I love it!
after the wedding, can we all come over for cookies?
Great idea!
Tuiles, to be precise. Terribly delicious. x3
And best when fresh.
They get eaten too quickly to become not-fresh.
I know they would if I were around.
Dollar-store chocolate. . . urgh. . . that says it all.
yep, might as well not eat it at all in my book!
Not only are these inexpensive at reg price, they are a huge bargain when VS periodically puts them on sale (I paid $45 for the EDP & $15 for the body mist). I think VS was incredibly smart with these, a sophisticated bottle with a solid quality product designed to expand their market by appealing to women outside of their traditional demo.
The Santal doesn’t work for my chemistry (& it hasn’t been a hit with many folks I know), but the rest are really wearable. A friend of mine in the industry told me that these have been really popular with men looking to buy gifts, the frags & packaging were in part designed to appeal to men (partic the vanilla one).
Very interesting about the part about appealing to men looking for gifts! Totally makes sense.
The Santal is an odd one–a sort of orange/sandalwood/pepper show–and I can see why it might put off some people.
Blergh … I’m pretty sure that I might be tempted to punch my poor husband if he bought me one of these as a gift instead of some nice No 5 parfum or niche scent. (Even though I might actually stop in and give them a sniff next time I’m at the mall.)
Of course, he knows better than to buy me any perfume that I haven’t specifically asked for after he bought me something (L’Air du Temps? White Shoulders?) and I took it back.
LOL — yeah, my CEO wouldn’t even attempt a perfume purchase without specific instructions…in fact his favorite way to purchase perfume for me is to have ME order it …and deliver it straight to his dressertop….he is sufficiently trained to take it from there.
Nice!
My CEO prefers it that way too.
This is after the hissy fit I threw following my birthday the first year we were married. His gift to me? A dual-alarm clock. I don’t think I’d have fussed, except that he kept calling it romantic.
So now I buy what I want and put it on his dresser to wrap up for me. Except that now he gets our daughter to wrap it…
well, Mals, we apparently married smart but tricky men!
I get yelled at if I pick out my own stuff. I found something I wanted terribly (not perfume), and I bought it…then told him to set it aside for “future gifting occasions”. He complied for our anniversary, and Mother’s Day…but by my birthday he was fed up w/not getting to pick anything.
That’s a smart man. Best wait for specific instructions.
I gotta say, the line still seems overpriced to me, given the VS brand which is all about economy, especially when offered a dizzying array of other VS scents. I don’t see their customers spending that kind of money. Will be interesting to watch.
An article Robin forwarded me said they expect to reap in millions on this one. We’ll see…
My sister wore the original Victoria scent for years … I remember every time I saw her, a cloud of Victoria reached me before she did. I had wondered about these — VS sends me about 10 catalogs per week — and I think the bottles are quite cute. I’m glad you reviewed them since something about the VS stores makes me uncomfortable — I prefer to order from them online, and now I have a heads-up if I decide to try one of these. Thanks!
I’ve found a line of undergarments that works for me, so I don’t end up at VS much, either. But if you’re passing by, it’s worth a stop.
I too remember when VS was all about soignée silks and satins; the stuff wasn’t top quality (the workmanship was pretty crappy and the fit never quite right), but at least it aspired to it. Now, however… oy vey, is it ever cheesy — and not even in a gloriously over-the-top Frederick’s of Hollywood way!
Thank you for venturing into that uncharted territory known as the mall (or the mwawl, as they say around here). Although I’m only 1 1/2 hours from NYC, I don’t get there very often these days, so great mall finds are always welcome! Speaking of which, an Ulta just opened up nearby, and I was pleasantly surprised by the perfume selection (including every dang Estee Lauder you can think of, minus the PCs) — definitely worth a visit at your local mall, ahem, I mean mwawl.
I still haven’t been in an Ulta. Thanks for the tip!
Ulta is actually pretty fantastic. There used to be one right near my work, and I spent some much money there that I got a couple of free bottles of perfume there as part of their rewards program.
