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Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely: fragrance review

Few fragrances boast their very definition in their name, unless they're programmatic, but so few celebrity scents are anyway. Lovely is really lovely and it earns brownie points for being launched by a celebrity that actually gives a darn about fragrance instead of seeing it as a personal brand: the perfume-obsessed Sarah Jessica Parker.

via

Inspired by her love for mixing high-school staple Bonne Belle Skin Musk and an Egyptian-style musk oil bought from street vendors (rumor has it that it's the same that the late Carolyn Bessete Kennedy wore) with a "smoky" incense-patchouli-woods from Japanese avant-garde brand Comme des Garcons (Avignon actually), Jessica Parker didn't really get her way in terms of Lovely imposing a challenging concept in actual market terms. That's if we are to go by Chandler Burr's account, who chronicled the story of the creation in the book "The Perfect Scent".

Yet she managed to get the perfect "go anywhere" woody floral musk scent, with a fine trail of lavender (and a hint of rose?) mid-evolution, that can't help but put that expression on your face when both lips and crow's feet lines smile into "ah, loooovely!"

13 comments:

  1. The Perfect Scent was the very first book I read on perfume and I devoured the information in one night. Didn't want the book to end, it was SO interesting!

    I can't say enough about this book. It's a must read for anyone who wants a "behind the scenes" look at the fragrance industry!

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    1. It's probably the best thing written on the "behind the scenes" work indeed. Thanks Jovan!

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  2. I have Chandler Burr's book too. I don't own Lovely and have never even tried it but I do have SJP's Stash and love that one.

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    1. Good on you on zeroing on the stuff that fits you! She seems like a genuinely interested in scent person. So that's a huge plus for me.

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  3. Maria07:16

    I have exactly the same feelings about Lovely as about SJP herself: now I like it, now I don't. Now I wonder if my perception of the perfume was strongly influenced by my opinions on her... Could very well be so :)

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    1. That's the catch with celebrity scents in general. Isn't it? There is no leeway to make the scent 100% one's own. The image and perceived personality of the celebrity is always creeping someplace...
      Thanks for the comment!

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    2. Maria10:18

      So true. I much prefer ads featuring models, not movie/music/whatever celebrities, or, even better, no faces at all - no unwanted intermediary between me and perfume.

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    3. The Clinique ads accomplished that to a T. Focus on the scent. (or the lipstick or eye shadow). Nothing to intervene. I didn't especially appreciate when they featured models for Happy...

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  4. I always think of Lovely as a rose scent too. One of my faves.
    Portia xx

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    1. Glad that you do. I pick it very very subtly and it's very...lovely in there. Thanks for visiting and being vocal! :)

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  5. I think I need to revisit this scent.

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    1. It's rather good. If you like Narciso for Her it's a guaranteed good blind bet.

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  6. Anonymous11:22

    I'd like to know is Palisinder rosewood in sjp lovely an essential oil or a synthetic note please?

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