Starting 2012 off fragrant with Michael Kors, Vera Wang & Escada

Needing some fragrance I took myself over to Ulta to see what was shaking in the way of new launches.  Woohoo, I hit the jackpot!  Which means I've got three newly launched fine fragrances reviewed for you here.

Let's begin with Island Michael Kors Very Bali (because it's winter and we'd all rather be on vacation somewhere like Bali.  Admit it.)  The packaging is enticing with a purple toned sunset, calm water, flowers and a palm tree.  The fragrance is as agreeable as the packaging, and just as conventional.  The top notes are sweet and floral with a tiny bit of citrus, which lifts the fragrance and keeps it quite light.  The muskiness of the dry down warms the fragrance, but not too much.  The musk mixes delicately with the bright florals to make a very nice, if not very unique, spring/summer fragrance.

Now, Valentine's Day is less than a month away so, while it's not really a new launch, it is only fair that we turn our attention to a romantic 2011 launch from Vera Wang: Lovestruck.  This fragrance fell down at the first hurdle; I wasn't able to pull out any discernible top notes after first spraying the fragrance!  I stared at my scent strip questioningly, and re-smelled it numerous times, but it was as if I hadn't sprayed anything on it!  So, needless to say, the top notes are very light.  But, the fragrance did pick itself up and the dry down notes are discernible.  There is an underlying musk to the fragrance which mixes with vanilla bean and a bit of fruity-floral sweetness.  It is a pleasant enough fragrance, but nothing to write home about.

Finally we have some Escada limited editions.  There are three: Island Kiss, Rockin' Rio and Sexy Graffiti.  Regrettably, I was only able to sample Island Kiss and Sexy Graffiti.  Sorry Rockin' Rio, maybe next time!

Island Kiss took me by surprise because it only had a little of the signature sweetness that characterizes Escada fragrances.  The rest of the top notes were extraordinarily clean with a nice soap-y, light citral scent.  It's dry down was just as light and clean as the top notes, but the sweet Escada character was more evident once dry.  I am very impressed by this fragrance - thumbs up, Escada!

Lastly I evaluated Sexy Graffiti and it was everything I expected from an Escada fragrance. It was loud, overly sweet:  almost the personification of pink (in the form of scent, of course!).  The top notes were a mixture of sweet berries and citrus, while the dry down was heavily citrus-y, which was made slightly dynamic by a hint of musk.  Although, saying that, the dry down was sorely unimpressive as the fragrance had mostly disappeared.  This is not surprising since citrus burns off quickly, which is why it is used so frequently as a top note.  In the end, Sexy Graffiti is everything one would expect from an Escada fragrance.


Thus concludes my first successful trip to Ulta of the year and hopefully there will be many more to come.  Bring on the 2012 launches, I say!