Liquid Illusion

Background: I visited a local niche perfume shop which had this stocked. I tried many scents that day but this one kept me thinking about it for three days. I had never smelled anything like it. After googling other people’s collections to make myself feel better about buying such an expensive perfume I went back to the shop and bought it. Scent: Honestly, I think this scent is amazing. Its top notes are of sweet almonds and the subtle sugariness of Maraschino cherries. It has a juicy, almost syrupy characteristic that tingles my nose in a pleasant way. And yet it doesn’t quite hit that point of being too sweet. It is invigorating. Its heart notes are hard to define, perhaps because they are blended so well together; I get subtle florals etc. Nearing the dry down I get a subtle tonka bean note that’s been blended in nicely and something like a white musk; perhaps that is the Cetalox speaking? Of course the scent is not perfect, as very few are. The longevity of this fragrance is very poor for the price I paid (maybe three hours on my skin) and the projection is also poor. It is the type of juice that I essentially need to bath in for it to take full effect. It is also a small bottle (75ml) for such an extreme price. My verdict is that it smells divine and that it was worth the purchase. But perhaps more importantly, it smells interesting. Totally unisex.

This is one of my favorite scent profiles and I can tell you most assuredly - this is not an old lady scent. This is a beautiful, intoxicating variation on the purples & powder (violet/heliotrope/iris) accord and for me opens with something just a touch spicy - not at all what I would be looking for in this perfume profile - but here, it is done beautifully. Projection and sillage are above average for me. I feel far more sophisticated than my current sweatshirt and jeans would suggest. Additional points for the lovely packaging it arrived in (a hinged box with metal plaque affixed) and the gorgeous blue bottle with heavy gold cap. Though I regularly promise myself I have more than enough perfumes in my collection....it seems this line may just be one of those magical exceptions ;) Highly recommend. (PS - I get no cherry note but a greener almond may give that scent for some)

This is one of those perfumes I have a hard time describing. It’s light but a little obnoxious at the same time. It smells fresh and clean but not in the typical or expected way. It’s quite synthetic. It is a little bit bubblegum-y and reminds me of the dryer sheets or whatever laundry product my neighbor uses that wafts a plasticky but pleasant floral scent through the neighborhood when they are drying their clothes. It’s one of my top 5 favorite fragrances and I get a lot of compliments wearing this one. Probably not a safe blind buy since it seems to really offend a lot of people’s noses who pick up different notes than I do. To me it’s very unique but likeable, even my mom who hates perfume complimented me on this. Lasts a long time on skin and clothes for me.

Liquid Illusion is a basic powdery iris (in the best way!) where the almond is adding a powdery nuttiness cloud. This is a raw almond, not a gourmand almond. The sweetness that benzoin and tonka beans are supposed to add is very subtle. That chemical note that some people are referring to I believe is 'iris concrete', since I don't get any chemicals. The sillage and longevity are light to moderate. Unfortunately I don't get those long hours that people are getting, I get about 4hrs.

I love this. I don't have words, but this is my favorite scent out of all. I'm usually use it as a date night fragrance and I've received lots of compliments wearing it as a male. On my skin I got around 3-4 hours of longevity with quite good sillage and projection, after the 4 hours mark, it will become an intimate skin scent for about 6 more hours. I 100% recommend getting this if you're into powdery iris fragrances. To be fair, is a scent profile I could not find anywhere else.

This is a unique one. I definitely get ambroxan here, reminding me of Not a Perfume. Proves that a scent can be comforting without vanilla and gourmand notes. It's like being wrapped in a clean duvet that's been left outside to air in the spring sunshine. Liquid Illusion puts me in a good mood and the scent lingers remarkably long on my skin. Edit: if you like this, but want something more affordable or fruitier/sweeter, get Lipstick Fever

For those lamenting the discontinuation of Maison Martin Margiela Lipstick On, Juliette Has a Gun Liquid Illusion is a near dead-ringer (so much more so than JHAG Lipstick Fever is). Sampling them side-by-side, slight differences are: Lipstick On is a bit more unisex, and has a hint of cinnamon bun; Liquid Illusion is the more lipsticky one of the two.

