Perfume Diaries Santa Barbara

Leslie Blodgett Perfume Diaries SANTA BARBARA opens very aromatically, like a bright lemon-yellow sunny day, yes, in Santa Barbara. This phase is shortlived and gives way within a couple of minutes to a very slightly soapy modern chypre with reasonably good staying power. I like both stages of SANTA BARBARA, but they really seem like two completely different perfumes. At first, I thought that this was going to be like LIGHT BLUE, but the musk and benzoin in the basenotes give SANTA BARBARA more depth and the oak moss adds just a touch of darkness. So maybe it's true, as advertised, that this fragrance mimics a Santa Barbara sunset! I bought the rollerball Perfume Diaries set blind and without realizing that this was a "made for S" line, but I am impressed with the quality of these fragrances. To be honest, though, I do not think that excerpts from Leslie's insipid and sophomoric diaries are a good marketing ploy. The woman is a successful CEO who knows how to select perfumers, isn't that enough? I say: let the fragrance speak for itself!

I have two of LB's fragrance. I have Golden Light and love it. It is now my favorite along with Làir de Temp. I have Santa Barbara. This is a crisp citrusey smell. I also smell pepper, but not too strong. I do believe that this fragrance could be a unisex fragrance. It is a lovely freshener that I think would do best in spring or summer.

Love this fragrance. It's so beautiful from the very beginning to the very end. Not easy to define it: it has different stages and they are quite complex. Have to disagree that there is a masculine side: not to my nose. After the very short citrusy blast, I smell the aroma of pine trees in the hot afternoon.

Begins with a hit of green plant material and just a hint of lemon. I kept thinking “What herb am I smelling?” Soon after, the earthiness arrived. Like the scent of a forest floor after a rain. Reminded me of a men’s cologne. At the end it became a soft floral. Very interesting fragrance. However, it began fading almost immediately after application. Not my style of perfume but worth a try if you like the earthy ones.

This particular scent is a hard one to figure out. Just when I think it's fruity it turns aquatic, then it gets slightly powdery sweet and finally it wraps up very crisply. I really like the longevity factor here. Just as I was going to dismiss this as some kind of weird floral, there it is at the end of the day smelling lovely. I got the 10 ml rollerball as well. Sixteen bucks is a bargain because I have so many perfumes making it hard for me to even finish a 5 ml. sample. I just popped that rollerball off and decanted it into a spray vial. When I think of this perfume I think sunshinny-sweet, slightly masculine, but with a sunblock aroma.