Mainstream Monday – Sniffing a Popular Perfume
When I first sniffed Roberto Cavalli EDP in a store, I was offended. I don’t know how to explain it but it offended me and literally turned my stomach. Perhaps it was my expectations. I really liked the other/discontinued Roberto Cavalli fragrances (especially Maurice Roucel’s Oro, love that one) and maybe I was expecting something like those. Now that I try Roberto Cavalli “Signature” again, it’s not as offensive as I remember it, but I think the world could have lived without it.
Roberto Cavallli EDP opens up with sweet peaches and musk. I also get sweet, honeyed florals. The perfume does smell “bronze”. There’s a juicy plum that vaguely reminds me of the plum in Givenchy Amarige. Most of the wear of Roberto Cavalli EDP is a musky fruity floral over some generic woodsy amber stuff. It’s difficult to explain, but the scent does seem familiar…familiarly cheap. And it still makes me a little queasy.
The Roberto Cavalli line is tacky. As a person that wore Cavalli – the mix of animal prints and serpent sunglasses for most of the early 2000s, I can say this in both a loving and disgusted way. At one time I was very much attracted to this sleazy, tacky 60’s Sophia Loren/Real Housewife of Somewhere/Eurotrash Club Kid/Straight Camp look. I was young, could pull off this trashy, sexed up aesthetic. But, then I realized it was tacky and yes, it looked cheap and it was time to move on. Like my icon Dolly Parton has said, “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.” It’s true and most people don’t realize this. I felt the “other” Roberto Cavalli perfumes pulled this off. They were tacky in that Cavalli way – loud, warm, sexed up…but they were well done and smelled good. This Roberto Cavalli just smells cheap to me like a really “off” leopard print on the world’s scratchiest polyester. This one seems to cost the same to smell really cheap. I think the idea is “good” but something went wrong…probably with the materials used.
Notes listed include pink peppercorn, orange flower, and mirabelle plum. PERFUMER – Louise Turner
Give Roberto Cavalli a try if you like floral ambers. Or perfumes like Mugler Alien, Lancôme Tresor, Givenchy Amarige, Juicy Couture Couture, Paco Rabonne Lady Million, and/or Jean Paul Gaultier Classique EDT. I consider it a feminine fragrance. It doesn’t come across as “young” to me like so many mainstream fragrances do or other fruity-florals do. It has a mature vibe (tons of musk and woods). And mature in the mainstream fragrance world is someone over 25.
The scent has above average projection and longevity…
Roberto Cavalli Signature comes in 2 sizes with prices ranging from $65-$85 at Nordstrom.
Victoria’s Final EauPINION – Stone fruits and florals and stuff. I rarely say this, but it smells cheap. And even with a tacky line like Roberto Cavalli, this offends me. I want poor taste/smell good. Not cheap/cheap.
And yes, I still wear animals prints. I can’t quit them.
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