Opens up lipsticky. But then it develops as a bouquet of purple flowers with just a faint hint of sparkling amber & barely-there sweetness. It is that kind of perfume that has a "safe" character by being light, musky, clean, ozonic, casual, inoffensive, and simply intoxicating. For me, it is the lighter version of Molecule 01 + Iris

Interesting scents, powdery... smells in first spray powdery, modarete. Look like similar Juliette - not a parfume .nice and classy. Love it 10/10 . Great choice

Liquid illusion opens with sweet almond, almost like almond oil, cherry-like heliotrope, and a dusty iris. Tuberose is detectable, and smells a bit like grape soda or bubblegum, but the composition is still powdery and lightly sweet. However... there is something strong and astringent that just suffocates all the magic out of this. I suspect it’s either the amber or musk. Ambroxan? Cetalox? All JHAG scents have a synthetic aspect to them, but this one is verrry strong and does not blend well with the softness of the purple flowers. As someone below me said, it’s nice from afar, but like a shock to the brain when you try to get a closer sniff. This a huge disappointment because it’s an otherwise lovely perfume. I love it so much that I’ve tried to overlook that chemical note, but after the 5th wear I don’t think I can. Maybe it’s better on clothing?

I love the violet and iris opening so much as the iris is so beautiful in this perfume when first sprayed, and I keep looking for an iris perfume as it is such a beautiful note to me. Then sadly after a couple of minutes, it disappears and I am left with some powdery notes and something synthetic and cold, and it's hard for me to understand what is. The iris and violet softness disappear and these are the things I love in this note list. I also very much dislike the rootiness that orris gives and in general I think rooty notes destroy perfumes hahaha, so maybe it's the orris that gives that off sense. I keep reaching for this frag as I love how it opens and how soft, elegant it is but the base notes are too strong on me.

I can’t decide if I like this or not! From a distance, there’s something vaguely reminescent of Missing Person (Phlur), up close I almost get cherry car freshener? Like those cheap little trees you hang from the rearview, or those tubs that get rid of “smoke scent”. I’m a big fan of iris and violet, and those are very present here. I want to love this more but there is something about this that’s just... off. I think it’s the almond. The more I smell it, the more it makes my stomach feel a little weird, but I still don’t hate it.

this was a true surprise... it started with honeyed bitter almond and powdery floral combo... the honey reminds me to Masque Milano's Ray-flection. but the similarity ends there... Liquid illusion morphed into iris-tuberose forward fragrance, still with the bitter almond... then drying down powdery tonka amber. the evolution is quite entertaining. I truly enjoyed it. on skin, it didnt last very long on me. but on my clothes, i got wonderful fragrant whiff from time to time... just how i like it.

The initial spray in this smells so cherry like! I'm sure it's the almond note. It reminds me of Shaghaf oud Tonka/BDK Velvet Tonka. After about 5-10 minutes, I get a light minty or spicy note. Maybe the benzoin? After that, it's basically a light powdery skin scent. I like it. I think it's a safe blind buy if you like cherry or powdery notes.

Nice almondy scent with subtle sweetness and slightly animalic undertones (they are not unpleasant, but quite intense. It has both powdery and sweet aspects and a bit of metallic notes underneath. It’s very interesting, can’t really tell whenever I like it or hate it :) Follow me on IG: scent.guide

The most gorgeous opening - Iris and candied violets and orris on me, (my fav notes) it’s absolute perfection. As it dries I got plastic but full disclosure I absolutely love a plastic note so at this point I’m hyped! Sadly it fades so quickly (20 minutes?) and the only thing I’m left with is ISO

Cetalox is missing in the base notes! You can clearly smell this perfume's family ties with Not a Perfume. Heliotrope, orris root and cetalox are very prominent, get a little help from tonka beans, musk and violet and melt into a clean, powdery, slightly sweet scent that lasts 12h+

I really like it. Find it hard to describe, it is a pleasant, avit shampoo-like scent in a good way. Only a potty that the spillage and longevity are not there.

