"This smells like you just stepped out of the shower. Completely fresh skin with just a hint of whatever floral body wash you just rinsed off." -- Burton
"Light and pretty, like potpourri in a drawer filled with freshly-washed frilly, expensive underwear." -- Popp
"It makes me think of a fancy bubble bath filled with clear, clean rose water with a few rose petals sprinkled on top." -- Lee
"It smells like a rich creamy mix of coconut oil and shea butter lotion." -- Salazar
"I think it is like when you OD on tanning oil at the beach. I can almost picture the waves crashing on the shore." -- Anne-Marie Brumm, Office Manager
"It's just like walking into those candy stores in the mall. So sweet I could get a cavity." Sharon Yi, Associate Editor
"It smells like when you flip open a September issue. There is a mix of perfume wrapped in that paper scent." -- Popp
"It reminded me of being at an outdoor wedding. The air is a mix of the garden flowers blending with the guests' perfumes." -- Lee
"This smells like a jar filled with black licorice." -- Burton
Have you noticed that when you read about the new fall 2012 fragrances like, say, Marc Jacobs' "Dot," that words like "playful," "lovely," and "fresh" always pop up in the description? And aren't vague, fluffy, marketing phrases like that completely annoying? What do they tell you about how the fragrance really smells? Nothing. And that's what we want to know.
Look, we get it: writing a fragrance review is hard. Really hard. One woman can smell roses while the next gal gets candy. But honestly, raise your hand if you can summon to mind what "top notes of bergamot" or "a blend of melons" mean or what they smell like?
Luckily, we're always up for a challenge. Last week we conducted an office-wide sniff-test of all the new fall 2012 fragrances. The goal: To choose the top 10 and include real reviews. The kind that go beyond boring catch phrases like "sexy" or "warm" and truly capture the emotion or memory evoked by each scent for each tester.
To find out which fragrance smells like "you took a swan dive into Monet's Water Lilies painting" and a whole host of others, sniff out this guide of the best fall 2012 fragrances.
