Mary J. Blige My Life

I was interested in this perfume for two reasons: I love gardenia, and I am a fan of the niche beauty care line from Carol's Daughter. As much as I love gardenia perfumes, I find many to be flawed in some way. I still wear them, and in many cases love them, but since the demise of Jungle Gardenia, a good gardenia is hard to find. This is no Jungle Gardenia, but this is a good gardenia, and a solid contender in the arena of contemporary gardenia fragrances, especially considering it's cost. The gardenia note is a green gardenia, not a fully ripe, and turning brown around the lips, gardenia. On me, it opens with gardenia prominent, and a peppery freesia that contributes to the green note. The pear is noticeable, but not intensive, and is a pear with a green characteristic. To me, it is less synthetic or chemical than the Elizabeth Taylor Gardenia. Also less potent: silage and projection is moderate, as is longevity. I am not sure you can get this kind of well-behaved gardenia without losing monster projection. This is an office and daytime-friendly gardenia. It is based on a white accord of tuberose, orange blossom and jasmine, with the addition of a soapy LOTV (not the lily). About an hour or two after application it is a little too soapy. To me, gardenia should smell dirty to smell authentic, although LOTV works well with this greenish gardenia. The lily comes on strong once the heart opens, but does not last as long as I would like. The heart is sweeter than the opening: the tuberose, jasmine, and orange blossom comprising the gardenia accord, joined by tuberose and jasmine. Along with apricot blossom, this could easily have become overwhelmingly sweet, but does not. Although more of a white floral than a gardenia perfume, the gardenia remains distinct throughout. It is never a sweet gardenia, always dry and green. The fruit note is very well balanced and not prominent. I get more of a peachy vibe from the apricot blossom, than I do pear. I sense more cashmere wood than praline on drydown, which on me is woody and musky, and never sweet. I turned the box and the bottle over, and both stated Made in Brooklyn. I take this to mean that Carol's Daughter didn't outsource their first foray into the celebrity fragrance market. The bottle is great: easy to hold and spray, deceptively small (read: fits in my already stuffed perfume drawers) and is an attractive shape. Overall, I like this, and feel that I will get a lot of use out it.

Have this and love it. Matter of fact, I'm on my second bottle of this. It's beautiful. Don't let the above poll fool you. It's a white floral so technically...the same CATEGORY as Michael Kors' original perfume...but it is by NO means a dupe. This is spearheaded with white floral notes. But there's something so..."buttery" about this perfume. So smooth. This is deff a unique one. I've never smelled anything like this before. I also strongly disagree with the claims of this smelling like an old lady. Absolutely NOT! Elizabeth Taylor's "White Diamonds," smells like an old lady perfume. This one smells very modern as a matter of fact. The Gardenia & Tuberose are very front & center here. I'm guessing that the sweet Praline note is what gives it the buttery, smooth feel that I sense. But whatever it is...this perfume is beautiful. Longevity - 4-5 hours Projection - About 3 feet. Overall Score - 8.5/10 I just found her second perfume, "My Life Blossom" on Ebay and I'll be purchasing that this week to see how I like that one. Stay tuned for my review on that one. But as for this one...to all you white floral lovers who don't like super sharp or bitter white florals...I highly recommend you try this one.

I don't understand why reviewers are calling it a granny scent?? If your grandmother is wearing MY LIFE then she is surely smelling GOOD! This fragrance is by far one of my top 5's! I receive so many compliments by passerby's that I should have wore a banner stating, "I am wearing MY LIFE by MJB!" To try to explain the scent is really hard but I will try. I hardly smell the pear but you get a fresh sweet smell of gardenia and freesia. ( it is almost like a sweet honey/praline scent with a splash of floral (jasmine and gardenia). It has great sillage and will last all day at work. The bottle's top is very heavy and the blown heart shaped glass is beautiful! I would most definitely purchase this fragrance again and again from HSN! Also, I received her roller ball with her signature lip gloss which has a minty taste, doesn't cake very moisturizing, and looks so good on caramel skin.

really wonderful floral scent , I love the fresh jasmine smell in it .the bottle is so lovely , and I am happy to know that during purchasing this fragrance I donated a one dollar to empower and support women campaign . excellent fragrance for summery day use . Update : I sprayed some of it in my wrist at 6:00 AM and now it is 12:00 PM the scent still exist close to my skin without reaching the sweet base yet, because I still smell the floral notes only , the sillage is moderated ( radiates within arm length) at the first two hours and then it becomes close to the skin. The beginning is fresh floral, for me it was a little bit edgy but you can still tolerate it, in contrast to the extremely edgy floral perfume of Rihanna, Reb'l Fleur. I love it !!

