We've come to the close of Mall Week at Now Smell This. Our last stop is at the Gap. Before I delve into The Gap's newest fragrance, Close, I want to look back at the week and at what I've learned.
First, it seems that fragrances labeled "Cherry Blossom" are popular. Bath and Body Works, The Body Shop, and L'Occitane all carry popular scents with some variation of cherry blossom in their titles. Why they're so popular, I can only guess, especially since cherry blossoms don't have a lot of scent on their own. It must be a conceptual thing.
Next, mall shoppers seem to like fragrances named after scents they can identify. Something called Sensual Amber will win over Midnight in Ankara, no matter how artful Midnight's composition. People seem to like to be able to pick out the berry or what they imagine peony or magnolia to smell like. They want their fragrances to be fun, not challenging.
Also, I want to point out that I barely touched the surface of mall fragrances. Abercrombie & Fitch, Juicy Couture, Coach, Banana Republic, and lots more stores carry their own fragrances. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if some malls even scent their air deliberately. I'm volunteering to a conference tomorrow at a hotel that pumps a rose-marine fragrance through the ventilation system. (Ironically, the conference forbids volunteers from wearing perfume.)
Now, on to the Gap's newest fragrance, Close Eau de Toilette. The Gap released Close in April, positioning it to attract “a more mature 20-plus customer”. The Gap's press release described Close as a salty floral citrus. Perfumer Marypierre Julien developed it, and it contains notes of sparkling water accord, almond blossom, salty citrus accord, freesia, jasmine, daphne, stephanotis, sandalwood, skin musk, vanilla, and amber.
Close smells fresh and clean, with a subtle floral heart. Unlike most of the mall fragrances I tried this week, it's not in the least fruity. It reminds me of Narciso Rodriguez Essence without the overdose of aldehydes, but something else happens here, too. Close is musky, especially as it wears, which gives it a more intimate feel than Essence. Also, there's something reminiscent of Saran Wrap in Close's heart that infuses it with a slightly twisted feel. It's fresh, salty, clean, and a little freaky. Then the weirdness passes and Close settles into a musk with a floral whisper dusted with what smells like white pepper and a hint of wood.
The longer I wear Close Eau de Toilette, the longer I toy with buying a bottle, even though it's completely not me. At $35 for a 100 ml bottle, though, it's a risk I just might take. Close is available at Gap stores and the Gap's online store.
What are your favorite mall fragrances? What have I looked over that we should all try? I'll be at a conference when this posts, but I'll check in when I can.
Banana Republic has some very nice scents in my opinion. They dominate over abercrombie, american eagle, and aeropostale anyway. For men my choice is Cordovan. It has a great fig leaf note. For women, Alabaster or Rosewood are the best.
I used to love the Modern line from Banana Republic – it had a very strong tomato stem note. Gorgeous.
Angela, I might be mistaken here, but didn’t the majority of the cherry blossom-named scents come out around the time that Memoirs of a Geisha was in the theaters? I seem to recall some strategic cosmetic releases at that time, as haute couture fashioned veered briefly into the “kimono” stage.
Hmm, maybe they did. In any case, cherry blossom is wildly possible! Maybe it’s because you can read into it just about anything you want.
I’ve only smelled the little foil samples on these, and I don’t remember them well. I remember they had nice packaging, though.
I liked some of the Originals line that the Gap put out – The Visionary, The Lover, The Artist, The Original and The Natural. They even marketed them as unisex! They’re on sale on the website now, and I haven’t been in a store to see if they’re still on the shelves.
Here are the notes from the site: the ORIGINAL–this is your moment.
The scent of self-invention. Soulful black leather mixes unconventionally with juicy plum and earthy cedarwood.
the VISIONARY–follow your imagination.
The scent of innovation and intrigue. Cool bluegrass majestically contrasts with sun-dried geranium and frosted fennel.
the NATURAL–an individual who just is.
The scent of harmony and comfort. Crisp bergamot with a twist of time peacefully fuses with the essence of thyme and vertiver.
the LOVER–let passion rule.
The scent of passion and desire. Velvety apricot skin fuses with shimmering mint leaf and sexy patchouli.
For some reason there’s no description of the Artist, but it is still available.