I’ll definitely have to check it out.
Great post Angela 😀
I remember one of my first love of fragrance and scents started in the mall. VS and BBW was my spot. I would go there every time I visited the mall. Then when I was around 19, I started to explore perfumes more in Macy’s and Dillard’s. Now, I am in love with Chanel, D&G, Estee Lauder and other fragrance created by great perfumers. I loved that you mentioned in your post about the transition a girl might have after using perfumes from VS. It reminded me of myself : )
It sounds like you always loved scent, and now you’ve found your way to the really great stuff!
I purchased the 7 ml. set of Parfums Intimes and must say the Silk Mandarin Santal and Lace Orange Flower are my favorite, though I like each one for what it is. If they weren’t $55 or so a piece, I’d likely snap up one of each at once since they all fit various moods I find myself in.
My VS adventures began when a best friend and I used to quickly slip in for a brief look around the place, dreaming of when we’d be able to actually fill out the clothes properly. 🙂 I went there while doing some shopping for my sixteenth birthday when they had the really pretty Garden fragrances and while I loved Her Majesty’s Rose and something that smelled of grapes, I walked out with a bottle of Peach Hyacinth and Tranquil Breezes. I bought many more bottles of TB throughout the years until they finally discontinued it. I also loved Pear Glace, too, for warm summer days.
Frequently disappearing scents was always my problem with VS. As their style began to move from less classic and romantic to more modern and trendy, they began to rapidly phase out their fragrances for new ones that weren’t as good. I adored the Enchanted Apple cologne, and have not found an apple scent since that truly captured the almost apple juice/fresh apple blend it had. Victoria was also glorious, as was Encounter, a more vanilla-based release that completed the Victoria, Rapture, and Encounter classy perfume trinity of VS. They also had a very foody vanilla/caramel scent in the mid 90’s (I forgot what line it was) that always reminded me of my best friend, who’d practically suffocate us with it when she arrived at school, and a really lovely zodiac themed fragrance collection as well.
Even though the style’s changed dramatically since I was a new customer, they still carry Rapture, my husband’s favorite. I’ve never been out of the stuff for the last thirteen years, and even wore it for our wedding and exclusively for our honeymoon. It’s also really cheap if you buy gift sets during the semi-annual sale. The bottle’s hideous, but it is as much a comfort scent now for me as it was when we were first dating and all his shirts and jackets used to bare the fragrance.
I maybe swing by VS now every couple years or so, and the entire Heavenly range save for Wish hasn’t grabbed me at all. I loved the orange in HW, though I’ve read that Nikki Hilton’s Begin is a much better rendition for the orange creamsicle type perfume. I also love grape fragrances, and was glad to find their Body Rush line offered a Grapesicle frag for a time. However, as is always the case with things I love, it was discontinued. It was fun, flirty, and like rolling about in a huge pile of grape Kool-Aid, which is a smell I really love. 🙂 I almost hate visiting VS and BBW only because I know I’ll fall in love with something that’ll get the ax. But the Parfums Intimes are lovely, and I may just pick up full sizes if they have good sales during the holidays just to have in my collection before they disappear, too.
And yes, I just try to wear what I like, which is always a pleasant surprise if it’s under $75. 🙂 Cheap as it is, I loved Malibu Musk in my early teens, and still appreciate Love’s Baby Soft for its simplicity and sweetness. If only I hadn’t just tested Chantecaille Frangipane! It’s stunning and as usual, on the expensive side, and will haunt me until I buy it. 🙂
AS – I’m still waiting for that day. HA!
