Thursday, March 29, 2012

Burberry Body: fragrance review

A shame the appearence is betraying a fragrance so much. The gorgeous electric-car charger looking bottle (or a crystal baton, if you prefer) encased in a leather pouch in beige tones is far sleeker and classier than the soapy, synthetic and rather dull floral musk hiding inside the container. The name and commercial hinted at some tryst conducted in the aftermath of a spring shower that necessitated the wearing of a Burberry trenchcoat. The fragrance however is akin to sprikling yourself in sudsy water rather than bodily fluids...


Burberry Body is rather potent, warm and woody, taking in mind the constraints of both the soapy and musky floral genre (which usually tend to lean towards coolish), but doesn't really ever become a true "skin scent" in the sense of mimicking anyone's warm, living skin -or the scent equivalent of invoking the aftermath of intimate action between lovers. It's death by a hundred little guest soaps with rosy wrapping!The chunk of Cashmeran in the base doesn't aid much.

Nor is the composition a gorgeous true floral musk the way Narciso Rodriguez Narciso For Her and its many different fragrance versions are or Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker. The effect in Body remains at all times a bit aloof, without much of the promised absinthe or the powderiness of iris compositions, the soap a little detached from the nooks and cranes it's supposed to lather up to. The sudsy floral part of Penhaligon's Castile is there, but whereas in Castile this aided the radiance of what is essentially a programmatically "clean" fragrance with lots of orange blossom, in Burberry Body we have a similar phenomenon as in the newer version of Chloé; the aliphatic aldehydes project sharp, loud and fatty, laundry-detergent reminiscent, with a hint of lactonic peach and vanilla under the rosiness, and tend to remind you of a chemical soup rather than the ouverture to some floral symphony of yore. Furthermore Body is absolutely linear and guaranteed not to offend anyone; usually that's a seal of lack of character.

I realise that "clean" and "shower fresh" are loaded and important terms in fragrance marketing, that one has to pick an unobtrusive scent for the office at times and there is a huge segment of the population who is after the perfect "just out of the shower" fragrance anyway, but I'm afraid that this is not it; their worthy goal is better served elsewhere. [Explore our Soapy Fragrances and Musky Fragrances articles linked, if you like].

Notes for Burberry Body: absinthe, peach, freesia, rose absolute, iris, sandalwood, woody cashmeran, musk, vanilla, amber.

Photo: Andrian Wilson, I need you more than you need me

10 comments:

  1. I think that this perfume has a great campaign using famous fashion bloggers and good commercials. It lacks of creativity in my opinion and olfactory excitement.

    Juraj
    bleauog.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. A bit dull and synthetic was my thoughts exactly when I tried it a while back. I scrubbed it off...

    ReplyDelete
  3. MariaA08:17

    I had very high hopes for this one but eventually it was a great dissapointment... On my skin it was an explosion of bulgarian rose not the lovely one) an agressive attack that resembled nothing to a skin scent.

    ReplyDelete
  4. J,

    I'm not surprised they have used fashion bloggers to promote, but you see the emphasis is on "fashion". To gain acceptance from fragrance writers, they need to try more... ;-)

    Pity, I like Burberry on the whole.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Eva,

    I think one can do much better with something inoffensive or office-friendly. There are so many options out there!
    Glad we agree.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Maria,

    thanks for stopping by and commenting, first of all.

    Second, yes, it's harsh and the rose projects as air/toilet freshener, not a nectarous, liquerish true rose. It smells totally synthetic. What a pity! With a name like that and an ad as hot as that one would expect the skin scent to end all skin scents...

    ReplyDelete
  7. That photo cracks me up; the model looks like a pork chop wrapped in plastic saran wrap.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stelma,

    which is why I chose it (plastic being the operative word!) ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have the PTSD effect to anything soapy. It was when Ivory soap came out and floated and scummed, that my now permanent allergy came up. So, I can't even consider it if I could smell. There was a family the smelt of Ivory soap, beautiful girls, but I think their mother must have made them brush their teeth with it. Probably shouldn't have commented.

    ReplyDelete
  10. N,

    nah, you did well to comment. I hadn't thought of allergies as being related to soap and its smell thus conjuring up unpleasant associations, but it makes sense.

    ReplyDelete

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