The Original is interesting. It’s got a new leather coat note which is rather avant garde and completely off the rails for a mass retalier scent.
I agree. It’s a nice leather-cedarwood smell.
I saw these at the Gap. I guess they’re being discontinued, and that’s why they’re on sale. They are probably the most interesting of the mall scents I smelled. I liked Original the best.
I like Classic from Banana Republic.
Another vote for Banana Republic!
I used to love the Satsuma soap and bubblebath from the Body Shop, I’m not sure if they still make it. Really nice tangerine scent.
I can’t stand the perfume they pump out from Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch! It smells like superconcentrated Axe. Instant headache.
Yep, they do still make it. That’s one of my faves too, although it’s strong enough that I have to take breaks from it. We just finished off a handsoap, and my teen has the shower gel and body butter.
Satsuma got a lot of love in an earlier post, too.
I had no idea Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch tried to repel using smell, too. I’m usually too put off by the loud music to get close enough to smell anything. I know they use it to scare off the “old people,” but I grew up going to heavy metal concerts, so if it can frighten away someone who stood by the amps at a Motorhead show, it’s pretty freakin’ loud.
A friend of mine took her niece shopping and the next day had post-concert “ear-hiss” – lol. Too loud.
I could be making this up, but I swear that there was actually a test done that concluded the decibels were high enough to do permanent hearing damage.
I’m not surprised, really.
The apex of my clubbing nights in the 90’s was burying my head in the speakers as I danced (or at least I thought what I doing looked like dancing) to acid-trance music.
Even so.. the music at these stores is way too loud and ugly.
Not even the giant pictures of naked abs manage to keep me inside for long, go figure! 😛
I admit that I haven’t been inside one, but from the outside I don’t see a lot of subtlety.
Ha! Exactly. I never felt so old as the one day I ventured into A&F with some younger friends of mine. That’s when I realized the saying “if it’s too loud, you’re too old” suddenly applied to me! Still, if they cranked some Ministry, Jane’s Addiction or even some disco or Sly & the Family Stone I think I’d be more likely to stick around.
Btw, I strongly discourage anyone from shopping at A&F. When I was there I did not see one single salesperson, not even behind the cash wrap. But I’ve plenty of friends and acquaintences who’ve told me how rude the kids are that work there. Then I’ve found out from people formerly employed there that they are encouraged and instructed to look down their nose at customers and treat them like crap. The idea is that those that work at A&F are the cognoscenti and everyone who shops there are the wannabes. Nice way of doing business, eh? But somehow it’s worked!?!
Also, I would chose a fragrance called Midnight in Ankara over a scent called Sensual Amber any day, provided it wasn’t much more expensive. I’m sure they’ve done focus groups on things like this…and, as usual, I’m outside the “focus”. 😛
That makes two of us.
It’s the clothes that scare me!
A&F has something called “Fierce”. I haven’t smelled it. The name alone scares me.
Hi! I have never posted before, but I have to profess my love for Gap Close.
My other favorite perfumes (a short list) would be Chanel No 19, Kelly Caleche, Hiris, and Shalimar, but something about gap close pulled me in and I adore it! It really is like the perfect perfume for a white t-shirt kind of day.
I’m glad you like it! Your other favorites are wonderful, too.
Close sounds like it would make a great lotion scent, or even hand soap. I loved Grass … that was a great scent!
I missed your comment! I mention Grass, too…they brought it back a year ago…
I saw Grass at the store, but I couldn’t find it online, and I was afraid maybe it was being d/c’ed.
The mall. Gap. Responses to each…
Abercrombie & Fitch…that’s one of the joints that pumps out smell. The men’s cologne. Ever notice that? Just walk on by…or near…you’ll catch wind of ’em. A bit sheepish to say I have…
I have to admit, I was a Gap Grass fan, back in its original day, when I was NOT a perfume person. Kind of fits, right? I also have to admit that I have enjoyed sniffery when accompanying the teenage son to get his duds…while as a mom I half pitch a fit about the cost of a basic pair of jeans or button down shirt (hey, all in the line of duty), I then take some time to check out the fragrance offerings. (Again, all in the line of duty…lol.) And I find a number of them to be worthy of considering for their price point; I keep stuff like “Peace” on the hall bath counter (in lotion and body spray) so that guests can have an innocuous spritz if they like…and Grass, of course. It came back, I got a full bottle. Nostalgia, and duty, you know. 😉
Grass is nice. A good concept and a nice EdT.