I love gardenia and have a large collection of contemporary and vintage fragrances that feature gardenia and tuberose. "My Life" is really quite good and stands up to some of the better gardenia fragrances. For me it starts off with a cool, fresh gardenia and then warms into tuberose and what could be called a jasmine grandiflora. The dry down is woody and full of chocolate and toffee. The bottle is substantial and even the larger size EDP fits my small hand. I enjoy this fragrance day or night, in winter more than the warmer seasons of the year.

I have My Life in a concentrated oil. I wore it for the first time on Sunday to go buy my youngest dog a new cage, she had destroyed the other, lol. I, also, wore it with my husband to an early Italian dinner. I really enjoyed this fragrance. I layered it with Parfums de Coeur's Skin Musk and the two paired phenomenally. At first sniffs, I get a wonderful gardenia note--complemented by pear, freesia, and jasmine. As it dries down, the sharpness of the flowers calm and you're left with a sensual cashmere wood and praline--very nice! This fragrance is mature, but not granny-ish. It does not smell dated either. Longevity is great, 6-8 hours, and the sillage is also very nice. Not a safe blind buy because of the strong white florals.

I received this from a giveaway and although I don't wear it that often, it is really nice. I'm not much of a floral person but I do like Gardenia and Tuberose if they are done well. Well they are blended nicely in this scent. It reminds of walking into a Bath and Body Works store when they have released their summer scents. I can't say which scent of theirs this reminds me of in particular because they blend together to me, but I think My Life would fit perfectly in the mist of their collection. With that being said, it is a keeper. Thanks to all the great people who participate in giveaways, because without their generosity I might have missed out on this one.

The scent is great, the sweetness is very strong at first, but it softens to a beautiful scent. I do love the scents she mixed together though. It would've been better if she lightened the sweetness. She gets my Kudos for this being her first scent.

I love a white floral, so I was really excited to find this on clearance at Walgreens for 6.50$ I WANT MY 6.50$ BACK! I'm pretty tolerant but this is everything I despise! It smells exactly like the "spring pink blossom" hand sanitizer by purell, just a fake flat floral designed to mask odors. Utterly lacking the creaminess or overripe notes that make white florals so distinct. Nothing sexy, sophisticated or unique here! If that wasn't enough, it gave me and my boyfriend both sore throats, and his eyes watered after getting close to me. The only plus I can say is that it's long-lasting--I've scrubbed and scrubbed and my weak little nose can still smell this atrocity. Sorry Mary!

Smells like gardenia but not sweet at all. Quite bitter, actually. I don't smell any pear or pralines; nothing but under-ripe gardenia. I'll have to pair it with something to be able to finish this bottle.

This has much to recommend it; good floral notes of tuberose and freesia to me. However, the pear comes on too strong for my taste and I regretfully call it a 'dislike'. Massive lasting power.

A few years back, I was going to live in New Orleans, so I spent months at a time there getting situated. It's such a different city when you live there versus a quick visit during Mardi Gras or Jazzfest. Once the tourists go home, there is a quiet sexiness that is so intimate. There is absolutely no other city on earth like it. The city has such a sexy, sultry vibe. It oozes sexiness. I think it's a combination of the humidity, the heat, the art, the music, the history, the food -- all combine into this over-the-top sultriness. It takes quite a bit of restraint to rein it all in, which is where the Southern code of conduct comes in. There are so many rules for Southern women to follow, and as a Californian, I found it constricting at first, until I understood that the vibe of the city, the sultriness, could overwhelm you if you weren't careful. One of my favorite things to do in New Orleans is to walk around the Garden District or Uptown at night. The gardens there are so unbelievably lush and they really come alive at night. I also MUST have a praline or two after dinner, so I KNEW by the notes, that I would LOVE this perfume, but I never expected that it would remind me of these quite evenings in my beloved city. The entire composition is a lush green garden, in bloom on a humid night. I get Lily and Lily of the Valley plus the dry rice, then in about 20 minutes that fades into the background and the green green Gardenia heart in bloom under the moonlight takes center stage, along with a sexy clean Southern soap. This dominates for hours. It's very restrained, compared to other gardenia tuberose scents that I own. My first impression was that it would make a great first date scent - for when you want to be sexy enough to get noticed, but not send the wrong message - this requires the perfect balance of restraint; something this perfume masters. Finally, a tuberose joins in and softens the gardenia a bit and the two walk hand-in-hand into the moonlight joined by the sweet praline woodsy dry down. All I can say is WOW! Thank you for that journey in a bottle. This is a new favorite. I expected a lot from a perfume from Carol's Daughter, especially one by Mary J. Blige. MY LIFE is a song about being at peace, being content with what your life has become, and looking within. This perfume is a perfect rendition of the song, but it's also so much more! It's an intimate walk with your love in the gardens at night; thinking about life and love and peace. Bravo!

