My unrequited love affair with Black Orchid, a tale of fragrance failure
Filed under: Fragrance
Sometimes no matter how much you love a fragrance it just doesn't love you back. Whether it is that the scent doesn't work with your body chemistry or the overall aura doesn't mix with your own fashion sense, it can be a colossal bummer. Angela over at Now Smell This, wrote eloquently about this recently on a post titled "White Flower Failure." White flowers are fine on me, although I understand that they don't work well for everyone. I once insisted to a friend that Annick Goutal's Gardenia Passion would smell delicious on her only to find out that the fragrance that I loved so much on myself and most everyone else just turned to dust on her wrist. My problem it seems, is the darker scents. Every time I wear a heavy scent I just feel like I am wearing someone else's clothing. And wearing it badly. It's like the fateful time I tried to dye my hair black --disastrous. And yet, even though I've known about my heavy fragrance problem since the heyday of Opium and Poison (a veritable tragedy on my skin), I persist on trying them. The latest fragrance failure for me is Black Orchid, Tom Ford's intensely sexy perfume . His Youth Dew Amber Nude was so deliciously warm on my skin that I was sure that Black Orchid would work for me. Unfortunately, it smells like I'm wearing the style equivalent of putting on a vintage evening gown to go pick up the dry cleaning or conversely as if I am wearing sweatpants to the Oscars. Just wrong. "Too much," said my significant other when I waved it under his nose. "Did you just put that on?" Alas, it had been hours and what should have been subtle cloud of sensuality registered as a solid and unseemly olfactory whack on the head. Sadly, I'm just not glamorous enough for Black Orchid.
So, Styledash readers, console me. What fragrance do you love that doesn't quite love you back?
sara 1-23-2007 @ 3:24PM
I find that light, sweet, floral scents don't really work on me. If I want to do a floral scent I have to go with one with woodsy undertones. In terms of florals I have to do something like Organza and if I want to do something light, I do YSL Baby Doll or Pure White Linen. Strangely enough vanilla smells awful on me.
Reply