Gucci, Badgley Mischkha & Angel New Perfumes

Okay, you have to go here.  That’s my mom on the far right, then me (going to the left), then my sister, Shirley, and then my niece Samatha.  And then you have to watch this one, which is me, my husband and my two sons. If you Elf yourself, make sure to drop the link in comments!

I’ve had a lot of things sitting on my desk forever that I can never seem to get to.  Gucci EDP is one of my all-time favorite scents. It was the one scent that got spritzed on me by a department store perfume commando that I never regretted.  It has notes of heliotrope, orange blossom, orris, vanilla, citrus, cumin, and thyme.  It is just completely different from anything else I’ve ever smelled, and while it goes on sharpish and odd, the drydown is just spectacular. It, along with Fendi Theorema, will always be in my cupboard of classic department store/designer scents that I adore.

When Gucci came out with their new Gucci by Gucci, which seemed to be sorta the same name as My Beloved and too easily confused for the unsuspecting perfumista — notes of guava, raspberry, pear, Tahitian Tiare flower, orange blossom, spider lily, patchouli, honey and musk — I was horrified.  Was this to be Gucci EDP’s replacement?  Well, my feathers were smoothed a little by that bottle, which I think is just cute as a bug’s ear, no? So I dutifully ordered my bottle, fearing the worst, but knowing I’d get a darling bottle out of the thing, and I spritzed it on, turned purple in rage with all that fruit, scrubbed it off and quit thinking about it, determined to stock up on My Beloved because I know it’s got to be on the chopping block when they throw out a fruity floral with close to the same name.

I’ve calmed myself since then (yeah, it’s been a month or so!) and decided to try it again. Yes, it goes on with a fripperific fruity froth that about makes me gag, but luckily for all of us, that really does dry off fairly quickly and pretty completely.  Had I just given it time before, I wouldn’t have been so darn mad.  While it will never be the quirky masterpiece that is Gucci EDP, it is a very nice, completely lovely and wearable scent, balanced beautifully between the floral notes and the musk in the base, making it richer than most designer florals normally are.  Far into the drydown, it is just smooth and elegant and completely beautiful.  I don’t think it has that odd factor that will make it a classic, but I can see it becoming a big favorite for the average person who wants a good perfume that’s not the run-of-the mill fruity floral that’s in wide circulation these days.

The original Badgley Mischka I thougt was well done in the same way, so I had high expectations for the Badgley Mischka Fleurs de Nuit. It has notes of White Florals, Green Notes, Night Blooming Jasmine, Lily, White Peach, Silky Woods, Glowing Amber — what in the world is glowing amber?  oh, whatever — and they sound pretty good, but let’s see how they did.  It actually matches up as a slightly darker version of the original, it seems more sensuous, less innocent, but not skanky, which I presume was the intent, but it doesn’t go as dark as I would have liked it to. There’s a note in there, maybe one of the green notes, that isn’t a favorite of mine and was absent in Badgley Mischka. So I’ll stick with the original for my own personal wear, but I do like the new one and think fans of the first B-M should find much to recommend Fleurs de Nuit. If you didn’t like the first one, you will likely not change your mind on this one.

Out of the raft of designer scents this fall, those are the two that I think came off the best.  Which ones did you think made the cut, and which should we Auf?  Yes, yes, it’s Project Runway time again!

Can we talk about Angel briefly? I despise Angel. Always have, always will. I dropped a bottle of it in my room one time, and I seriouesly considered selling the house.  But… but… but that Le Part Des Anges extrait they did is a little, um, naughty?  Maybe I’m the only one that’s getting that deep B.O./skank note in there, but it has me almost hynotized. Part repulsed and part in love, I feel like I’m having a mad affair with that guy that was always on the dirty side that nice girls didn’t date, but you wanted to sneak out with him when your friends didn’t know.   I just put a little drop on me and sniff it off and on during the day.  Lord.