Arielle Shoshana is a niche perfume boutique in the DC Metro area. I haven’t been there but I’ve only heard wonderful things about it. I keep saying that the next time I’m in Baltimore, I’ll stop on by D.C., but I haven’t yet. But, most importantly, Arielle Shoshana is a person. I know Arielle, and maybe you know Arielle too, through her blog, Scents of Self. I love her witty writing and sense of humor. She’s really passionate about fragrance. So, when she opened up her own boutique, I was so proud of her and frankly, jealous of all you guys in the DC area that have access to such a lovely boutique owned by one of us Perfume People. I’m even more proud now that Arielle Shoshana has launched their first signature fragrance, Arielle Shoshana (it’s a place, person and a perfume!). This takes a lot of work and I can only imagine how exciting it is to be able to work with great people to create your own fragrance to share with the world.
Arielle Shoshana (the perfume!) opens with passion fruit. Real, juicy mouth-watering passion fruit. It’s batido de granadilla/maracuyá. What I love about this opening is that it has that natural weirdness that passion fruit has, like how it’s so juicy and so ripe that it’s almost too much. This perfume has that. It has a sulfuric greenness and something bitter green like rhubarb or strawberry leaf. All together, it smells very much like ripe passionfruit. The heart is a modern citrus-y iris with spice. It’s soft, sheer and gauze-like. It dries down to a modern amber and musk. This probably only makes sense to me, but this dry down reminds me of ruffles. It’s soft but there’s some movement (like the rustling of musk, amber, modern woods and air all at once).
Honestly, when I read the note list when the perfume was being pre-sold, I didn’t expect to like it. If you read EauMG, you’ve probably noticed that I rarely feature fruity scents. That’s mainly because I don’t wear them. The only fruity scents I wear are figs. I was truly surprised when I kept wearing and sniffing this perfume. I can’t get enough of the passionfruit and its energy. My life has been rather serious; this year has been sort of devoid of joy. I need more perfumes like Arielle Shoshana in my life.
Notes listed include passion fruit, grapefruit, rhubarb, mandarin, peach, saffron, pink pepper, cardamom, magnolia, sandalwood, ambroxan, vanilla, vetiver bourbon, iris and musk. Launched in 2017. PERFUMER – Cécile Hua
Give this a perfume a try if you like fruity perfumes or want something passionfruit-y. Or perfumes like Fueguia 1833 Mbucuruyá (which is milkier), Montale Pretty Fruity (which is more floral), Lavanila Vanilla Passion Fruit (sweeter) or Clinique Calyx (greener). I’m absolutely loving this one for the summer.
I find that projection is average-ish but then the base wears really close to the skin. I feel like if I had a bottle of this, I’d go through it rather quickly.
The 3.4 oz bottle retails for $125 at Arielle Shoshana. Samples are also available for purchase.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Batido de maracuyá. This is THE passionfruit perfume; no need for any others. I am so surprised by how much I love this fragrance. I don’t own anything else like it and I can’t get enough of it.
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THE passion fruit perfume! Who could ask for more in a review?? Thank you for your wonderful analysis, Victoria. I am absolutely overjoyed that you enjoyed AS EDP so much. Cécile’s magical passion fruit accord is a complete departure from my usual fragrance preferences (warm, sweet, lightly spiced), too. I wonder if this is how parents feel- “my kid is amazing, but are we sure they came out of me???” 😉
I eagerly await the day when we can finally get you down to Arielle Shoshana!
It’s so good. It’s not something, from the notes, that I thought I’d be attracted to. But, I am! It’s such a happy fragrance without smelling cliche. You guys did such a great job with it!
Hopefully sooner than later 🙂
[…] – D.C.’s best niche perfume boutique has launched their first fragrance. It smells like juicy passion […]
Ooo I’m glad you did this review. As someone who has to eat ALL the passionfruit things when I go to Hawaii and not averse to fruity perfumes, I’m definitely going to get a sample.
So I just said I like fruity perfume but I can’t think of a single FB I own with the *focus* on fruit. I like fig scents, but don’t wear them. I like coconut, but is that a ‘fruit’ or a nut? 😉 Citrus scents fall into a different category to me. Oh, I have Slumberhouse Pear and Olive… but don’t wear it too often. So maybe I should say I like fruity florals 🙂
You described my collection. I don’t have anything full-size except for figs and coconuts and Pear & Olive 🙂 I consider citrus to be an entirely different genre. I actually like fruity-florals but don’t own too many of those either. What’s my problem 🙂
As far as fruit “soliflores”, none. That’s my excuse for adding this one. It’s really enjoyable, especially if you have pleasant associations with passionfruit. Like it smells like the real deal.
[…] – D.C.’s best niche perfume boutique has launched their first fragrance. It smells like juicy passion […]
[…] – D.C.’s best niche perfume boutique has launched their first fragrance. It smells like juicy passion […]
[…] – D.C.’s best niche perfume boutique has launched their first fragrance. It smells like juicy passion […]
[…] – D.C.’s best niche perfume boutique has launched their first fragrance. It smells like juicy passion […]
[…] – D.C.’s best niche perfume boutique has launched their first fragrance. It smells like juicy passion […]
[…] – D.C.’s best niche perfume boutique has launched their first fragrance. It smells like juicy passion […]
[…] Arielle Shoshana EDP – This is a passion fruit fragrance so that already comes across as tropical. For me, it reminds me of summer drinking batido de maracuyá. Retails for $125 at Arielle Shoshana. Review here. […]