Nice, powdery. Iris and almond make lipstick scent from this. If you like lipstick perfumes you will like it, but this one is not so synthetic smell. Reccomend

There's something oddly clinical, yet enchanting about this... The least you could say is that it's interesting! I like it!

i feel like addison rae or trisha paytas when i wear this. fruity orris fun. guilty pleasure.

I’m glad I bought a decant to test first. Someone in the comments said it smells quite similar to Lipstick Fever. Yes it does as both have cherry medicinal scent + powdery floral. Liquid Illusion has the additional of almond scent which has a waxy, candle quality so I have decided that I don’t like almond scent. On the other hand, Lipstick Fever has the addition of patchouli note.

this opens with almond, iris, heliotrope and orris. powdery and slightly sweet but with a chemical edge. it's very soft and there is a papery note, maybe it's the iris mixed with the synthetic note i'm getting. i tend to really enjoy these types of scents, but this one is a little odd. it's more synthetic, dry and sharp than other powdery purple floral/almond perfumes i've tried.

This juice is amazing if you like Iris and Violet . Have an old batch . Very well balanced . This Masterpiece is discontinued unfortunately . Best Iris / Violet combo . Super feminine and comfort scent 🫶🏻

First spray, lots of iris and violet. Dried down to powder. Smells just like baby powder to me. I don't have a "super nose" but if there are other notes, they are too subtle. I smell like a baby.

mid for the price, get l iris by santa marie novella if you want an expensive iris

Started off promising, a powdery lipstick iris scent. Pretty and inoffensive. Then 20 minutes later I completely lost the scent. I’m not sure if my nose is working, but I lost all traces. Even my husband could not pick it up. Strange. Thinking it might be the iso e but I’m not sure.

I'm not sure about this one. The opening is a plastic-y cherry almond that reminds me of cheap 70s cherry candy and the dry-down is similar to really really dry burnt (blackened) sugar. I was hoping for something spectacular in-between but it's not happening (on me). Bummer.

I found myself quite disappointed by this fragrance. I love a powdery fragrance and I love a violet, but I find this a little sour and medicinal. It reminds me of a more refined version of the sickly sweet Forbidden Affair from Anna Sui.

Cetalox, powdery chemical shit storm for miles... I dont know how they get away selling this line at the prices they do... sneezed.. scrubber... not even interesting...If this is for modern heroines were in a lot of trouble..

lovely top notes, but the dry down is so screechy. Smells like hair spray and whiteboard markers. Too much benzoin.. ruined the whole perfume. I don’t get the powdery lipstick at all.

i thought i might enjoy this one based on the notes —violet! heliotrope! iris! orris! tuberose! instead it’s an explosion of cherries at first whiff, could be the almond? not for me.

If your nose is the equivalent of a bloodhound when it comes to ISO E Super, then avoid this at all cost. I'm well acquainted with JHAG perfumes and I wore Not A Perfume for a long time, so it's not the Cetalox that's getting to me, it's the ISO E. When first sprayed I can detect the Iris and violet, lending that cosmetic powder scent to the perfume. Give it a few minutes to dry down and all of that has disappeared. I unfortunately cannot smell the heliotrope in this, not even a faint whiff. My nose just cannot handle ISO E at doses this large and it has ruined this perfume for me. It's so synthetic that I will have to scrub this. Synthetics surely have their place but less is more IMO. I would love to be able to smell this perfume, the notes are right up my alley.

Ordered a sample of this because it has a lot of notes that I like in it. The scent can best be described as smelling like killing and crushing a bunch of ants in an attempt to deal with an ant infestation.

