Perfume Review: West Side by Bond No 9
West Side is the newest addition to the Bond No 9 perfume line. Following their mission of creating scents to represent each neighborhood of New York, West Side pays homage to the Manhattan’s West Side – the music center of the city. West Side is “an ultra-melodious eau de parfum that finds the scent equivalent for the sounds of music in its full-bodied, mellow composition” (info from the press release). In contrast to the claimed mellowness of the composition, the bottle is quite vivacious, and just by looking at it, I’d expect the scent to be some bright fruity-floral loaded with vanilla. Luckily, this doesn’t prove to be quite so true.
West Side is composed of the following notes: rose, ylang-ylang, peony, sandalwood, amber, vanilla, musk. While its initial touch on my skin is quite pleasant, the aquatic peony note I detect is a bit off-putting. This, however, doesn’t last too long, with rose taking the lead, gradually joined by vanilla, creating a sort of an olfactory duet. Yes, it’s definitely a duet – sweet, moderately powdery, and fluid. It stays strong for a good while and gets eventually broken up by musk. West Side is by no means a complex scent. Neither would I call it full-bodied. As I look for descriptive adjectives, “pretty” keeps coming up, albeit not so original, yet very much fitting. Prettily pleasant, pleasantly pretty. Not being a huge fan of Bond No 9 fragrances, I’d say it’s the one I could wear, occasionally.
West Side is available at Beautycafe, Beauty And Scents. For more retailer information, please check the Bond No 9 web site.
Image source: www.beautycafe.com
27 comments October 30th, 2006