Lately I am fragrance obsessed. I have logged some odd amount of hours on Fragrantica.com, the ultimate online authority on smells. What I probably like most about the website, is the equal degree of attention and analysis given to say, Chanel No. 5, as is to one of my personal favorites, Jessica Simpson Fancy.
As the holidays are fast approaching, I thought I would share some of my favorite cheap perfumes, with olfactory notes and my personal descriptions of course, hopefully making a “blind-buy” less risky.
Paris Hilton has made many forays into the fragrance industry, but none have been as much of a hit with me as Can Can Burlesque. I actually have the body spray, not the EDP, but only out of convenience. This will set you back anywhere from 7-20 dollars. If possible, purchase at TJ Maxx for the best bargain.
This fragrance will always be an intense trigger of sense-memory for me, evoking a very distinct period in my life with every spritz. It is described on the aforementioned Fragrantica as, above all, a fruity fragrance, but I mostly pick up on something musky and powdery. To me, it smells kind of like lipstick. The scene it conjures is a group of girls getting ready to go out, the blend of a few perfumes hanging in the air, setting spray mingling in, and lipstick being powdered through Kleenex.
It’s sweet, but not candy sweet. It smells cheap, and it is– but in a curated way if that makes sense. A slutty babysitter’s perfume.
Paris’ description: Inspired by the intrigue of moulin rouge, the scent is fresh and modernly beautiful. Luscious and sparkling, clementine and raspberry lend their tempting juices for an irresistible top note. A heart blooming with decadent wild orchid and warm orange blossom makes an unforgettable statement. In the background, the rich velvet softness of musk, glowing amber and sexy woods lingers on the skin.
The name is definitely my least favorite/favorite thing about this perfume. Once, outside a bar a girl asked me what perfume I was wearing (a testament to its appeal) and I drunkenly replied, “bong bong casablanca.”
Jessica Simpson’s Fancy has been my latest favorite. Fragrantica allows you to see the perfumer behind each perfume, and their other work. Oftentimes, as is the case with Fancy, you’ll see they’ve designed some luxury fragrances that others would never connect to a celebrity perfume. I like this, the thought that the same man who designs for Valentino, makes Jessica Simpson perfume. There’s a nice democracy to it.
This is definitely what they would call a ‘gourmand’ perfume. I smell caramel, and honeysuckle shampoo. Or almost a floral detergent kind of smell. Mixed with gardenia. I once nuked my living room with this stuff and it really hung for a while. There's definitely something powdery in there too, but I’ve noticed that with most cheap perfumes.
It makes me feel like I’m sitting next to Jessica Simpson on a greyhound bus, and she’s fallen asleep on my shoulder. The frappuccino she was drinking has spilled in her lap, and the scents of her shampoo and hairspray are all melding in the stale bus air.
This would cost you 17-27 dollars.
Jessica’s description: Fancy by Jessica Simpson is a woody, oriental perfume for women that’s whimsical and elegant for the red carpet, yet subtle and charming for everyday wear. A flirtatious scent introduced by the singer in 2008, Fancy evokes cheer and warmth, and shines through its ultra-feminine soul with oriental and woody notes.
No. 4711 is, I believe, one of if not the oldest perfume still in production. It was invented in Cologne, Germany, in 1799. I went to the flagship store as a little girl, and it smelled potently fresh. Like, punishingly clean.
It’s a bitter, citrus, pepper smell that, straight out of the bottle, feels like it could melt your face off. On skin, it's kind of like any old after shave. The bottle is beautiful though, and looks great on a dresser. Even though it may be the oldest perfume in existence, it still feels kind of niche. It's also the most unisex fragrance on this list by far. Smelling it, I am transported to a German hotel lobby as a kid, where, seeing a handsome businessman, I tried desperately to meet his gaze through the crowd. Thinking in my rainbow stripe tights I will somehow, God forbid, enchant this thirty-something European man, and we will fall in love.
Pacifica makes two perfumes I like, and they are probably the most unpretentious and least fussy of all the scents on this list. Their brand makes a number of fragrances which are all pretty one-note. This can be nice in its simplicity.
The Tahitian Gardenia perfume is just a straight forward, intense white floral fragrance for lovers of heady, tropical flowers. It is kind of the baby sister of Estee Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia. It's a very rich, creamy smell that will definitely permeate the air around you. I wore it a lot in high school, and the rave review I can offer is that a friend said she could always tell when I’d been in a room. I went on to explain I loved perfumes with ‘indole’ which is a term for the sickly-sweet, rotten smell that many white florals give off. “Yeah, that’s what it is.” She said, “you always smell rotten.”
Their Island Vanilla perfume is just straight, sweetest-sweet vanilla. Very girly, and very edible. The very friend who critiqued my fragrance taste is herself a gourmand fragrance enthusiast. The kind of scents that make you think of someone mashing up a snickers bar in a mortar and pestle and rubbing the essence on their skin. This perfume goes nicely with other things, on its own it's a little boring. Or classic, depending on your tastes. At times the two things can seem synonymous.
