Miranda

Fragonard you've really given a disappointment! You have discontinued the scent more good in the world. Among hundreds of perfumes in my collection, Miranda was the Queen. A Queen sweet and kind, the Tenderness and the Consolation. The antidepressant among the scents. What women want to discover, to copy, and men want to smell in your neck and gives them the desire to eat you. Femininity, sweetness and eroticism! Only remained the toilet water! Yes it is good and sweet and comforting too, but the pure scent was a different story! I tried Kashmir Chopard, it is true, they are similar, but Kashmir is only the ghost of Miranda, more incense, little synthetic and lighter even Miranda EDT! I believe the power of Miranda is due to natural vanilla (not the usual synthetic perfumes vanillas commercial): "Vanilla generates a sense of well-being and a feeling of relaxation. Its message of good temper and joy is antidepressant. Its aroma is euphoric and comforting, it attenuates bad temper and irritability, it loosens the tensions, diminishes insatisfaction and frustration, giving a sense of physical satisfaction related to the oral phase of the first infancy. For this reason the scent of Vanilla helps also to dominate nervous hunger, often caused by an affective emptiness, making us revive the primordial emotion of the totally satisfied baby after feeding. In fact, the aroma of Vanilla produces a beneficial regression, awaking in us the inner child. The aphrodisiac property of this fragrance is due to the privileged association it has in our olfactory memory with the sensuous emotions that give the delights of palate; cookies, sweets and creams of which the sweet aroma of Vanilla it the very soul. Its perfume brings us back to the pure physical phase in which the baby discovers the world exclusively through the perceptions of his body. For these reasons Vanilla's perfume is reassuring and pulls down inhibitions. The sexiness of the Vanilla has also a chemical explanation; the molecules of the natural essence are very similar to human pheromones and have the property to combine chemically with them, fixing them and exalting our personal odour, beautifying it exactly as a fine dress beautifies the body". Please Fragonard, please! you give Miranda back to us?

I had wanted to try this scent from the moment I first heard of it, because thhe name Miranda has had some significance in my life-from a childhood friend, to an inspiring blues dancer I met, to the heartbreaker of my first heartbreaker.....This was recommended to me before I ever tried Cashmir, as better than Cashmir, so I swapped for some. I tried Cashmir before Miranda arrived, and really disliked it, so my curiousity increased, more than I could bear.... And.... Femininity to the point of caricature! A delicious rounded vibrant warm femininity...Just as jeca, I am very wary of coconut in perfume-but it's very creamy here. Ylang ylang, jasmine and a touch of rose prevent this from being an Oriental Vanilla, which usually doesn't work for me-it's so very heady, but not a touch of sharpness. And so verrry sweet, but containing natural ingredients, it stays on the intoxicating side of sweet and heady, even as it crosses over to cloying territory. Well..... To be honest, it's cloying, but beautiful-that is rare, by definition a cloying scent won't be beautiful, but this is. It's too much, but it's grand, and I think it would be sophisticated and very interesting if I apply just a touch. It's strong, vibrant and the lasting power is extraordinary-Miranda is a tenacious one.

This is a review of the EDT of Miranda. I did a separate review of the parfum concentration below. This is definitely a scent where you will want to pay attention to which concentration you have. Both are recognizable as Miranda, but if you fell in love with one, the other will possibly disappoint you. I love the parfum version best and encountered that one first, but the EDT version is also nice. Miranda EDT is smokier and less sweet than the parfum. I get a more pronounced coconut aroma in the parfum, but the amber and sandalwood are more prominent in the EDT, and make their appearance almost immediately. As with the parfum, you must love Vanilla to really appreciate this scent, but if you find the parfum too strong for daily wear, the EDT version may be more to your liking. The EDT acts like one, staying a little closer to the skin and lasting about six hours, whereas the parfum has tremendous sillage and lasts all day. In either concentration, it's an amazing scent and one of my favorites. Fragonard does not get the credit they deserve for producing such high-quality, affordable beauties.

This is a loud and lovely floral/smoky vanilla. Lacking blue skies and lazy heat I would wear this to read through coffee table baking recipe books - it has the sweetness and the edge that makes the best puddings addictive. I garnered the opinions of my colleagues while making them pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. From the ladies - if sat through a meeting close to somone wearing that you would head straight for the chocolate shop at the end of the meeting, not any chocolate shop either, it would have to be one of the best and most luxurious. From the men an interesting consensus - it doesn't smell like "perfume", all of them liked it, I think they all liked it a lot, it has serious impact. I also think a very feminine woman wearing this would be attractive, however a less feminine woman wearing this had better mean it because the contrast is an invitation to notice her and she's going to get a lot of attention. One for when you really want to make a statement but in an edible way.

Miranda is such a beautiful scent. I detect some similarities to Chopard's Casmir and Rochas' Alchimie, but I truly think Miranda has them beat. I purchased a 15 ml parfum of this at Fragonard in Paris, and it's become a comfort scent for me this winter. Beautiful vanilla, soft coconut, and yet it is not a gourmand and does not smell too sweet or candy-like in anyway. The beautiful floral notes keep it well-grounded in the realm of "perfume." I love both Casmir and Alchimie but there is something a little odd and "chemical" about both of them. Both have a touch of that plastic doll smell, which is pleasant but can be off-putting to some. Miranda is almost like the best notes of these other two scents, sans doll. The parfum concentration is amazing. Two tiny squirts provide a moderate sillage that lasts 12+ hours. I'm just now getting to the sandalwood in the base of this one and I have a feeling it still has a few hours of wear left. Amazing!