I still buy Love’s Baby Soft occasionally. I also loved Love’s Rain Scent, and can’t find it to save my life now.
miss kitty v, you may want to try:
http://www.fragrancenet.com/loves-rain-scent-perfume/dana/womens-fragrances/wf/en_US/04543?cur_letter=L
for Loves Rain Scent. I loved all of them. The Fresh Lemon, Rain Scent, Heaven Sent, and I even believe there was the prettiest most powdery Loves Jasmine, too. But Baby Soft is one of my drugstore faves along with Jovan White Musk both for women and men. 🙂
Thank you for letting me know, since FRAGRANCE NET DROPPED THE BALL ON THAT. They were supposed to notify me when it was in. Bastards. Well, thank you so much, AS. That’s what I love about this place, we’re always looking out for each other.
Your comment just knocked something loose in my brain that’s been holed up for years: Tranquil Breezes. I know I MUST have had some of that at one time. I can almost smell it, too. Tranquil Breezes. Wild!
miss kitty v., you may want to try Fragrancenet. They seem to have the entire Loves range available, including the Rain Scent, which I adore, too! Their Soft Jasmine is a very pretty, powdery rendition of jasmine that couldn’t offend anyone even if it tried, and is quite sexy in a basic and clean sort of way. Funny to use clean and jasmine in the same sentence. 🙂
Angela, Tranquil Breezes seemed to be one of the forerunner cucumber scents before they were practically falling from the sky and making their way into shampoos and nearly everything at Bath and Body Works. Not exactly aquatic, but green and a bit crisp, and like cucumber with some herb and floral accents. It was quite nice before cucumber became the note du jour for a time. I wonder if it ever makes a return for the semi-annual sales when they bring back some of their discontinued scents. There’s some on Evilbay, but it’s quite a tiny bottle for the price… not that I wasn’t tempted just for a stroll down teen-angst paved memory lane. 😉
It has all come back to me now. I was too young to be allowed to wear any sort of spray, but I had a travel-sized Tranquil Breezes lotion, and I thought it was the cat’s pajamas.
Angela, the Gap also has a new fragrance called Close, it is very fresh and clean smelling, I predict they’ll sell bucket-loads of it to all those teeny boppers just dying to spend their hard-earned cash. Also, Banana Republic has some newer fragrances for men and women. Great reviews, as always! Good luck in you search!
I just got back from the mall, where I snagged a sample of Close! Stay tuned on Friday…
Okay, here’s how old I am:
I remember Victoria’s Secret when it was a tiny store up a bunch of gardeny wooden steps on the high-class Union Street here in S.F. They had absolutely gorgeous stuff – silk satin man’s pajamas in cream stand out particularly. I don’t remember why I was there or if I bought something but shortly after they moved into a store on Union Square downtown. Spectacular still, with amazing service. I needed a pair of panties I could wear as part of a hooker outfit for Halloween that would be sexy put not show my parts and the SA was completely on it and got me the perfect pair.
I have not smelled any of the original fragrance, and don’t like anything they have now (except this little bottle of Bali Orchid lotion I found that is to die for). These sound worth a sniff on a mall trip.
Banana Republic used to be a whole, completely different store, too, in the old days. Remember it? Lots of expedition-related stuff, lots of interesting imports.
yes! A place I worked used to do all the pre-press for the catalogues. Much more Explorer-Themed. Now the name Banana Republic doesn’t fit what they do at all.
Ooh, I used to LOVE the old Banana Republic, back when the merchandise actually matched the name! Somewhere I still have a safari jacket and a cartridge belt from the good old days…
They really were so different!
Ahh, I remember this period very well. In fact, there was BR in a mall nearcy where, as part of the store’s design, there was a jeep in the middle of the sales floor, with trees and bush, and ‘sand’. All their attire was safari-inspired. Gap acquired the brand back in the early to mid 80’s and that’s when things quickly changed.
Yes! I remember displays like that. You were meant to feel you were at some encampment in the jungle.
I remember the original BR, the catalog was a series of drawings.
I bought a lovely pleated khaki skirt at BR that looked very “Out of Africa/Meryl Streep”. And to this day, 25 years later, the skirt looks brand new.
I remember those kinds of clothes in the catalog! They were classics.
They did have really gorgeous, quality things back in the day, didn’t they?
It would be fun to see one of their old catalogs again.
