Hot Couture

This is one of my top 10 scents, I coverted a bottle for a while after smelling it and it was a love at first sniff. Hot Couture is sweet but I wouldn't say its a gourmand, I find it to have just the right amount of fruity sweetness without feeling syrupy and sickly, but it also has the right balance of spice and smoke from the pepper and vetiver finished off nicely with some gentle powdery floral nuances from the magnolia. I'm not really too sure what else I can say about this that no one else has already said but I'll give it a try! I've never smelt anything quite like this, I think the closest thing I have smelt to this was a White Musk Smoky Rose from The Body Shop but thats since been discontinued, but Hot Couture (as you would expect) has more complexity to it, one reviewer mentioned a hairspray accord and I totally agree, I can smell it in the opening before it settles and makes way for an almost tobacco smokiness but its more like tobacco flowers rather than a cigarette to me, it blends beautifully with a spicy kick from the pepper and a fruity sweetness from the raspberry before I can detect some dry vetiver and gentle florals wafts from magnolia. The longevity and silage are amazing, with 3 sprays bordering on being a bit overpowering, but it does (thankfully!) calm down after 20 minutes and becomes a bit lighter and less harsh, when I last tested it (back in early 2020 pre pandemic) one spritz on my wrist lasted 8 hours and lasted through a shower as well. This is a little hard to find but thankfully its available online from Givenchy directly as well as a few other retailers as well as from Notino, I really don't think I could not have a bottle of this now I've got it in my collection, its such a unique scent!

I’m sad that my beloved OG hot couture with the metal model inside the bottle and that deep dark amber colored juice is forever gone. Only partially used bottles sold on eBay for over $200! Man that perfume was something else! A power house. I notice this with a lot of reformulations. I guess the laws about certain ingredients force them to use weaker ones. This is like the lifeless AI version of what the real original once was. It’s nice. It’s similar, but it lacks the soul. It lacks the weight of existential angst that makes it the complex beauty that it is. But I’ll take it. It’s a nice perfume! But if you could smell the original, your jaw would drop! And it wasn’t “old lady” it was hot sexy woman! With that said, I take this as a new perfume and not that one I used to have. It has a subtle raspberry sweetness with a clean crisp citrusy opening yet at the same time you get a Smokey vibe which I believe is the black pepper mixed with the vetiver. Some days I don’t like it and then some days I’m like “omg yum! Wow this is soooo good”... that’s how this perfume is One day you think of decluttering it then the next day you think you’re nuts for even thinking that bc it’s so amazing! lol With that said I’m going to keep it and enjoy it when the mood strikes!

Ahhh! A very successful blind buy today! Thank god - I love it! The EDP starts out fruity with the rasberry and a hint of zestiness. Then there comes trough the pepper quite noticeble, but it calms down rapidly to a warm spicyness. And then I get warm vanillary smoke. Oh, this is nice. And unlike what I have in my collection. I really didn ́t expect to like it so much, as I read some reviews, which alluded to something like a leather jacket smell after a long night in a smoky bar. Now I guess I know what they meant. But there is nothing rough or dirty or smelly about it to me. I rather get the idea from my childhood of those middle aged, well groomed and perfumed women / mothers, who were smoking. So it is a sweet and interesting, even sexy and attraktive kind of scent. I will wear this scent some days in a row, which I seldomly do, since I get bored so fast. It really is a beautiful ladyperfume, still modern (whatever that means). The only complain may be the softness. Usually I prefer strong fragrances. But it is well enough for this experience, and an excuse to overspray. So, if you are looking for a little nice surprise - you have my recommendation.

I definitely understand the references to messy girls in nightclubs. But I wonder if anyone can relate to this: this perfume makes me feel like I'm being sprinkled in fairy dust by a mischievous fairy, after stumbling upon their smoky, midsummer ritual in the woods. It's girly, arty and fun. It makes me feel, in short, like a pretty pink princess, but with an earthy edge. (It's what I wanted from lolita lempicka le parfum, unfortunately that one for me was a rough ride of screechy red fruits followed by waxy new-car smell 😅) Hot Couture is possibly one of the most "satisfying" perfumes to smell that I've ever come across. There isn't a note out of place. The raspberry is sparkling and sticks around for a long time on me. The woods are smooth and rich and the pepper, the star of the show for me, takes everything to it's beautiful natural conclusion. So many fruit-forward perfumes are either too sweet, or try to counter the sweetness with heavy-handed application of patchouli and woods. Who would have thought that black pepper and raspberry were such beautiful bedfellows? Enter the artistic, feminine, cheeky Hot Couture!

Hot Couture is one of my all time favorites! To me, it's sweet, fresh, and delicious with the raspberry and bergamot, but also quite sexy, without being too dark and heavy. Many sweet frags can be kind of one note and boring, but this one has enough spice to be interesting and well balanced! I've never smelled anything quite like it, love every note and the way they play together. Fell in love with it around the time it came out, over 20 years ago, and was so happy to see it at Ulta last fall! Also very happy that it hasn't been reformulated beyond recognition, like others have been. Looking at you, Dior Addict. I've been very much enjoying wearing it again. My husband just complimented it today, too! I'm not sure where people are getting "ashtray," tbh. I don't generally care for smoke notes on me, my skin tends to amp them and I am allergic to cigarette smoke. Maybe the spices are coming off a little smoky to people? Idk, I only get the notes listed, and they are divine. It was cool to learn from another reviewer that this was Amy Winehouse's perfume! I didn't know that, but loved her and it.