Viva la Juicy

Have you every seen someone on the street who looked nothing like you and found yourself facing the overwhelming desire to follow them home to see what their bedroom looked like? Okay, perhaps that comes off as a little voyeuristic or perverse, but it's nothing more than human curiosity! This is the sensation delivered by Viva la Juicy. The first time I encountered Viva la Juicy, I did not actually get to smell it. It was in fact, on the bedroom dresser of a complete stranger. NO, I did not follow a stranger home and then sneak into her bedroom. My boyfriend and I were visiting his sister, and she let us stay in her roommate's bedroom while she was away. I had never met the girl before, but I was taken aback by the unabashedly normal-girly character of my surroundings as I tried my best to "make myself at home." There were Hello Kitty decals all over her walls, pink curtains, pink cheetah print bedspread, an enormous fluffy white elongated teddy bear in place of a pillow, and on the dresser in front of the mirror, was Viva la Juicy. For some reason, I could not muster up the courage to ask my boyfriend's sister if I could sample her roommate's perfume. Every time I tried to ask, my tongue was tied. It was like being in a museum display dedicated to the contemporary, all-American twenty-something. It was right in front of me and yet I couldn't interact with it. When I returned home and bought a mini of Viva la Juicy at the pharmacy, I tried it out and it totally met my expectations. It was just like being back in our host's bedroom. Sweet, fruity in a pineapple body mist kind of way, thoroughly synthetic, generic, vanillic, CGI florals throughout, and in it's own way, pure. Viva la Juicy is the smell of the idea of present day America. It's like an olfatory "melting pot". Sure, everyone's idea of America is different, but there is something so profoundly vacuous and romantically generic about Viva la Juicy, I have to admit it's extremely compelling. It doesn't smell specifically like caramel or fruit or flowers. It smells like a young girl with blonde highlights and Ugg boots over light grey leggings, who is concerned with the present, the evening to follow, her birthday, and not much else. It's like the adolescence... hell, like the LIFE I could never have (and don't actually want to have) in my country. I refer to it as "The Jesus Camp Fragrance" when talking about it with my boyfriend. I call it that because it is an intense youthful expression of an ideal that I could never come within miles of attaining. It's a lobotomy in a bottle. Who doesn't occasionally wish for the relief of a temporary zombification? Is that not the present-day American way? I can dig it (if only in the form of a fragrance). Like America itself, Viva la Juicy knows no season, nor occasion. It's suitable to wear while doing anything your heart desires. I'm just happy that at last I finally get to follow the stranger.. home.

just repurchased this for the first time in about 7 or 8 years. ran out of my old bottle years ago. this was my signature scent in middle and high school and my mom would buy me new bottles every year at christmas. was hoping for the nostalgia, but sadly i think they have reformulated. it just smells so different to me, but i'm wondering if my nose is just better now as i have become much more interested in fragrance. so maybe i'm just picking up different notes now. i remember it being very vanilla forward, but now it comes off way more citrus forward, which is a note i never picked up on as a young girl. i went to middle and high school in the 10's so i remember the school bus and hallways smelling like this scent, almost every girl wore it or a knockoff version (i remember smelling that one too). my seventeen magazines always had samples of this or the new scents juicy came out with. i will definitely still wear this but i just wish it had the charm of 10 years ago. definitely a perfume you want to wear with a VS pink sweatsuit or yoga pants, or of course a juicy tracksuit. if you go for a "mcbling" aesthetic this is the perfume for you. UPDATE ive been wearing this for a few hours now and its awful. it used to fade into a sweet caramel and lactonic vanilla scent, it was beautiful. now as another reviewer said, all i smell is SOUR. it smells like mixing milk with orange juice. its nasty. i'm almost worried i got a fake bottle but the packaging all seems legit. i guess they just really have changed it over the years. DO NOT BUY THIS! smells like rotten peaches. i'm very disappointed in juicy couture because i was a huge fan of this scent and even had it in my favorite scents from the nostalgia of wearing it in high school. definitely removing it.

Trying this one again for the nostalgia and also because I recently enjoyed Gucci Gorgeous Gardenia and was trying to work out what it reminded me of. The Reminds Me Of section here on Fragrantica listed VLJ but I just couldn't remember exactly how it smelled, not having owned a bottle probably for over 15 years and for some reason I only ever purchased one bottle despite liking it. Today I compared them both side by side. They are very similar fragrances but this one has a more prominent and long lasting mandarin note. It stays fruity and tart throughout whereas GGG has a more floral aspect and dries down a little creamy, powdery and clean skin-like. Viva La Juicy gets more syrupy in the dry down but retains a strong orangey peel floating in the syrup with a small dose of pleasant amber. Both are quite lovely I think, GGG I perceive as being slightly more gentle and Spring-like. This one brings back the days when fashion was colourful, spangly and covered in charms and "bling". ✨ I still love the bottle with it's chunky glass stopper and little pin necklace 🎀 I was a youngish mother when I first purchased this thinking my little daughters would also love the bottle. The era of Lelli Kelly shoes, Pastry Kicks, Strawberry Shortcake scented dolls, sequin t shirts, velour bums with diamante lettering and all things girly and Paris Hilton 😆 Sweet memories and still a great scent. I would buy either GGG or this. Both are easy to wear, sweet, fresh and mood boosting. Neither have super long-lasting power but this one is fair.

I love this perfume! The scent notes are accurate- a top note of juicy berries melts away to pollen-y flowers- the honeysuckle is super noticeable and the jasmine really rounds it down. Then, the vanilla and caramel notes stick to your skin. For me, it's the perfect blend and progression of super-sweet scents, fruit, flowers, and candy. People are critical of this perfume for being overly-feminine, or naive, or tacky- which really are also ways women were put down in the 2000's! In terms of how it smells, it's absolutely a time capsule. It's recognizable, iconic, and in-your-face with character. I haven't gotten many compliments on this one, acutally. The one I remember was from a guy who I was seeing for a bit, which meant something since he also wore decent cologne. Wearing it makes me feel sexy, sweet, and confident. If it's not for you, that's alright! As a girl who loves yoga pants, lip gloss, juicy couture (duh,) and the color pink, it's a 10/10 scent for me. Plus, I nabbed my 3.4 oz bottle of it a few years ago for just $20 at Plato's Closet, still in the box! I have a feeling an employee set it at that price point intentionally to buy it later, or maybe I just got lucky, hehe. It was one of my first big-girl perfumes, and it's near and dear to me for many reasons.

Oh wow, I liked this far more than I expected. Viva La Juicy is sweet, playful, and charming in a very effortless, feminine way. Upon first spray, I immediately get a burst of bright mandarin paired with juicy wild berries. The berries smell slightly jammy with a soft honeyed sweetness that gives the fragrance its cute, flirty personality. I pick up touches of creamy gardenia early on: slightly buttery, almost giving the top a berries and cream vibe. There’s a noticeable powdery quality as well: almost like expensive face powder or a vintage makeup compact. As the heart develops, the gourmand notes become more noticeable. The praline is warm and almost nutty with hints of toasted brown sugar, while the caramel feels silky, rich. I found that they blend perfectly into the florals. The honeysuckle smells warm and nectar-like, adding a golden sweetness to the scent. The jasmine comes across fresh, airy, and dewy, while the gardenia remains creamy, velvety, and lush throughout the wear. Together, the florals create a very feminine, romantic feeling without overpowering the sweeter notes. The dry down settles into warm amber, with hints of vanilla and caramel. I can see why Viva La Juicy was popular in the 2000's it's lovely!!!