I still have a linen safari jacket from BR! Does anyone remember Outback Red? In high school, I scoured the racks at TJ Maxx looking for Outback Red items!
It sounds like the safari jackets were popular!
Definitely remember Outback Red!
I still have a beautiful cotton, striped robe that looks like something you would wear out in an English garden while drinking your morning tea and some lovely cotton pajamas in the same style from VS – back when they made anything I would wear.
I had one of those Victorian-looking nightgowns, too, but I wore that one so much that it wore out.
Always the sign of something you love–wearing it out, that is.
I had one of those, too! I also wore mine out, and it was so roomy I wore it during my pregnancy and for nursing later. 🙂
Rose de Mai is a nice substitute for VS’ now-discontinued Damask Rose perfume.
I sure with they’d bring back the original Victoria perfume, though.
I’m so curious about Victoria now.
well, guess what? I just dug around in my perfume stash and came up with a mini of Victoria !! I will see if I can get some of it into a vial and send it to you next week…can’t guarantee that it’s not “off” –afterall, it’s better than 20 years old…I wore Victoria for a brief time right after college.
You must have quite the stash! Does it smell like roses and amber?
It’s a rose chypre, I’d say. Bulgarian rose with a little bergamot on the top, and a hefty helping of oakmoss and amber in the drydown.
Thanks, Two Peas! Like I said, I wasn’t terribly into perfume at the time I smelled Victoria, so I couldn’t analyze, but I knew that a) I thought it was beautiful and b) there was rose in it. Just won an auction on ebay for one of the elongated glass bottles of Victoria, mostly full, for less than $10. Hope it’s kept well.
I was recently in Victoria Secrets shopping for a new bra. Never once was I tempted to spend time with their wall of scents. I got turned off to their stuff when they came out with Pink some years ago. It smelled like daffodills, so it should have been named Yellow.
I admit that I didn’t smell the Pink products.
One of them smelled a lot like D & G’s Light Blue. I can’t remember which one though…. fuzzy brain today!
I’m not surprised that they would hone in on that trend.
I liked Pink very much when it first came out, and wore only that for a few years (the I Can’t Really Afford Perfume Years, I call them from this time vantage point). It now smells a little synthetic to me, but it was still nicer, IMO, than the Dream Angels series, and MILES ahead of their current “Pink Whatever” stuff. It’s all peony and freesia on me, and I do love me some freesia…
Peonies and freesia sound so light and almost juicy. Nice!
The ‘good stuff’ is mostly online and in their catalogs–it does seem that most of the stores are just the teen Pink line and other stuff. They carry a nice Italian line that is in some ‘select’ stores (kinda like BBW flagship stores). VS also occasionally carries some niche perfumes…also big name perfume lines sometimes make VS exclusives…
Just this last winter I bought a flannel pajama set with silk trim and a flannel set with velvet trim. I also have a flannel pajama top with velvet trim that I’ve had for over ten years–I wear it as a spring/fall jacket.
I noticed that there were some big name perfumes for sale on the VS website. Interesting.
I’m excited to go smell these… I normally avoid VS like the plague (except for actual underwear shopping, completed online). Last time I was in a store my boyfriend commented (as we walked by the secret garden display) “hmm, smells like stripper.” these new perfumes sound much more interesting 🙂
If you try them, let me know what you thing!
This collection is much better in my opinon that the Victoria’s Secret standard. They smell less sorority-esque, a little more mature but not too grandma either. I can’t wear a whole lot of synthetic fragrances because I am sort of sensitive to them but these ones do not bother me. The Cashmere is ridiculously sweet but it’s the kind of perfume that is nice to wear when you’re cuddling up on a couch with your sweetie on a rainy day. I also like lace, but men just seem to not be able to get into the orange blossom, I get more compliments from girls when i wear this. I have yet to find a light floral that men really like.
It’s slowly but surely getting to be cashmere weather out there, so you can probably put off the search for the perfect light floral for a while, anyway.