I hold my nose when I walk past Abercrombie & Fitch. Whatever chemistry set experiment they guff out on innocent passers-by has the smell of doomed upward mobility.
…and that smell is Fierce.
No offense to anyone out there, but 20 = mature??? 😉
I LOVE the original Juicy Couture. Also Bobbi Brown Beach (does that count?).
Something that just struck me – does anyone from the San Jose, CA area remember the first Bare Escentuals in Los Gatos? It started as a FRAGRANCE shop! Don’t know the history of how they morphed into the largest selling mineral makeup shop in the U.S. (that’s a guess, but I’m sure it ain’t far off), but those fragrances are now defunct, as far as I know. I just remember glass jars with glass dippers that you could use to test/sample the different scents.
I tried to sniff L’Occitane’s tea line of scents–Bergamot, Mint, etc.–but was really frustrated with the lack of scent strips. They used ribbons that totally flopped around. I thought it was a really poor way of showcasing a fragrance. I ended up giving up and walking out of the shop because I didn’t want to spray it on myself, and I just couldn’t get an accurate read from those ribbons. I mean, how are you supposed to spray a ribbon? It was very awkward, to say the least.
Bare Escentuals used to have a lot of really nice scented and other body products. They made an avocado butter that I am down to my last teaspoon of and I am seriously in mourning. One of the few things I have bought twice. I think it was a bad idea for them to move into just the minerals, because now everyone makes them.
Avocado butter sounds great!
Ribbons, really? Mine had paper…although they’re so narrow, they remind me of the twist ties in the bulk section of the grocery store (the ones you write the bin # on).
They are indeed narrow.
Sisley had ribbons too when I tested their scents at Saks a few weeks ago, and now I’m trying to remember how the SA did it… I think he held one end, letting it hang down vertically (the ribbons were a good 15 inches long), and spritzed away. I actually liked the ribbons (although not the super-pushy sell that went along with them!), because the scents lasted much longer than on paper strips.
It would be interesting to smell a scent on paper and on ribbon side by side to see how they compare.
L’Occitane does have some foil sample packs for some of their fragrances, at least. I usually pack my own sample vials for emergencies like that!
I have to say, because I am a plus size, I don’t shop at any of those clothing stores that have perfume. I want to try some of the Banana Republics, because they are supposed to be good. I do wander into a Gap now and again because they carry 2XL in some things, so I’ll try Closer. I couldn’t tell from your description if it would be too calone/marine/fresh for me.
Oh, good! I can relate! As mall plus-size shops go, Lane Bryant has never had a fragrance line (that I know of), and I’ve never bothered to sniff any of the faux-goth bottles at Torrid.
I hit send by accident. My last thought was “so I don’t get to smell many of the other offerings, either.”
Well, I don’t know how much you’re missing…
And because my budget is minus size, I don’t shop there either. 😉 Plus, I just hate shopping. And malls. I’d rather just shop for my kids, on whom any darned thing looks cute.
Yes on the minus size budget and yes on the darling kids!
I’d say it is more musky-salty than calone-packed. Worth a try, I think.
Thanks – musky-salty sounds okay. I just cringe a bit when I hear “fresh” or “clean”.
I completely know what I mean. To complicate matters, sometimes musky does mean clean.
Angela, thank you for “Mall Week”!!! 🙂
This one ( close) sounds nice. I probably will give it as a gift. 😀
I’d love to know what you think of it.
My favorite mall scent is Crabtree and Evelyn’s Rosewater eau Fraiche -nothing mindblowing, but really nice fresh (non sweet) rose for the price point. And the Body Shop’s Mango Body butter. Otherwise, I actually try not to shop at malls as much as I can. I love love love shopping on line. Besides, there are no good malls around me… …. Now, if our mall had a Nordstrom, Saks, etc, I’d be talking different for sure!
Oh, I know. I left out the big department stores. That would definitely change the mall sniffing experience!
