What fragrance wasn't worth the splurge?
Atelier Cologne’s Clementine California just didn’t work for me–the smell didn’t wow me (lacked depth for my preference) and also had really short staying power.
— Christine
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22 Comments
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Tom Ford Neroli Portofino. It lasts for maybe 20 minutes. Also, TF’s Lost Cherry is a strange fragrance because sometimes it fades after an hour and other times lasts for hours. I can’t figure it out and probably wouldn’t purchase again.
That’s funny, because Clementine California is one of my go-tos! But my preference is for light, sweet, citrusy scents. Have you tried their Orange Sanguine? It’s got a similar but deeper scent.
Me too! I like it for summer!
Tom Ford Black Orchid just didn’t work for me. I kept going back to it hoping things would change but never did
Generally, Tom Ford fragrances work for me. I purchased two small purse sized sprays from the recent Sephora sale and so far I am not wildly enthused about either: Rose Prick and F**king Fabulous. That said, I have only worn each one once and Lost Cherry, which still holds as my signature scent, really grew on me over time.
Since I test every fragrance I have ever bought for myself before buying, minus just one and it was a mini, I really haven’t had any rather expensive mistakes. Yet. Thank goodness!
Gucci’s Gorgeous Gardenia Eau de Toilette. I love the smell, it’s right up my alley with fruits and flowers and it’d probably be a total go-to for me, but I think it just doesn’t have the strength and lasting power to justify the price. I’m not sure how much of that is the particular fragrance or eau de toilettes in general, but I think from now on I’m going to stick to parfum!
I also had a disappointing experience with an Atelier Cologne scent, specifically Rose Anonyme. I loved it in the store, and dropped more money on it than I ever had for a fragrance previously, but after I’d had it at home for a couple weeks it started to straight-up REEK. My theory is that maybe it was extremely sensitive to mild temperature/humidity variations? Anyways, the real lingering thorn in my side is that the detailed, glowing review I wrote for it shortly after purchasing it in 2014 immediately became the most recommended review on Sephora and remains in that position To This Day! There doesn’t seem to be any way to delete or modify the review, so I still feel guilty about possibly having triggered thousands of purchases of this stinky product. I hope everyone who buys it has better luck with it than I did.
Coquina …
Chemistry is such a funny thing ….That’s such a bummer , I’ve bought Killian “Love Don’t be Shy “ and it’s just too sweet for me however ..
Rose Anonyme works for me , Although I only wear it in cooler months .
Oh! I had a terrible experience with that perfume as well, I had a small bottle of it from some purchase I made. It smelled great at first, but also after a couple of weeks, the liquid inside just started turning yellow! And then it started to reek badly, I threw it away. I kind of avoided the whole Atelier line for a while after that.
On one hand it feels good to have my experience validated (confirmation that I did not imagine that stench!) but on the other I am sorry it happened to you, too! Mine also promptly turned yellow. I hope Atelier Cologne has their google alerts turned on so they can see all these comments about their scents disappointing people! I did email them about my issue once and the CS person was politely dismissive.
Atelier Cologne in general for me — I bought one of their advent calendars at the fall VIB sale a couple years ago, and while I enjoyed the unboxing and smelling each scent, they faded to nothing on me after a few minutes. I’ve had better staying power with literally any other perfume, as well as most soaps/lotions.
I cannot get a single Jo Malone fragrance to last more than about 10 minutes on me. It’s a shame too because I think they smell so lovely.
Same! I love every one I’ve ever smelled but it’s almost immediately gone.
I feel the same as Christine about the Atelier Colognes. There are 2 that I really, really love (one evokes a really strong memory of my mom from my childhood days) but I find that they don’t last. When I’ve sampled them in store, the fragrance was gone practically by the time I walked out of the store! So sad because they are so lovely.
I expected to like and tried to like Tom Ford’s Lost Cherry…and ended up not liking it at all. I smelled like a Luden’s Cherry cough drop…
Gucci’s Guilty wasn’t worth it for me, as well as Oscar De La Renta’s perfumes – they come out as being so strong, yet lacking in a definite perfume on my skin.
Jo Malone and Atelier Colognes draw me in with their beautiful fragrances, I spray them on and shop in the store (before covid) and fall in love with them get them home and they would fade on me. Now I am rubbing a tiny bit of vaseline on my pulse points before I spray my perfume on and they last a lot longer, also I spray a little in my brush and run it through my hair and then I can catch the smell through out the day. I was getting to the point of not buying any more perfumes because it just was so disappointing on something that wouldn’t last. I loooove perfume and withdrawal is hard!
I can’t remember the last time I made a bad fragrance purchase, much less on a splurge item. I research and get samples or try on in store (pre-pandemic).
Cocoapink’s Halloween in Dublin.
I’m from Dublin so was really really excited to see how they translated it, but it is SO cloying right out of the bottle – like sticking your face into a jar of honey – and only mellows out after hours of wear. I’m unsure as to what cherries have to do with Halloween OR Dublin, either.
Overall, a miss for me but I can’t even return it.
I’ll also say that the above experience combined with the owner’s political beliefs as posted on her personal Facebook page won’t be leading me to ever purchase from them again.
That is so funny that Clementine California didn’t work for you – it’s my hubby’s most favourite on me and he says he can smell it all day long, even though I can’t. I thought it didn’t have lasting power but he tells me otherwise! Different body chemistry is so fascinating!