Amanda

I was lucky to obtain this beautiful perfume and even more so beautiful bottle of Amanda after a friend of mine purchased it during Gay pride week in '09. I think at first i felt divided about this fragrance. Such a flamboyant and glamorous bottle and such a clean and fresh spring scent. My expectations were for something Heavy and over the top...something along the lines of Agent Provocateur or even Tom Ford except somewhat skankier (if such a thing can be achieved). But I guess this a fragrance more about personality. Amanda has an incredibly "sparkly" outer shell for her personality, over the top and in your face and maybe on the inside is a sense of calm and freedom. Thats what i get from this perfume. Freedom and a sense of incredible warmth and calm, something I never would have thought I could ever associate with someone like Amanda Lepore. The Strawberry and Cucumber are quite prominent for me and the smell of champagne seems to have been spilt all over the floor and the strawberries are just floating it. I love that about the fragrance it gives it a bit more depth for me and differentiates it away from being overly simple or fleeting into an area of total commercialism. I love love love the cleanliness of this scent, I actually wore it today after a long day of surfing...just sat on the porch with only this under my jumper and then the cool breeze rushing through. Its definetly an experience wearing this scent, well for me it is anyway. The lasting power for Amanda is wonderful, this fragrance lasts all day long although I can see this scent being worn at night as well.

I sampled this fragrance today, & I must say the longer I wear it the more I like it. It starts off rather bubbly, & settles into a wonderfully soft, fresh scent. It's not soapy smelling at all, but still makes me think of just getting out of the shower. Too bad it's so stunningly expensive.

I can always smell Amanda in the room before I see her.. this scent is unbelievable and memorable. The price is outrageous and I think it would be wildly successful if it were more accessible.

I have a small 20ml bottle of this, gifted to me by a very nice chap in the perfume industry. I tried it for the first time yesterday. The bottle I have looks like a pearl and is very pretty. The perfume is pleasant and fresh however it's rather unremarkable. I had thought that this would be a perfume that would include lots of wonderful and refined ingredients. Instead I got a detergent/fabric softener fragrance. As I say, not unpleasant but nor is it a fragrance that is awe-inspiring, and as a result I am disappointed. This is a generic white floral of middling grade and high end price tag. And however lovely Amanda is as a person, she has no real credibility in the perfume world so it is a gamble to invest in a frag with a high price tag that seems to have little foundation (or gravitas) in a rather cut-throat industry (excuse my cynicism). Maybe over time, if it's promoted well, this will gain a massive cult following - who knows? All I know is, on my skin, this is OK, nothing more.

I got a tiny sample of this from The Perfumed Court for $15 (yes, extravagant, I know) due to pure curiosity. I dabbed a bit of it on myself a couple of hours ago. The top and middle notes smell really good- champagne, tuberose, and cucumber are the ones that stand out the most on me. The drydown brought a mildly peppery smell into the mix, which I presume is either the orris root or amber (or both). The whole perfume gives me an impression of a young-ish wealthy lady inspecting a pair of expensive leather shoes in some high-end shoe store. Sillage is soft to moderate, and I can't really comment on longevity yet since I've only been wearing it for 2 hours now. I can't say I love this perfume due to the peppery scent (which is not major!), but I definitely like it. Even if I loved it, it wouldn't matter, because I certainly won't be able to afford a $350 (and that's the discount price lol) bottle of it!