Abercrombie and Fitch (?) Signature Women..which is a unisex.
Guess Gold for Women–pretty with an opening of pineapple
V.S. –gasp! The non-fruity originals:
Pink-Freesia, clementine, tuberose- almost cloying…on the edge of too many white florals.
Body by Vitoria-water floral, very fresh,freesia. It just smells so lovely and clean..like a shower with a gorgeous soup
Rapture-Bulgarian Rose and Amber..what’s left of the original three and their most complex.
and my favorite..Divine, from the original Heavenly series, a very pretty white floral with water lily.
You know, complex fragrance is an higher art–but sometimes a gal just wants to smell very pretty. ” I feel pretty, oh so pretty, la,la,la,la,…. “.
I love that song! I also like the one that goes “Something’s coming don’t know where don’t know when…” from West Side Story. Brilliant musical.
Must try Rapture.
…pretty and witty and PRETTY! la,la,la…. 🙂
I’m looking around and not finding anything mall-based other than an old body cream – Plumeria – from BBW.
My MIL gave me a bottle of Rapture one year at Christmas, and that bottle went back as soon as the stores re-opened – it was so ambery and potent that I just couldn’t keep it. But I do know many people who love it and agree it’s VS’s finest.
A good body butter is a thing of beauty!
PS – oh right, the coconut from The Body Shop, too…
Coconut reminds me so much of suntan oil that it’s hard for me to wear. But I have a friend who wears something with a lot of it in it, and I love it on her.
What’s nice is a scent with what I’d call “dry” coconut. It’s clearly coconut, but instead of the sweet juicy coconut of suntan lotion, it’s very light and, well…dry. LAP’s Cote d’Amour is a perfect example.
i know what you mean conceptually, but I’m not sure I’ve ever tried “dry” coconut. Now I will be on the lookout for it.
Angela – a great week of writing. Thank you! I really enjoyed it.
Favorite mall scent? Hot caramel popcorn of course!
Those mall food smells! Relentless.
I haven’t tried any Gap scents in years. I don’t usually go in there, their clothes are not cut for me… I need to go shopping in the 1950s… I should go in and sniff sometime.
My favourite Mall… well, drugstore in the mall scent was Bonne Bell’s Bottled Emotion in Hyper but that hasn’t been made for something like 10 years. I wish I still had some(though I may not think it’s so great now lol) I used to like United Colors of Benetton’s Hot but that was way back then too and I don’t remember at all what it smelled like.
I beg you, take me shopping in the 1950s! I’d love it, too.
I gotta get working on that time machine 😉 I am totally willing to mess up the space-time continuum for 50s clothes, shoes and perfume! …and maybe something crazy like a pink fridge! lol
remember Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman and their Way-Back machine?
That’s the ticket!
I’ve just been showing those to my 4 yr old on YouTube! 😀 She loves them, and Rocky and Bullwinkle. As for shopping in the ’50s… if nothing else, I’d certainly love the prices!
haha I can hear their voices now!
Wow, Mus-ta got the wrong hat.
In Hollywood the have a really big statue of Bullwinkle holding Rocky the squirrel.
Go to Banff (Alberta, Canada) and you can photograph the street sign at the intersection of Moose and Squirrel.
at our house we joke that we speak “Russian” because we sometimes talk like Boris and Natasha…..I know, we need to get out more.
Ha, R….that’s probably part of why I wound up taking Russian in college. Plus it was just the “coolest” option.
I second the fridge!
Aargh … Angela, you’re killing me. I’m trying to save my money for the great stuff on my list and you’re making me want to run out and buy Gap scents before they discontinue them.
They’re interesting, and cheap, but I don’t know that every one of them is a real success. Lovers, for instance, has a mint note that seems out of place. Visionary is uncomfortable. I don’t know that any of them is pure genius. But Original is nice.
I have to keep reminding myself of two things –
1. It’s silly to spend even $25 on something mediocre when I’m still trying to build my fragrance wardrobe and I can spend $50 and get No. 5 parfum from fragrance.net
2. If I don’t like it better than something on my “to buy” list, it’s a waste of money.
Those are excellent reminders! I should write them out and put them where I can see them everyday, too. With all the “$20 here, $30 there”, it all adds up to a bottle of something really special before long.
