Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Yummy411: Fragrance Review- Deseo by JLo

Deseo by Jennifer Lopez is the latest fragrance that I've acquired, mainly because I'm an overall J. Lo fan and secondly the bottle is mesmerizing. The blue and gold jeweled shaped bottle is such a gem to have!

The cheat review before you get my low down:
Fragrance: 4 (wasn't love at first whiff)
Bottle design: 5 (was love at first site)
Celebrity fragrance lemming: 5 (if you love J.Lo's stuff, you're sure to love this)
Price point: 5 (decent price for a dept. store fragrance, but in about 6 mos or so you'll see it at Target,etc.)
Overall: 5 (I like it. I should have waited for the holidays for the set!)


Now on to the heart of the matter, the scent, which I've been discussing with Talysha is great! I'll leave the analytical, more eloquent description to The Scented Salamander that explains my scentiments of this fragrance to a T! Although, I'll trust her comparisons to the other perfumes because I don't have those to compare it to.

"Notes of watery bamboo leaves, garden yuzu, Sicilian bergamot, freesia, star jasmine, pink geranium flower, orange blossom, french mimosa, warm amber, oak moss, sensual musks, creamy sandalwood, cedarwood, patchouli, and mineral accord."

The scent was inspired by a midnight walk in Lopez's flower garden just before a thunderstorm. I can definitely imagine that after the drydown. I like it as a mature twist to her line of tropical, fruity scents. Not too daring, pushy or 'fiesta' like , but calm and pleasantly flirty with the sweet notes staying ahead of the other notes. The creamy, woodsy scent always mellows a fragrance giving it a more mature feel. I was on the fence about it, but decided that I like it.

I took a cue from Plain Voice. Plain Voice is my 12 year old sister who usually gets stuck making cosmetic runs with me, because she likes 'to get out of the house and go to the mall' but of course those are on my terms... milling around the MAC counter, spending way too much time in the fragrance dept trying to score samples without actually buying something. LOL I'll be honest. I'm just indecisive as hell and want a stunning perfume that moves me instantly. Not something that I have to revisit and let it grow on me. Any how, I listen to Plain Voice because while I'm spending too much time being over analytical, she gives it to me straight, no chaser. Either she likes it or she doesn't without the experienced biases (it's too flowery, powdery, musky, etc.) Most people that may get a whiff of your fragrance don't sit and analyze it, they either think you smell great or... fragranted I guess LOL. Plain voice told me "eh it's okay, but it smelled 'churchy.' " WTH Plain Voice? So, is that a yes or no? She said she likes it, I just smelled like someone at church. (So much for the experienced bias LOL) So I took it to mean that, the fragrance smelled nice, mature, and comforting. You know as a child at church when you were finally reprimanded for talking to your friends through service and had to be quiet, you ended up falling asleep on grandma or auntie? Just a comforting, mature scent. Now, it doesn't smell like a grandma (though the older I get, the more I realize I'm seeing outside of the boxes that defines us.) My grandmother actually had my favorite Vera Wang on her dresser, so smelling like my grandmother isn't too bad.

I'm unsure why this debuted as a Spring fragrance as it's a bit warmer for me (creamy, wood) for that particular season, but the fruity notes that continue to mingle with my nose says it's acceptable, especially with the promotions showing JLo in a hammock with the beach bunny look. I'm thinking that this will be a year round scent for me.

Shop for Deseo at Macy's. EDP 1.7 fl. oz $46, 3.4 fl. oz $56

Have you tried it? What do you think? Will you purchase it?

Next up I'm looking forward to: Armani Emporio Diamonds, Lacoste A Touch of Pink, and Marc Jacobs Daisy. Possibly Elizabeth Arden Mediterranean (but it falls so close to Dior J'Adore that j'adore!) I know these are new, but this is how long it takes me to come around to these scents. [ETA] Tommy Hilfiger Dreaming. Any recommendations?

14 comments:

Brown Girl Gumbo said...

Thanks for the great review. I'm not really a perfume girl. For some reason all fragrances start making me sick after a while. I wish I did like perfumes because the bottles are usually so pretty!

Seymone said...

Okay.. Let me tell you a little something something about Marc Jacob's Daisy. It is fiyah. It is perfect for the spring, summer, damn whenever. I am a fragance whore because it is that bad. I have maybe 60 bottles. The next on my list is Prada Milano, OMG this smell freakin amazing.


I disgress. I meant to say thanks for that very informative review. LOL

yummy411 said...

