"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 walking by a bush of blooming jasmine at night time." -- Lee
"This smells like an elegant gardenia you'd put in your hair on a summer night. It's fancy without being stuffy -- and you would only wear it on big nights out along with your LBD and heels." -- Burton
"It smells like discovering a small, enclosed secret garden." -- Popp
"It is candy fresh -- reminds me of the grass in an Easter basket." -- Popp
"I think it smells like a combo of watermelon and Bounce dryer sheets." -- Lee
"It reminds me of a Crystal Geyser Juice Squeeze in the sparkling berry flavor." -- 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.