I think I need you as my anti-enabler buddy. 😀 That’s been my attitude all along, but since I haven’t even developed my “to buy” list (still heavily sampling), I suddenly lost patience the past month or two and started grabbing little inexpensive things here and there. Time to get back on track!
It really is so easy to fall off the wagon!
That is perfect! Just what I’ve been trying to implement lately. Better to save up for the expensive ones that I lurve. (come on September!)
Excellent point! I just yesterday had to talk myself through this in the middle of Marshall’s. Do I want to pay $30 for something I didn’t want until I saw it for $30, or do I save that $30 (and the subsequent $30 and $40 purchases at Marshall’s) for something I REEEEEEALLY want? When I reminded myself that I could get something I really want at fragrancenet for $30, it was a no-brainer. I was, however, dumb enough to think the $7.99 bottle of Chocolovers at TJ Maxx. $7.99 was too much for that one. Would have been better spent on samples.
I keep repeating the other question that Robin (at least I think it was Robin) has used before, too – Is this more beautiful than Joy? If Joy isn’t your cup of tea, you could insert something else.
I think that what really got me thinking about it was after I added up last quarter’s spending (and the first month of this quarter) and realized that I could have bought some things that I really love as opposed to a bunch of stuff that I liked (and a few things that I hated) for the same money. Of course, my sampling bill is not included in that logic – how else am I supposed to find out what’s worthy and avoid unsniffed disasters. As Miss Kitty just pointed out – even $7.99 is too much if it’s something that you don’t like.
Angela, your description has instilled a mad hankering to try Close. I did mention to you before that I, along with dewey eyed, am a fan of Gap’s The Individuals line. (In fact, I reviewed them on KatiePuckrikSmells.) They have my favorite mall scent of all, which is The Lover: a low-ball Serge Lutens Daim Blond. It’s a soft apricot-patchouli that wears whisper-close and is very sensual. The rest are all borderline niche as well, and pretty successful, except for The Visionary, which smelled to me a bit of wee-wee….
Wasn’t the mind in Lovers weird to you? (Not weird in a good way, either.) I need to try them on skin. I’ll have a look at your reviews.
I miss “Om” from the Gap. (See how old I am? I call it The Gap! From their commercial jingle “Fall Into The Gap!” from the 70’s and 80’s!)
I know! Me too! “Fall-in-to-the-Gap”. I have to force myself to type “Gap”, no “the”. Do you call Nordstrom “Nordstrom’s”? Cuz my Perfume Pen Pal Dan makes fun of me for that!
I have to force myself to leave off the “‘s”. It’s a Northwest thing, I think.
how funny. I thought it was a midwestern thing. Everybody here in Michigan makes everything possessive all the time. “I work down at Ford’s” instead of ” at Ford” or “I’m going to Kroger’s” instead of “to Kroger”, etc.
It sounds like it’s more than Northwestern, then.
Around these parts, people say they’re “goin’ to the Wal-mart’s.” Kills me. (No Nordstrom within 50 miles, but we say “Penney’s” too.)
Native Californian here, and I hear that possessive form used all the time. I’ve even heard people speak of shopping at “Safeway’s”. And EVERYone says “Nordstrom’s”, by analogy with Macy’s and Bloomingdales’s I suppose.
I grew up on the East coast and never noticed the possessive form of words until I moved to Michigan…so I thought it was a Midwest thing….along with “pop” instead of “soda” and everyone removing their shoes as soon as they step inside the door. In New York, we kept our shoes on….here in Michigan….you better have a foyer big enough to accomodate the footwear of all your guests….or limit the size of your gatherings! 😉
LOL Daisy! My dh is from NYC (well, originally Yugoslavia, but I digress) and when he first saw the shoes lined up by the door in MIchigan he kept saying” who stands guard to make sure no one takes your shoes?” and was kind of surprised that no one upgrades their footwear by theft here. He totally didn’t believe me. He swore in NYC that someone would take your shoes, and then I saw it on an episode of SATC. LOL!
