100% Pure Chipie Purple

I'm not sure if anyone will even read this review of an obscure, long discontinued drugstore fragrance aimed at teens, but here I go. I stumbled upon the Fragrantica pages of Chipie Green and Purple a while ago and when I saw the bottles, I was instantly flooded with nostalgia and knew I had to get my hands on it to find out why. It reminded me of my preteen years and summer camp at the north sea, but I wasn't sure if I ever had it and what it smelled like. It felt very much like something lost in time. I was able to hunt down a gift set on ebay for cheap. The outer packaging had an unpleasant dusty thrift store smell, but luckily, the fragrance inside is still intact. And when I first smelled it, it really took me back! It feels like it's 1999 again, like I'm 11 or 12 and the sun is shining and the future is bright. I still have no idea if I had this perfume or a matching deo spray or if a friend had it or if I just saw it in a store and wanted it. Anyways, the fragrance itself reminds me somewhat of those hard candies that have cream and fruit flavored swirls, for example Campino sweets. It's a gourmand-ish scent before gourmands really were a big thing, so it's not quite as hardcore sweet as many more recent fragrances and more perfumey. I can definitely sense fruit, pear more so than mango, but it's more of a general mixed fruits scent anyways. Freesia and woodsy notes do not stand out to me, only light overlay of transparent floralcy. Performance-wise this is really nothing to write home about, which could also be due to the age of my bottle. I love this for the sheer nostalgia blast it gives me. Maybe it would only be a like if it was completely new to me, but... It isn't. Givenchy Play has some votes in the similar fragrance section, and I don't disagree on that. It's a little more floral, less original and not an exact dupe, but the closest thing to Chipie Pure Purple I have smelled so far.

I had Chipie Purple way more than a decade ago but I remember its scent on my skin very well. Chipie Purple is close to the original Chipie but it is even sweeter (!) and more intense. The overall scent impression is "classic Chipie with additional sugar". But Chipie Purple does not smell or feel sticky; the sugary note has more of a dry and crumbly feel to it. I would have guessed that the gourmand, crumbly and sweet scent effect comes from violet accords but I am surprised violets are not listed in the notes. The lasting power was far from impressive (2 hours max.) but during its short life span on skin Chipie Purple projected with above-average strength. All in all, Chipie Purple is a nice and joyful body spray.