I found this yesterday for very cheap price so I couldn't resist. Gardenia and tuberose are amoung my favorite flowers so this was no brainer for me. Actually, I bought this at the same time as MK(which I got for bargain price of $10!)so I can compare. I can see why some reviwers saying it simular to MK or KK because both have tuberose/gardenia but that's where the resemblence ends. My Life has a very distinct pear note and praline which is making it much more sweet and fruity then MK scent which is all about tuberose and incense. In My Life, gardenia note is distinctive but it doesn't dominate this scent. I didn't think I would like pear and gardenia together but it works. This is almost a combination of fruity floral and gormand notes, hard to describe, I would really suggest that you sample this scent for yourself. I love the bottle, its very pretty and looks expensive. I definately would like to try My Life Blossom now. I don't think this is "old church lady" unlike some reviewers although my DH declares all gardenia/tuberose scents as "old lady", I still have to figure out why, LOL

To me this is a less complex, less strong version of Estee Lauder Private Collection Tuberose Gardenia. Estee's smells STRONG and is a slap in your face, bug up your nose Gardenia and Tuberose smelling like the genuine petals! No detection of the other notes. Mary's is softer, smells slightly less real than the true Gardenia and Tuberose...But nothing a typical person that is not familiar with notes would notice...I can detect the wood only in the dry down of Mary's. I compared this with Michael Kors, and Kim Kardashian, and although there are slight differences, they are quite similar. So my opinion is if you want a true SUPER strong Gardenia, go with Estees,if you can afford it. Marys is similar, but lighter, and not as quite as true ( but a very good twin), If you want a more softer flowery Gardenia, go with Kims, if you want a Gardenia that is nice and stays true, never to strong, remaining true, even in the dry down, go with Michaels.

I'm starting to get into tuberoseyish fragrances now, as long as the Tuberose doesn't overpower all of the other notes, so I set out to find a tuberose scent without really knowing I was doing that. I smelled this fragrance on a wrist band that MJB doused her fragrance on and handed them out to fans at the essence festival and it smelled good but when I smelled it in a magazine on a hot day the Tuberose dominated everything. I re-smelled it in a magazine and it smelled sooo nice and sweet but definitely not too sweet and not too strong this time. I ordered this and the rollerball from HSN. On the skin the tuberose is subdued. I really like this! The bottle's top is so heavy that it makes the whole bottle seem heavy and I like that. I don't like it when a bottle feels like a cloud. Good job, Mary

I was in highschool when I got this one. I was a broke teenager that had sticky hands and 5 finger discounted it from a walmart lmao it was way too mature for me and I gave it to my mom. Fast forward 15 yrs later I found it while moving out and I’m here for it all. It’s classy-fresh floral. Almost soapy. It’s vibrant. Reminds me of J’adore by Dior in the sense that it’s super floral and clean but still has that sophistication. This scent is what a woman that has money wears, she shows up with class and makes a statement with an ease. Sucks that it’s discontinued and ridiculously priced by resellers. Luckily I have a full bottle. This scent is a 1-2 spray, it’s super long lasting and great with the sillage.

I bought this at Marshalls today and I am so glad I did. I had never smelled it in fact didn't even know the notes. The bottle is what caught my attention it was lovely. When I got home I sprayed it and knew as soon as I did that it wasn't just the bottle that I liked. I never knew that I liked gardenia until I smelled this fragrance. It is smooth and settles so nicely. I wish there was another bottle since the bottle I got wasn't very big. I would say if I thought the scent was dated but I think it is fresh, smooth and worth my top shelf.

I am cautious about celeb fragrances, but got a chance to try this one on and was both surprised and impressed with it--lasting, mature and womanly, with a lot of prescence--and when I found it marked down to nothing at TJ Maxx, I picked it up, along with "My Life Blossom"--which seems to have the same base, but a little lighter and fresher. Jasmine and tuberose---they speak to me and I wear them well. This is a celeb scent with character--like Ms. Blige, it is strong and it can REALLY sing!!

I decided to grow up and leave the celebrity fragrances alone. But I did find this gift set and was intrigued. I love MJB and was expecting a more modern and complex scent . This is a classic scent with intense notes of gardenia. I would expect this frangrance from the Queen of Soul (Aretha Franklin) not the Queeen of Hip Hop Soul. Thankfully my aunt is having her 60th Birthday next week. I will be re-giftibg this beautiful set.

I would like to try this fragrance. The above reviews are not good, I will not let this deter me. I am an old lady any way. I have tried My Life,It does remind me of Michael Kors, the gardenia, really stands out on me. I like the scent. I am very fickle when it comes to perfume, my mood is constanly changing.If I wear a fragrance two days in a row, that means I really like it.