@ bgg: when you say sick, do you mean allergies or sick to the stomach? poor thing! how do you handle it when others with perfume are around?

@ seymone: i know!! i kicked myself when after i bought deseo knowing there was so much more that i liked. i was going to take it back but i decided to keep it. i love Daisy and i'll look out for the Milano! thanks!

Lani said...

hey sweets! ya know, i don't think i'd ever have the guts to apply for MAC. maybe after i've gone to school for it or something. but thank you for the kind words! oh and the IPP i got was the pinker one. i didn't think the other two would show up that well on my skin. damn girl 40 cents!? that's crazy! but then you know i'd be buying like 10 of em lol. i'd be an idiot not to!

Mischo Beauty said...

Ok- you worked that photo shoot out! Congrats!!!! Were you "testing" or was that published?

Love the review on JLO's new fragrance. I was JUST looking at the ad in my most recent WWD and wondered how it smelled. I know how you feel with being over analytical- I had to stop myself. It finally happened when I went to Marc Jacobs in Soho and smelled his "Blush" frangrance- I KNEW I had to have it- instantly! LOL!

(g)ezebel said...

well, "churchy" coulda meant "old lady." hahaha, kidding, just kidding!!!

i like smelling like candy and spritzing a bit in my hair so that when the wind blows, all the men around me can smell it and they think, god, i wanna eat her. hahahahahaha!! kidding again!!! *mischevious grin*

yummy411 said...

@ lani: seriously, you could def work @ mac. if you can do tuts on youtube you seriously can help others. overall, they want you to be a good saleswoman anyway... go for it!

@ mischo beauty: thank you!! no just building a 'portfolio' ;) so i've got to get Marc Jacobs Blush too! waaahhh! i'll never be done buying fragrance!

@ (g): i know i know! that's exactly what she meant!

i'm into sweet fragrances too... are you a fan of aqualina pink sugar? i hated it at first, but now it's one of my faves! that's exactly what i want a man to think... smells good enough to lick! no kidding here! =P *bad girl grin*

Afrodite said...

I haven't tried JLo's new fragarance, probably because I'm not a big fan of her other scents.

As far as smelling "mature", I'm guilty as charged. My signature scent is Chanel No. 5. I love it and it reminds me of my mom because she used to wear it back in the 80s.

Now I'm not just gonna bust out my Chanel for anything. I like to save it for a night out at a nice club, lounge, or bar. My all-around fragrance is Vicki's Secret: "Love Spell" but I'm kind of getting out of that.

*Sorry for such a long post!

Anonymous said...

Hey Kia! Glad to hear that after much discussion, LOL, you still like Deseo. =) Oh and btw, thank you for the site mention too. I really appreciate that. I have tested Emporio Armani Diamonds and I really didn't like it. The combination of musk and raspberries just didn't do it for me. I still recommend you try it out for yourself though. Another great fragrance is L, a L.A.M.B. fragrance by Gwen Stefani. Talk about heaven! I love that scent.

@ Afrodite: LOL about "Love Spell." I work at Vicki's Secret and our customers flock to Love Spell like it's goin out of style. I'm more partial to Ooh La La and Sexy Little Things myself. ;)

Brown Girl Gumbo said...

Yummy...I mean that certain smells make me nauseous. I guess the lingering scents just get to me after a while. Shower gels and stuff like that don't bother me though!

yummy411 said...

@ aphrodite: i love love spell! chanel no. 5 is a cult fav =)

@ talysha: no prob bob! i actually like diamonds! now that you've told me that there's musk and raspberries i might recognize that more and not like it. i shall try it out again!

@ BGG: wow. i think that happens to me too, not too often, but this fragrance did that to me, but i didn't want to factor it as i'm also on meds. i used to get terrible headaches as well from fragrances, but now with my allergies, etc. a bit more under control i can enjoy fragrances more.

psychoexgirlfriend said...

I haven't actually taken a whiff of Deseo but I love her Live Luxe fragrance (altho admittedly I debated a long time about wearing a JLo perfume). I love fragrance shopping but I think it's gotta smell amazing, not "eh it's okay" like your sister said. She actually gives great advice, especially for a 12yr old.

yummy411 said...

i know *frowns* i'm having thoughts of returning it. i want to swoon when i smell a fragrance.. not be doubtful that i smell like i'm 'ahead of my time'.

Anonymous said...

I think I'd like to try it!

ps. you've got a great site here!