I’m not sure how to rate this fragrance. Let’s start with the positives. All fragrances from the JHAG Luxury line are in Extrait concentration, hence they’re exceptionally long lasting (24+ hours). They are probably about 99% synthetic, and all of them contain the same JHAG base. The bottles are really strikingly beautiful, while the scents inside are so-so - namely, some of them are truly innovative (e.g. Metal Chypre, which I own and love), while others merely rehash old ideas, yet boast premium prices. Luquid Illusion belongs to the second i.e. copycat category. If you’ve ever smelled any fluffy, powdery, lipsticky scent that’s heavy on blue flowers (iris, violet, heliotrope...), you’ll know what to expect here. Powder, powder and more powder, with some tonka beans and musk. It’s very pretty and comforting, but ultimately unoriginal and definitively overpriced.

@cozmez I need you to know your review had me cackling at work. I polled all my coworkers on whether or not they know what crushed ants smell like, and 2/5 said they did. That being said, if this is what crushed ants smell like, I have been missing out. I like this. I'm not smelling it on my skin because I have a lot of samples to work through, but from here it's sweet and candy-like. A lot sweeter than I was expecting. To me, even without reading the other reviews, it smells like a cherry lozenge. I can see why that would turn people off, but I'm just hoping that facet of it will die down a little on my skin. I wouldn't call this a LOVE, because I'm disappointed at the scent vs what I expected based on the notes. But without the notes to guide my expectations, it's still pleasant.

I love how Violet forward this fragrance is. It is very sweet but not in a young girl sweet bubblegum way. I know it’s not in the notes but somehow I feel a very light liquorice scent. The dry down is white floral, but the violet never leaves. I know everybody perceives sense differently, but this is what I am smelling and yes, I do like it. It would not be office friendly. But then again, it all depends on how your skin absorbs it. Be great for a date night. It doesn’t smell like anything that I own and trust me I own a lot almost to the point of embarrassing, lol . unisex leaning feminine but any man wearing this would rock it! I don’t judge if any fragrance is male or female if you enjoy it, wear it.

Beautiful waxy lipstick scent! Very very similar to JHAG's Lipstick Fever, however. You definitely don't need both. On paper, they are virtually indistinguishable. On skin, they are sooo similar if you didn't already know they were different fragrances, you'd think they were the same. Only difference is Lipstick Fever is the tiniest bit fruity compared to Liquid Illusion, and LF has an ever so slight woodiness as well. I already have a full bottle of LF, so I won't need a fb of this. Super nice fragrance for lipstick lovers :3

The powdery note on its own would have been nice and different from other powdery notes, but it is underlined by a screechy chemical base (a bit similar to the one in Tiziana Terenzi's Kirke) that hurts my nose and ruins the balance of the scent. So if I get a light whiff of Liquid Illusion from afar, it is pleasant, because I get those trance-inducing powdery notes, but if it actually goes on my skin it's a piercingly aggressive disaster.

I'm so confused. This smells insanely peppery to me, full of woods and iso e. May my sample be swapped up? Not sure. But it feels like the note pyramid should be: pepper. iso e. sandalwood. oak. The note pyramid is suggesting a powdery play doh gourmand. Hmm! Anyone relate? Or is my sample swapped! (Nose.fr sample)

Beautiful airy sweet powdery make up bag scent in the best way, I love it but think the longevity is appalling for the price and considering its part of their luxury line.... lasts around an hour at best and that's with heavy overspraying therefore I'd never repurchase

I ve bought this perfume and I think it s really good. Wonderful iris. I wonder if this perfume is an eau de parfum eller extrait de parfum/ parfum. The bottle says eau de parfum but many say that luxury collection has extraits de parfum....

Initial thoughts - starts with a strong cherry note which quickly fades. Overall strong heliotrope and a sweet powdery feel.

This is like a compact powder with almond scent on it so calming I need this full bottle soon and long lasting too

Just got my sample. Smells very typical JHAG nothing grand or special about it.

I’m a dude, I wear this, it rocks!