It has always amazed me that grown-ups want to smell like talc or baby powder. It’s not because I’m a snob and think that baby powder stinks. I’m just from the school of thought that if you want to smell like baby products, then use baby products. It’ll save you money. But, if you don’t want to use these products but you want to smell like a clean baby slathered in product, wear i Profumi di Firenze Talco Delicato.
Talco Delicato opens with lemons, like lemon furniture polish in an aerosol can, with tons of talc/baby powder. Really all I think at this stage is <bleh>. And there’s rosewood. The scent loses the lemon and gets more powdery white musk with time. And then it turns into Johnson & Johnson Baby Lotion and scented baby doll heads. It’s a mix of musk and a little bit of rose that dries down to baby oil.
So, yeah. Talco Delicato smells like clean babies. And this doesn’t appeal to me. As a young girl, I feared baby dolls. I even hated the smell of them. I had no desire to play with dolls unless they stood on their skinny little tip toes and came with fashionable DayGlo accessories and could run for president while being an astronaut and a supermodel. As an adult, I’m still fearful of babies. But, I don’t really hate how their functional fragrances smell. I’ve matured 😉
Anyway…I’m reminded of a true life story, gather around fumeheads.
In college I had an attractive friend that was slightly older than me. He didn’t have a “real” job but he always had nice things. How could this be? I observed that many of the nice things he had were bought for him by women: his clothes, his furniture, his watches, his Le Creuset cookware. Yes, he was attractive and young but what was his “sugar mama secret”? I asked and I was prepared for any answer, including crass answers about endowment. He said, “Victoria, it’s simple. Most woman want to nurture someone even if they don’t know it. Some do know it. So I wear Johnson’s Baby Lotion and spread it all over my body before going out. The scent attracts a certain type of woman. This reminds eligible women that their womb is vacant. I get what I want and then some. When they don’t get the baby, the take care and nurture what smells like a baby. Pheromones.”
What a story to tell your feminist punk friend! I was disgusted by this “scheme” yet intrigued. I knew it couldn’t be as simple as this but it was a fascinating olfactory/biological theory. He went on to tell me that he also used baby powder as a carpet freshener/home fragrance. He’d put it down and vacuum the floor before any ladies came over. I guess this worked. He always had generous womanfriends. He had this down to a science, or at least he arrogantly believed that he did. It was a sleazetology. And in case you care about what happened to Don Juan – he is happily married to a really hot “cougar” and has a little baby now. I wonder if he’s still interested in smelling like Talco Delicato?
Notes listed include white musk and vanilla.
Try Talco Delicato if you like powdery “clean” fragrances. Or if you are looking for a perfume for a child. Or if you like perfumes like Penhaligon’s Artemesia, Bvlgari Petit & Mamas, Love’s Baby Soft, and/or Demeter Baby Powder.
Projection and longevity is average for an EDT. If you want it to last longer, layer over baby lotion. Seriously.
An 1.7 oz bottle retails for $99 at Beautyhabit. Samples are also available for purchase.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Johnson and Johnson’s baby lotion layered with baby powder that dries down to baby oil – rosewood and sweet musk. Gross to me but a “pheromone” to others. Or at least that was what I was told.
Want more reviews? Try…
Daly Beauty – Guide to powder perfumes
Fragrantica – Member reviews
whoa. you just blew the lid of this little powdery disgusting mystery for me!!! not only do i agree with you that baby powder is one of the most repugnant aromas in existence (and i LOVE kids, i was a camp counselor, peds nurse; it’s NOT babies)– i could NEVER understand why someone would want their car, dog, house, body, clothes etc to smell like it. i always assumed the had some infantile regression issues. PHEROMONES.
whether they are wanting to be nurtured (or apparently just given to in a cloud of talcum greed) or nurture someone else… this i can understand. i can sympathize. i can empathize. but i sure as double-hockey sticks am NOT going to date you, sit next to you or probably even want to stand next to you. (hm, that ought to solve some problems for certain people in my life. there you go– THAT’S how you get rid of me. well, that and JOOP!)
besides, baby products are laden with petrochemicals that are proven to be cancer causing and dangerous to anyone, let alone a delicate newborn. but that’s a whole different discussion. 😉
i DO have to say the line itself, i Profumi di Firenze, is one of the most amazing lines out there– have you tried any of the skin care? DEEEEElicious!!
whew! i need a cookie and a nap now.
We’re on the same page. I understand that life, people and boy, oh, boy relationships are complicated. I’m not going to judge people on what they want from life. And I may laugh at their pseudo-pheromone theories, but whatever. Sometimes people need little things/theories/crutches in their life. I just know that baby powder WILL NOT work on me. Ever. It’s an aroma that I can’t even stand on innocent little babies.
