Mainstream Monday – Sniffing a Popular Perfume
When Estee Lauder launched Modern Muse, I was optimistic because I tend to like Estee Lauder perfumes in general. After trying it, I wasn’t really inspired (and isn’t that the entire point of a muse?). I never reviewed it because there wasn’t much to say. Modern Muse was an abstract jasmine. I didn’t love it nor did I dislike it. It’s just one of those perfumes that I don’t have much to say about. When the flankers started to follow, I didn’t go out of my way to try them. I expected very little from them. To my surprise Modern Muse Chic gives me something to talk about.
Modern Muse Chic is musky floral. It’s much “bigger” and bolder than I expected. It has this dusty jasmine thing going on. There’s plum with white florals that almost makes it seem like a more modern take on 80’s floral amber fragrances. On me, the cool lily is amplified and mixes with that boozy plum wine. It’s all over a rather strong, camphoric patchouli. Modern Muse Chic dries down to something that reminds me a lot of Narciso Rodriguez for Her. It’s like that “sexy” blend of patchouli, musk and balsamic woods.
Modern Muse Chic isn’t this mind-blowing fragrance. In fact, it reminds me of a few other modern perfumes (if they were all mashed up together). However, I like it much better than the original. Saying that, I tend to gravitate to these sort of slightly tawdry floral ambers that have a lot going on and want you to believe that they are “SEXY, MYSTERIOUS, SULTRY”. Or whatever adjective we use to compare a perfume to a pair of leopard print panties. What I’m saying is that I have a soft spot for florals + musk + plum. Yet, I still dislike the bottle and the name is stupid. I mean, “Modern Muse Chic”…are there non-chic muses out there?
Notes listed include plum, artemisia, davana, jasmine sambac, tuberose, stargazer lily, cashmere wood, oud, labdanum, patchouli, ebony tree, musk, Madagascar vanilla and suede. Launched in 2014. PERFUMER – Harry Fremont
Give Modern Muse Chic a try if you like musky floral amber. Or perfumes like Indult Isvaraya, Dior Poison, Juicy Couture Couture Couture, Bond No. 9 Perfumista Avenue, Dita von Teese EDP, Victoria’s Secret Basic Instinct, Narciso Rodriguez for Her, Illamasqua Freak and/or Natori EDP
Projection and longevity are above average.
Modern Muse Chic comes in three sizes with prices ranging from $62-$110 at Nordstrom.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Musky floral amber with boozy plum and patchouli. I don’t see myself rushing out to buy a bottle of this (or buying one at all), but I like this flanker better than the original.
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Basenotes – Member reviews
Well, you had a better experience this one than I did, strangely my bad experience actually made me respect it more. This turned into a total skanky floral musk on me, some serious sweatiness was happening on me. I was rather shocked that Estee Lauder actually let this little beast out on to their counters.
I really hope you sampled it at home and didn’t go out in it 😉 Would you say it’s a little “trashy” or am I just being a weirdo with that (or associating the scent with something similar that a “wild” friend used to wear?). Because skanky + floral + musk + sweet is what it was on me but I think I tolerated it. Like I’m saying my patience for that sort of thing may be higher than average.
I meant to say in my review, which I noticed now that I didn’t, is that I’m really surprised by this being a EL. It really doesn’t fit with their line up in my opinion. However, I sniffed Rouge the other day and it’s even sweeter and there is a new Jenner face attached to that campaign. I think they’re more focused on a new audience than the old audience that “knows” Lauder. That’s a shame….
I wish I was at home. Instead I was roaming the mall on a small break between work and an appointment I had. Thankfully my skin can notoriously eat up a scent so it didn’t hang around on me for too long. I was originally attracted to trying it because so many people mentioned a plum note and well I got a whole lot more than that. I think I got more than the usual skank in this scent, jasmine notoriously has a way of going bad on me that makes me incredibly weary of the note, combined with the cedar/cumin, I can get indole sweat far too easily. Ironically the Rochas Femme works perfectly fine on me.
As for whether this scent is “trashy.” I have been thinking about Narciso Rodriguez edt lately and how it is no longer really my dress up and feel like a knock-out scent and I think that is because there are so many dupes/clones of the scent and Modern Muse Chic really does fall into that category. I don’t know if I could call it “trashy” but it has basically become the scent every woman wears when they want to smell “sexy” to some extent. I will have to say the addition of the plum note does give a sort of Victoria Secret’s Love Spell quality which definitely puts it on the garish side for me.
Oh, no! Isn’t that how it goes? I’ll never forget my first sampling of L’Artisan Al Oudh…standing in the post office line thinking I had B.O.
I guess “trashy” is the wrong word but “trying too hard”, these sort of scents try hard. I have no idea why I think that other than having a gf that used to wear anything like this and they were her going out scents. And going out meant getting really dolled up in an OTT sexy way…think like plunging, body-con dresses and thigh high boots. Like one can be sexy but when too much is going on, it’s trying too hard. I guess that’s what I mean with this genre of fruits, flowers, musk and sweet. It’s like “well, why just highlight this feature when I can HIGHLIGHT them ALL!” I do like NR though even though I once had an evil manager that wore it. I still like it.
Fun fact, Love Spell is my most detested fragrance in this world 😉
The other day I tried on Frederic Malle’s Dries Van Noten worried I was going to have your experience with the scent, thankfully that did not happen. Got the creamy gourmand sandalwood. Still it is amazing when a perfume can go wildly awful on you, say for example the new Narciso scent, I was so excited about it, but it turned into a godawful screechy musk gardenia on me with a dollop of pencil shavings.
Ah yes the “sexy” scent. I think the problem with genre of scents your are describing “fruits, flowers, MUSK, sweet, and a dash of whatever cleaned patchouli we have around” is they really now just smell like glob on every idea of what sexy is. I remember the first time I ever really encountered a woman who did the full “sexy” and thinking to myself isn’t this all a bit much? I mean I get the desire to be considered attractive but when you are pulling out every single “trope” it just begins to be clownish and really uniform. Her signature scent was Coco Mademoiselle.
Love Spell is probably one of my top detests. I can’t help but associate it with being in college and with girls who wore pants with words “juicy” or “pink” on their asses and they always wore Love Spell by the gallon. Ugh, thankfully I have not come across that spiced fruit punch cocktail in a long time.
Why does this stuff happen? I know we just say “chemistry” as a big catchall for when perfumes are miserable on one person and great on another, but I’d love to know more about this. Because, it’s so very real and I have sniffed the differences 🙂
A dear friend of mine wore/wears Coco Mademoiselle. And yes, she wears it because it is “sexy”. It really is to me like that certain sexiness of wear one plays up/exaggerates all the things in a “sexy” look. It works for some people but I don’t feel comfortable like that. My friend does make CM smell wonderful though. I just feel odd in it.
This is exactly why I don’t like it. The associations and because I think it actually stinks. It’s so odd to me that it became soooo popular. It sort of smells like a rotting fruit punch.