fruity

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Fruitchouli Flash

Sugar coated peach gummy candy and a bottle with a black and white “F” Tauerville label.

A spontaneous date in a bottle that starts flirty and sweet, and ends dirty (in the best way.)

Comes in with a two pound bag of Haribo peach gummies and an armload of white roses that soon get rogered up by earthy patchouli.
Brash and loud, it gives you a laughing good time, and hangs out til the next morning.

And I’d call it “genderful” rather than “unisex,” sliding all over the spectrum–from sugary feminine florals to blunt masculine woods–rather than staying in some safe place in between.

Fun.

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A genderful song that’s not by Cher or Bowie:

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Golden Delicious

Mini gold chrome DKNY apple sitting in the center of a halved golden delicious.

(I love TJMaxx flanker gift sets!)
This is the most refined of the Be Delicious line that I’ve sniffed so far.

A slice of fresh apple, soft flowers and a bit of plum sauce, that quickly go green with lily-of-the-valley for an hour–the usual DKNY floral fruit teacher’s fare.
Later when the woods give the base some backbone, it gets sophisticated–turns out the substitute has a master’s degree in postmodern design.

Lasts through afternoon study hall in personal space.

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Another Golden that’s delicious.

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Angel Nova

Mini rose-red and chrome Mugler Angel star shaped bottle with mini red Swedish fish candy.

How much do I love this?!

Starts out cool and syrupy, like raspberry sorbet, then slowly melts into gorgeous sugary rose–the kind they make Turkish delight from–with a woody base tempered with benzoin.

The rose and the woods are linear, but there’s a slow progression to the fruity notes. They start tart and crisp and fill-the-room gigantic, but they sweeten through the day, softening to arms’ length pink floral candy, and end in the evening with a marvelous berry flavored cola on the skin.

Definitely a shift from the iconic patchouli-chocolate-caramel of the past thirty years, but this New Angel and Eau Croisière is a refreshing direction, and I’m totally ready for it.

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Here’s another Nova that I love–

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Be Delicious Rio

Gala apple next to a mini DKNY chrome apple and a pink flower blossom.

Happy hour on ladies’ night.

First splash is apple vodka and passionfruit flavored whipped topping, then calms down to sweet orange flowers in personal space. Fades after two hours, leaving a smudge of benzoin on the skin.

The ending sweet resin is rather nice–if it had more depth, this one would wear well for date night, not just drinks with the girls.

(I’ve never been to Rio, sadly. Does it smell like Gala Apple Stoli?)

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This Girl is Crazy by Brazilian pop star Anitta is too fun.

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Chloé

Mini iconic curvy bottle with translucent troll horn stopper, casting gold shadows.

Chloé is pure fun sunshine, from beach wear and flip-flops to glamorous midsummer weddings.

Aldehyde fresh, citrus spiked peach punch, garnished with tropical flowers for an hour at the beginning, that warms up with spicy carnations and white flowers, heavy on sweet tuberose. Dry woods at the bottom anchor it at arms length for the day and to clothes for the night.

I love the ’70’s intrigue movie vibe to it, sea-kissed Jacqueline Bisset from The Deep, Gloria Hendry in the patchwork bikini in Live and Let Die.

Luckily, it’s easy to find a vintage bottle, and it seems to keep well–though current pop culture makes the bottle top look less like calla lilies than Shrek ears.

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The best Bond song ever:

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Arielle

The state of Georgia in July.

Arielle smells like peaches in the hot sun, when the fruit stands are full and ripe and steamy and the day lilies are blooming in full force.
Amber and sandalwood dry up the sweetness after an hour, making it almost civet-sour-soapy, that Atlanta highway air freshener and funky sweat that sticks to skin and clothes, until it slowly eases back to evening breeze and sweet peach tea.

I kinda like it.

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Fath de Fath

Tiny cut crystal bottle cupped by a flame edged yellow rose petal.

I got this one for the tuberose, but was bowled over by the heliotrope.

Nice boozy fruits out of the bottle, peach brandy and plums that stay well into the blooming tuberose and jasmine.
There’s some really good citrus-y rose–with black currant thorns that give a bit of sharpness–then *BAM* comes a huge dusty-sweet powder puff of heliotrope.
The amber on the bottom doesn’t hold it down. Vanilla-almond floral dust floats around like a cloud for hours, trailing sugary musk everywhere.

It’s good–especially the first few minutes on top–but all the notes I love are just obliterated by that powder.
Some of my favorites are heliotrope bombs, like Lolita Lempicka and L’Heure Bleue, but this one is too much for me.

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These folks are a lot of fun–

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Fresh Couture

Windex styled spray bottle mini splash and paper towel scrap dwarfed by an orange.

This might be the cutest mini bottle ever! And the scent is a nice little perk-me-up at a great price.

The clementine opening, bright with peony, is clean and fun and young. Sweet berry florals ripen to a hand span off the skin for an hour, and fade to wet woods for another two.
(I’m all for some lighthearted vibes right now.)

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Some lighthearted vibes:

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Love Mimosa

Mini Amouage bottle, at the bottom of a champagne glass filled with bubbly mimosa cocktail.

Powdery honey and sweet pear water.

Love Mimosa is almost sporty in its freshness out of the bottle–but the orris gives it a nice luxe creaminess that keeps it from being overtly chemical.
Loud at the start, then settles down to arms length sunny florals and laundry softener for most of the day.

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This song is pure sunshine.

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Flowerbomb Bloom

bloomA Shirley temple cocktail nastied up with añejo tequila.

Grenadine and white flowers, orange peel and wooden casks.
It could almost be an Angel flanker–sweet and sour with a dirty bottom.

Not a big blast radius, but the fallout lingers a while.

Another sassy bomb–a cheerfully horrific Clash tune that hits with even more impact when sung by the Mexican punk band Tijuana No!.