Archived Post

MAC Trend F/W '09 Collection Review: Asphalt Flower

MAC Asphalt Flower Fragrance

MAC Trend F/W ’09 Collection Review: Asphalt Flower

Asphalt Flower is described by MAC as, “A deep dark, erotic fragrance that takes its place in our Trend F/W ’09 collection as the aromatic complement to this alt-fashion look. Features glossy violet and iris petals, vanilla and patchouli with top notes of violet, ylang-ylang; mid-notes of iris, heliotrope and a finale of olibanum, patchouli and M∙A∙C signature vanilla.”

I’m still a bit under the weather, so it’s hard for me to review something I’m only partially smelling, but I’ll tell you what I can so you have at least some inkling of whether or not this scent is for you. Once it dries down, I detect just a hint of floral, some patchouli, and a little sweetness of vanilla, but it smells a bit soapy to me.

I will also say that I am so glad to see MAC put out a fragrance as a rollerball scent. It’s so much easier to apply and great to keep in your purse for on-the-go. The bottle itself has a great clear to black gradient that looks exactly what I’d expect from MAC. Such an improvement over the Stylistics scent Air of Style, which had a fantastic bottle, but it was utterly impractical and sits in a drawer somewhere because it can’t stand up on its own whatsoever!

15 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
Christy Avatar

I have to get this since I have the original. I haven’t used it much since it came out years ago, however I will definitely compare the 2 to see if there is much of a change.

amy Avatar

Hmm I didn’t see this at the store last week. I am going to have to check it out since I love vanilla scents. The fact that it is a roller ball perfume is a plus because I don’t need to worry about it spilling in my purse!

lucia Avatar

This isnt one of Macs best. It reminds me of spray they use for public restrooms, baby powder and yes soapy. Sorry Mac wasnt feelin this one. Although nice touch with the roller ball.

michelle Avatar

I tried it today at the store and well I thought I liked it at first.. its a bit strong and in my opinion has an odd smell now that I have had it on for a few hours.. I will not be purchasing this.

Sunshine Avatar

I love the original Asphalt Flower from a few years back. It’s quite unusual, very confident and powerful/masculine scent. Easy to overdo, so I use only one dab inside my elbow directly from a bottle (I guess, mine is a refill since there is no sprayer). It grew on me overtime. Not an everyday fragrance unless you wear it to a formal office full of men with intention of making a firmer impression. Men respect that kind of scent and start regarding you as one of them. It’s somewhere up in line with Emporio Armani She in terms of effect it has on me. Great for boosting self-esteem and fearlessness factor, it makes me kind of bossy in eyes of others with no efforts on my side. For moms and teachers, it might add authority to calm down difficult kids. I didn’t try the new version, vanilla might make it softer and more feminine.

Victoria Maria Avatar

Isn’t it a little difficult to compare the old and the new scent. I mean the first one must be outdated, it came out 10 years, and will definitely not have it’s original scent anymore! Just a thought – perfumes do not last forever.

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!