Yeah, I know. I love fragrance (obviously) but I’m always preaching to my sisters to use stuff like coconut oil on my baby nephews (and they do).
I LOVE i Profumi’s citruses and their Lilac. I haven’t tried them all but I was so impressed with simplicity and quality of those. I haven’t tried their skincare either.
I like the smell of baby powder but I don’t think babies smell like that. Every baby I’ve smelled reeks of sour milk, urine or poop, vomit, plastic, and the faintly floral remnants of baby wipes and diaper rash cream. I can’t stand the smell. Is it any surprise I have no children? Of course everyone else seems to think they smell wonderful. Go figure. I have no desire to try this perfume when I can get Love’s Baby Soft dirt cheap and to me it doesn’t smell like babies either. I associate it with those early years when I first started liking boys so it’s got some fun nostalgia attached to it.
That pheromone theory is interesting. Obviously something was working for him.
Haha, so true. When I went to visit the new nephew last May, he was handed to me. I asked my sister why her baby smelled so sour and gross. She said they all smell like that. I was confused because people always talk about that “new baby smell” and I was like new babies smell rank.
True. Maybe it’s more about innocence than babies? Maybe that is the appeal to “baby powder” scents?
Yeah, weird theory. But, you know, those overly confident people tend to always find lots of people that want to date them. And he was so cocky, like comically cocky.
According to my husband, Snoop Dog used to pick up women with a blend of Cool Water Cologne and baby powder. Strange to me that someone would fall for this.
Ha! So happy you mentioned this. It’s my favorite pop-perfume reference ever. Slick Rick was pulling out the Polo Cologne in La Di Da Di but Snoop’s was more “my generation”.
Honestly, I don’t think people fall for it unless they want to fall for something…like an overly arrogant young man. But just take the time to look at Basenotes threads and you’ll find so many men believing that they can control women through olfactory magic. It’s nuts but boys seriously believe this sort of crap.
I don’t find it baby power disgusting but it’s a smell that I can sniff and be like, yeah, ok now lets move on. It’s not a scent I would want to continuously smell. Your “doll’s head” description is right on. I can picture it. I once had a Strawberry Short Cake doll that had strawberry scented breath. This strawberry was not a natural strawberry but a neon candy berry. I like it but wouldn’t want it around for a long time, ya know?
I don’t know, I personally would want a dude to smell sophisticated and grown-up, not infantile. (Bonus, I get to keep the Le Crueset for myself!)
I still remember all of the smells of those Strawberry Shortcake dolls. The scents were odd because they were mixed with plastic. I’m sure they’d make me gag now but as a kid, I thought they were rad.
It’s pretty obvious in my blog that I like those old-school masculines even though I don’t consider myself a very traditional person. I’m drawn to “grown-up” scents.
I still don’t have any Le Crueset. Maybe I should start wearing baby powder and find myself a sugar momma. But, I have a feeling this wouldn’t work out for me.
Yuck…just yuck. I like the idea of a partnership. You take care of each other. It’s not just take care of me,me,ME!
I wonder how he is doing with the baby? My husband had a friend like that Very needy. Had his mattress in the living room. Had things growing in the refrig. When he gathered that I wasn’t about to take care of him (or my husband) he snapped out of the act and treated me like an adult. He was ‘well the girls see this and want to take care of me’. I remember telling him that I’d see that and walk out the door.
Baby powder is ok. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy. But I have a shelf full of amber perfumes to do that. Someone in an office of mine used to wear “Obsession” when it had some balls. But it really smelled like baby powder on her. And I’d sneeze every time she came near. To this day that’s what I think when I think baby powder. This line doesn’t do much for me. They have a good vanilla and a good amber, but others are better.
I sure to hell don’t want someone like that. But, I seem to lack that “caregiver” gene. I mean, I can be compassionate to someone that actually needs cared for but a perfectly healthy person…um, no. But, there must be women out there that like this BS.
I have worn a few ambers that go really powdery on me. But, I like those. They are “cozy” to me.
OMG. I used to work with someone that wore Obsession as well and it smelled just like baby powder on her too. I actually thought she was using baby products. I had to ask what she was wearing. I thought, “Wow” because I’ve worn Obsession before and never thought it was like that on me.
I think this line does well in warmer climates (sheer, fresher, simple). I do like that amber in the summer.
Holy smokes at that story! I’m also not a big fan of baby powder scents and I did my best to avoid putting it on my kids.
I have to appreciate him honestly sharing his “secret” even if I think it is bonkers.