Hmmm… I still call it The Gap, and had no idea it had changed. I guess that proves my earlier point about not shopping in these places. Or maybe it just proves that I truly never turn on the television. 😀
I originally wrote the whole review with The Gap, and then saw that that’s not how Robin had it, so I changed it. Marketing!
Thanks for the mall reviews Angela, they’ve been fascinating. I’ve had a bit of trouble getting my head around the ‘mall scent’ concept because where I live, all scent is mall scent. Chanel, Christian Dior, YSL etc sell through mall-based department stores, and very few niche lines are available (over the counter) here. We have an up-market cosmetic shop (in a mall) selling 8 or 10 Serge Lutens, and that’s about all that I know of. And we have fewer of the chain or franchise places that you mention, tho’ we do have L’Occitane, Body Shop and Crabtree and Ev. It’s a different scene. It would be fun to have all those choices I guess.
My favourite would be L’Occitane’s verbena bath product. The perfume lasts about 10 minutes on me but the foaming bath is divine. Oddly enough instead of finding it invigorating, my kids and I find it super-relaxing, like magic. It’s so funny to see my 11 yo son sinking into his verbena bath with a sigh of pure contentment. We are on our second huge bottle. This is where ‘mall scents’ really work, I think.
I’m going to take a bath in a few minutes, and some Verbena would be so nice!
When I did mall scents, I tried to stick to the non-department store chain stores. You’re doing well to have a mall store that carries Serge, though!
I think L’Occitane was the first with the Cherry Blossom Fragrances. I remember I really liked one from Gap when I was in High School, I think it was called She. Or maybe Blue. No idea.
She, Blue–I know what you mean. They all blend together at some point.
Torrid has more than faux Goth. They have a sense of humor and some stuff that could go for — what is the Japanese vintage cutesy girl thing called? I think I remember a super-fake Cotton Candy and some similar crazy cute stuff.
You’ve got to admire a sense of humor in clothes!
Their clothes are usually pretty great. Especially considering that there aren’t that many other offerings out there. I like that they cater more to the young crowd–I wish something like that was around when I was a teenager.
Yeah, Lane Bryant never really had it going on.
Gap Dream wasn’t that bad at all. My sister dug out her old bottle a few days ago, and I was surprised at how much I liked it.
I wore Heaven and Dream when I was younger! I still like them both. 🙂
Heaven is nice. Powdery, but nice.
I think Dream might still be out there….
Wild horses wouldn’t drag me to a mall. The sight of uniformity makes me depressed. Thanks for doing the grunt work, Angela. Nothing in the review convinces me to make the trek.
Agree!
You’re welcome!
Nothing is too brutal for the edification of NST readers. You’re welcome!
My shopping mall favourite is Feu D’Orange by L’Occitane now sadly discontinued. Having overdosed many years ago (20plus!!), on Body Shop’s White Musk and Dewberry I cannot now walk into a Body Shop store. We don’t have BBW and VS in the UK, but all the malls have perfume discounters and the mall supermarkets sell perfume. My 2008 purchase of Kenzo Flower from Morrisons Supermarkets at Edinburgh’s Gyle for £15 is my mall bargain although I see from the thread that this isn’t strictly speaking a mall perfume. Happy supermarket shopping !
What a great deal for Kenzo Flower! And at a supermarket, even.
Divine by Victoria Secrets is one of my fav mall fragrances.
Sorry for the wildly delayed reply–this comment somehow slipped by me!
I’ll have to try Divine, thanks!
I enjoy wearing Close. I’m not in-love w/the scent but I like it enough. To me, it’s a casual fragrance, the kind you dab on just before going off to do errands, meet a friend to grab a sandwich. It’s the kind that will not offend anyone at the office, a daily wear scent. It’s something that is fresh, for adults, but not old people. I think Gap’s Close is pretty good. I own a tiny little bottle of Close. I think it’s nicely done, and for being an inexpensive fragrance, it certainly does not smell cheap.
That’s a great description for it. It’s just like an a well-worn and comfy T shirt.
I also was a fan of Satsuma from the Body Shop. I say was, b/c it may be discontinued, which is a shame. I didn’t use the fragrance, but the shower gel was really nice in the summer time.
It’s such a common curse–you fall in love with a fragrance and it’s discontinued! Maybe they’ll bring it back.