Danger Alert!
April 2nd, 2007
I did my own mini sniffa this past weekend - I hit Nordstrom’s and Sephora. I hadn’t done it in what seemed like a long time, and there seemed to be so many new scents out plus my nose is always eager for new fragrant adventures, so off I went. A little sniff here, a little sniff there, and I came home with a firm (and frightening) conclusion: ladies and gentlemen, we’re being invaded by clones. I see clones everywhere. There’s a whole army out there. There’s a conspiracy the purpose of which is to basically reprogram our olfactory receptors to only like scents of one particular kind - the Fresh Fruity Florals (further referred to as the FFFs). The danger is imminent, and we must take immediate action! We must create a detailed plan on how to, first, raise public awareness, and, second, take practical steps to prevent such an audacious attack.
To start with, I’ve put together a list of the most recent FFFs detected, and they are:
- Chance Eau Fraiche by Chanel
- IN2U For Her by Calvin Klein
- Incanto Shine by Ferragamo
- Burberry Summer For Women
- Cherry by Masaki Matsushima
- Very Irresistible Summer by Givenchy
- Sugar Lychee by Fresh
- Rock’n'Rose by Valentino
Warning signs of the FFFs: they usually contain such notes as watermelon, pink grapefruit (or pink anything), freesia, peony, pineapple, lychee, lotus. The frequently used code words to describe them are: “dewy”, “frosted”, “crystalline”, “neon”, “caramelized”, “celestial”, “oxygenated”, “hydroponic”, and the like.
I urge you to aid me in this endeavor - if you agree with the above statements, I’d like to hear your ideas on how to make our fragrant world a better place!
Entry Filed under: New Perfumes, Spotted
32 Comments Add your own
1. Leopoldo | April 2nd, 2007 at 2:45 am
Sugar lychee = fragrance from my nightmares
2. March | April 2nd, 2007 at 6:11 am
hee hee! We probably can’t beat them, though. I wish I could remember which three fragrances it was (they’re probably up there on your list) but I was looking at them in a fashion mag article and they were composed of almost identical notes … some sort of foreign (preferably tropical) fruit (I guess American fruits are too declasse? Strawberry, anyone?) and some light, “fresh” musk.
3. jill | April 2nd, 2007 at 6:37 am
straight up, old skool BOYCOTT of the entire line of those designers who continue to pummel an unsuspecting public with these fumes. No more CK jeans, undies, Chanel or Givenchy cosmetic or skincare purchases, etc.
Email campaign letting these offending companies know why you are removing your financial support.
Of course, this must be accompanied while wearing exquisite scents
jill
4. Elle | April 2nd, 2007 at 6:43 am
Hmm….excellent excuse #7,853 why I must continue to pour money that DH mistakenly thinks should be spent on other more useful (?!) things into perfume - specifically, niche and vintage to help stave off this FFF invasion. The interesting opposition *must* be supported. DH is quite vehemently political. I think he’ll understand this reasoning.
Freesia - except for Antonia’s Flowers, I swear that note pops up in every fragrance I dislike. Peony as well (w/ the exception of PdN’s Rose Pivoine).
5. Marina | April 2nd, 2007 at 7:00 am
I don’t think there is anything we can do. We will have to surrender. Resistance is futile. Soon we all will be wearing Chance Eau Fraiche and IN2U, wondering why we didn’t like them before.
6. newproducts | April 2nd, 2007 at 7:21 am
I have no idea how to resist this pervasive trend except by boycotting. Of couse, I have come home from the big sniffa, having sniffed wonderful Carons, L’Artisans, Divine, and the like, and feel much less cynical today.
7. Kelley | April 2nd, 2007 at 8:41 am
Believe it or not, I think you are already doing something wonderful to stamp out FFFs. Your blog is educating the millions of us uneducated noses around the world that don’t know that there are better alternatives. It is imperative that you keep up your life’s work!!! “No more FFFs!”
8. Victoria | April 2nd, 2007 at 8:55 am
Pink musks are often present in FFFs. Great alert!
9. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 9:36 am
Leo, isn’t it? I think it’s time to stop making all these versions of Sugar. Boring!
10. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 9:37 am
March, strawberry or foreign fruit, it’s still fruit, and there’s way too much of it. But you’re so right - so many identical notes, no originality. Ugh.
11. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 9:38 am
Jill, what radical measures!
I’m very tempted to follow them. Wearing exquisite scents is definitely key.
12. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 9:40 am
Elle, completely support your idea and completely agree on the exceptions.
13. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 9:41 am
Marina, surrender? Surrender?? I can’t believe I hear this from a vintage Dior-loving woman.
No, I choose to fight.
14. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 9:42 am
Minsun, ah, that’s a good remedy! Yes, boycotting is essential. I’m such a propaganda woman today.
15. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 9:43 am
Kelley, you’re way too kind but thank you! I’ll do my best.
16. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 9:44 am
Vika, pink anything! Enough with pink!
17. poivrebleu | April 2nd, 2007 at 9:50 am
I agree with Jill, I think that boycott is a good solution… first. Really I think blogs is a good way to express our disapointement. Anyway, the worst FFF for me is without a doubt IN2U from Calvin Klein…
18. tmp00 | April 2nd, 2007 at 10:15 am
Ignore them. Silently judge them.
It’s either that or get jobs at Sephora and secretly inject copious amounts of Human Existence and Secretions Magnafique into the testers so that the sheeple will no longer want to try them. Then you can point to them to that nice bottle of Fracas a couple shelves over.
19. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 10:22 am
Poivrebleu, IN2U was truly horrendous. Such utter lack of originality, it seems like all the “cool” ideas went into the bottle.
20. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 10:23 am
Tom, LOL! We can always rely on your original ideas.
I’d SO want to witness the reaction!
21. Jennifer | April 2nd, 2007 at 10:49 am
Couldn’t agree more, tried the Cherry by Masaki Matsushima, and it turned into grapefruit!
22. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 11:30 am
Jennifer, cherry turns into grapefruit, grapefruit turns into strawberry, strawberry turns into pomegranate, and so on, and so forth. Boring!
23. Christen | April 2nd, 2007 at 11:42 am
FFF - I love it! It’s like the fragrance lover’s version of a triple threat.
Yep, I went on the same Nordstrom/Sephora sojourn last weekend, and I couldn’t agree more. Gahhhh - so much square footage devoted to FFF’s! What’s a girl to do?
I comforted myself with a trip to Essenza (here in Seattle), bought an Esteban Pivoine Imperiale candle…then bought soap from the Black Phoenix Trading Post site when I got home. Ah, much better now
24. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 11:51 am
Christen, what a perfect way to comfort yourself! I wish we had more options around here besides Barney’s. Thank goodness for ebay.
25. SniffQ | April 2nd, 2007 at 12:22 pm
The whole fruity floral thing reminds me of a tapestry fabric that’s too busy and has too many colors. It’s kind of a nice concept, but actually having it in your home would never work. I like the way fresh lychees smell, and the same goes for real coconut and strawberries, but it’s never what the juice smells like. It always smells like Spring in Hell, spritzed by supercilious angry commission-driven demons.
26. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 1:08 pm
SniffQ, I like your comparison, and I agree, it hardly ever smells what it claims to be. Ugh.
27. Patty | April 2nd, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Isn’t it boring? I just hate to see it, and the ladies behind the counter are pretty tired of me rolling my eyes, sighing and saying something profound like, “Yuk.”
28. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Patty, LOL! How can they possibly even get excited about their new perfumes. I don’t want their job.
29. CindyN | April 2nd, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Ina,
I’m with you…I am so very tired of the inexhaustible SAMENESS of most every dept store, celebrity, fill-in-the-blank scent out there. The FFF reign
must surely come to an end soon. Can the tweens, preteens, teens and twenty somethings really purchase so very much ffragrance that every scent panders to them?
30. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Cindy, exactly! It’s either too sweet or too clean. Why? Gimme some oakmoss, baby!
31. Flora | April 2nd, 2007 at 11:37 pm
I totally agree, and may I add that piled on top of these clones, we often find the dreaded “aquatic” or “ozone” notes - makes my throat catch just to think about it. My two worst offenders, from opposite ends of this spectrum from Hell, are Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue (the dreaded aquatic) and Juicy Couture (the cavity-inducing sweet). GAAAACK!
In between these are all the insipid sticky messes, many of which I truly cannot tell apart. I also love fruit, but I agree with SniffQ, they do not translate well at all in these cheaper formulations. And let us not forget the men’s versions - even more likely to have a heavy overdose of aquatic/oceanic/ozone. At least they only (usually) pile citrus on top of that and not so much with the melon and strawberry.
That being said, there are some fragrances that DO have fruit in them that I adore, and they are done very well. I could (and I often do) mention the great vintage perfume Jean Patou Colony, a masterful fruity chypre that is redolent of pineapple. However it is NOT the overly bright and fresh-out-of-the-can version you encounter in these modern fragrances. Oh no, it is dark and lush and mysterious, and you can just about hear the ceiling fan whispering overhead and feel the tropical humidity. It CAN be done properly! Yet over and over it is done the same old way, and we get yet another wishy-washy scent.
I say we all wear vintage perfumes from only the best houses, or new stuff from niche houses, until the rest of them come to their senses!
32. Ina | April 2nd, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Donna, I can’t help but agree with you! There’re numerous examples of fruit done right and with taste. Seems like the 90s were the ozonic years, and the 2000s are all about the FFFs.
I already much prefer niche and vintage to the current trends - because they have taste and class.
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