ed. note: don’t miss out on this week’s amazing giveaway…enter here!
i might just be the pickiest person alive when it comes to fragrance, especially complex blends. i’m that girl that gets annoyed if someone’s wearing strong perfume, and i’m also the girl that breaks out in a migraine for no reason in particular if i sniff the wrong scent – especially florals. in real life, i stick to really basic, one-note fragrances, and that’s that. so, for me to be really thrilled with an entire line of perfumes? about as rare as a shopping ban.
first, i fully admit that i was lured in by the lovely packaging of benefit’s new line of fragrances, crescent row. the samples arrived in the cutest little box designed to look like a row of georgian townhomes, with a door that opened to reveal each fragrance. too cute, right? it doesn’t stop there: the full size bottles are packaged in little mini martini shakers!
fortunately, i won’t have to buy for packaging alone – each of the scents is actually pretty wonderful.
i knew right away i wouldn’t like the woody floral scent “lee lee”. i mean, i like neither floral nor woody scents. but wait…the top notes in the blend – cassis and citrus – are mellowing out the violet and lily scents, and the amber bottom notes are so subtle they just sort of make everything fit. next, i tried the oriental floral “sofia”. this one is definitely the sweetest of the three scents, but i love the contrast of the vanilla and caramel notes with the more serious musk. and the florals are so light that they just kind of blend into the background, keeping the other scents in check.
at this point, i’m sneezing up a storm, but unwilling to give up on my testing. after all, i owe it to you guys, right? because last but not least is “gina”, and it’s a tough call, but i think this is the one i’m destined for. right away, i love the balance of the pink peppercorn and the tangerine, but weirdly enough, it’s the musky patchouli (of all things!) mixing with the vanilla to create this sort of sexy, semi-musk fragrance that has me sniffing my wrist uncontrollably.
whichever one you fall for, the whole collection just launched at benefit. so grab the girl of your dreams (at $36 each, you might even be able to grab two), and hit the town!
