Mainstream Monday – Sniffing a Popular Perfume
The packaging of Kate Spade Twirl is very celebratory. The bottle is “cute” with gold confetti. And the name is playful. Unfortunately, this is one of those fragrances where every last detail was planned out to correspond with the Kate Spade image and to entice. Every last detail was agonized over. Every last detail except for the actual fragrant liquid inside the bottle. (I have no solid proof of this, but it’s the impression that I get).
Twirl opens as a champagne mimosa. It’s tart citrus and some type of peach-mango orange juice. There’s a present powdery warm musk from the start. This meshes with the fruit juice and crème de cassis. A heavy synthetic magnolia appears. It’s borderline cloying. But, don’t worry, it gets drown out by that musk. The musk is very strong/powerful, powdery and warm. For most of the wear, Twirl is 5 Alive, magnolia body spray, and musk. For a perfume whose name implies movement, this thing is standing still. Twirl, don’t just stand there, bust a move!
Twirl manages to smell like every generic mainstream fruity-floral for the 25 and under crowd but not enough so that I can directly compare it another perfume. Just think “pink flanker”. Twirl smells like a “pink flanker”. Or like a generic celeb fragrance.
I’m not really sure who the Kate Spade customer is. This brand has always confused me. It attempts to look young and quirky while holding on to this mid-40 year old at the country club look. The women here that carry the bags are in their late-30’s-50’s. I expect this fragrance to be more mature (and I do not use that word negatively, I love mature fragrances). Instead, Twirl seems young to me. And it also seems like if you are the Kate Spade customer that you probably aren’t wearing this perfume.
Notes listed include mandarin, bergamot, baies rose, watermelon, white peach, red currant, blackberry, star jasmine, magnolia, orange blossom, tiare flower, sun-kissed skin accord, French macaron, luminous musk and amber. PERFUMER – Claude Dir
Give Twirl a try if you like fruity-florals or perfumes like Heidi Klum Shine, Halle Berry Reveal, Guess for Women, Ed Hardy Born Wild, and/or Beyoncé Heat . Twirl is not a “terrible” fragrance. It’s just much more boring to me than I ever expected it would be.
Kate Spade Twirl comes in a few sizes with prices ranging from $65-$80. It is available at Nordstrom. It can also be found at discounters like Perfume.com.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Champagne, Tropical 5 Alive, Shampoo and drugstore musk = pink juice. Not a bad smelling fragrance; however, the note list reads as much more interesting than it actually is. But, now that I think about it, do I want to smell like fruit salad, white florals, sweaty skin and macarons?
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*Sample obtained by me. Post contains affiliate links. Pic from Sephora. Champagne cocktail from Delish.com
I am by no means trying to be critical. However, I found your review of this fragrance is so spot-on. Nice, simple fragrance, but no identity. Generally, I’ve been confused by the direction of Kate Spade since the cute black, square bags. Her aesthetic got left behind in the 90s, and has yet to catch up and revamp. I hope we’ve yet to see her best.
I don’t want people to take this as a critical review. It’s not a bad fragrance and it’s wearable. I can see why people would wear it or would buy it. I mean I just said something nice about a Guess fragrance last week, I’m not really Miss Tasteful, you know.
But, I had high hopes for this fragrance. The bottle is fun, the description is fun. I felt like the scent was a let down because of all of these other factors. Even if I don’t understand the brand or where they are going, I do like a few of their “classic” things and sometimes the line does quirky well. I also feel the signature bags I’ve seen from years ago are well-made and classic. Once again, I expected something much different than what I smell in this bottle. I may not understand where the Kate Spade brand is going but I can tell it has some identity and this fragrance doesn’t have that.
I don’t give up on the brand. If another fragrance is launched, I’ll try it too.
I find this fragrance boring, too.
When I was in college, Kate Spade purses were really popular with my sorority sisters. The preppy image was totally what they were into. I couldn’t afford the bags. Looking at them now, I do feel they look “old”. But I am more into trends/being fashion forward than I was then, because I was so caught up in the sorority “preppy” look at that time.
I do like Kate Spade dinnerware. Not that I can afford it!
breathesgelatin recently posted..In which I smell Ho-Berry fragrances so you don’t have to
I think the point of preppy is to look “old”, you know the wealthy senator look or country club look.
I do like the Kate Spade home stuff but I have an unnatural obsession for glassware. I’m a glassware no-buy until 2013 🙁