California Dream

Seeing by my username this is an honest review from an average guy with some colognes. I immediately loved this fragrance as soon as I smelt it at the Louis Vuitton outlet at my local shopping centre. I tried every single fragrance that they had in store on both the testing paper and my skin and yet California Dream caught my nose before my eyes. I was initially drawn to Pacific Chill, Ombre Nomade, and Imagination due to how popular they are on social media. Despite them being nice scents, this scent stood out to me the most. What I love most about this fragrance is how it smells sweet, citrusy, and musky all together topped off with a gorgeous mandarin. In all honesty, this fragrance does not project or have the longevity that lives up to the price tag being charged. Despite this, you get one of the best looking bottles imo, magnetic lid, perfect atomiser, and still mediocre projection (half arms length) and longevity (3 hrs) until it becomes a skin scent. I understand that this could be tedious or unappealing for some, but I wholeheartedly love this fragrance and recommend this to anybody who is looking for an all round summer fragrance. Although they may have to reapply once or twice throughout the day :) I hope that this review could help somebody out there, best of luck for the future everybody and may you find only the best success in your fragrance journeys!

The benzoin, ambrette, musk and pear notes had me expecting something in the direction of Another 13, which this definitely isn't.. Its a photorealistic mandarin through and through, this aspect is very impressive. Its like the whole process of picking up a mandarin, smelling it, breaking into its rind then peeling it, and finally eating its juicy flesh but played out over a 6 hour drydown. The musk is the other major note, the pear is noticeable, the ambrette and benzoin not so much. California Dream definitely belongs in the Les Colognes collection, so if you are expecting something more complex with interesting development, this unfortunately isn't it. The bottle is just gorgeous and almost made me blind buy, fortunately i sampled first and im glad i did as i was looking for something more than a super juicy citrus musk. I will revisit it in summer as im sure i will appreciate it a whole lot more. Longevity is impressive for what it is, projection is low-average, perhaps it will pop better in heat.

Let tiktok continue to hype Imagination, Meteore, L'Immensite, and Pacific Chill while this absolute gem stays under the radar. California Dream is like experiencing a good modern classic. Be it a film, an album, a painting, a book; It's the subconscious feeling of familiarity coupled with fascination. When you experience it part of your brain tries to dismiss it because its not a particularly unique experience, it is a classic after all, many are like it. But then comes the other part of your mind that tells you to relax and enjoy the craft of the artist. Pear, mandarin, musk, ambroxan, the faintest touch of benzoin, and its not listed here but an unmistakable orange blossom note. It's just gorgeous. It's LV doing their best impression of a Le Labo type fragrance and absolutely knocking it out of the park. Easily the best offering of the current LV lineup and surprisingly long lasting for a fresh fragrance. I'm not saying I'd spend $400 on this, but I'd completely understand if someone would.

Bright, warm and fuzzy Summer time in a bottle.. Jacques again catches magic in a bottle with California Dream. It’s truly amazing how well the names and bottles matches all of the Les Colognes scent profiles perfectly. Here with California Dream you are met with an absolutely stunning, bright juicy mandarin orange opening and no one does mandarin as good as Jacques himself, after all it is his favorite fragrance note. After that initial blast of juicy mandarin the fuzziness of the silky smooth musk comes in all the while backed by a very mellow Benzoin note. What an overall pleasant experience this fragrance is from beginning to end.. nothing intricate and complicated about California Dream but it does what it’s supposed to do extremely well. Extremely glad to have it in my collection along with the rest of Jacques Louis Vuitton creations.

Jacques Cavallier has this incredible talent taking notes that would usually be sharp and making them soft and round. It's a beautiful signature he's given to LV. California Dream is everything I hoped it would be. On the initial spritz you get the beautiful rounded and soft Mandarin orange. Once it starts to gently dry down, that soft musk comes into play and lingers dancing around your skin. In my honest, humble opinion, it's my favorite from LV. It really, really reminds me of dusk on the California beaches or driving down PCH with the windows down. It has just the right amount of sillage and marvelous longevity. It even passed my sweater test. I smelled it the next day. Someone already asked what I was wearing because it smelled amazing. Happy spritzing! -Silky

Clémentine California by Atelier Cologne opening + Another 13 by Le Labo dry down. An undeniably appealing and mood boosting fragrance with sweet, juicy mandarin/clementine oranges and a twinge of pear/fruity sweetness. As it dries it gets that iconic clean, almost granular white musk of Another 13. If you like or both of the aforementioned fragrances: you’ll like this. If you like most of the other offerings from Louis Vuitton: you’ll like this. Overpriced for what it is, but what fragrance isn’t these days from designers. Great performance for a freshie with 8-9 hours, strong projection if under some heat for the first 2-3 hours. 8/10.

Sweet, musky orange with crisp, clean ambrette and warm benzoin. It’s a ‘freshly showered, on vacation’ type of smell and easily signature scent worthy for warm weather days. Slightly better than average performance for a fresh scent, but it’s not going to last all day in heat. Perfectly unisex: I feel feminine, clean and confident wearing this, but I’d also love to smell it on a man. My second favorite LV freshie after Symphony and my favorite of the ombré bottles. As for the ‘Reminds Me’ section: This is absolutely nothing like Le Jour Se Leve; that’s a magnolia forward, soapy white floral with significant greenness.

Super clean expensive soap. The fruityness isn't from fresh fruit but more of an icy classic push up Flinstones sherbet in the hot sun. 🛁🌞🥥🍒🍋🍐 It immediately reminded me of an old polaroid that I have of myself back in 1989. I’m in a ranch in a small west Texas town. I’m freshly bathed and my hair smells like pink bubble gum from Mr. Bubble Bath. I’m wearing a shiny blue bathing suit. The hot sun glistening on my skin as I sit on the trunk of my rich aunts shiny new brown Cadillac. She brings me a glass of cold blue raspberry koolaid as I’m getting ready to play with the water hose.

Been wanting to buy On the Beach but a friend of mine says CD smells really nice. When I went to the store, I was torn between On the Beach and CD and I decided to buy CD because the dry down is a teeny tiny bit smells like LV Ombre Nomade. I sprayed On the Beach on my left hand and CD on my right hand (my bad for spraying LV Ombre Nomade on my dorsal and CD on my upper wrist) and I can barely smell CD when I got home (2-3 hours). I think I'm going to exchange it with On the Beach. Update: I've exchanged it with On the Beach!

Really pretty bottle. For me my love affair with perfumes includes the bottle and this one is lovely. It’s a pretty citrus opening and the dry down musk is such a niiiiiice scent, maybe it’s my skin chemistry but it smells so good on me. Is it complex or intriguing? No. Is it beast mode or super long lasting? No. Is it worth the ridiculous price? No. Am I going to buy a full bottle? Yes. I’m reaching for this one more than anything else right now and it’s a mood booster

I LOVE IT!!! Imagine after shower in your robe you sit in a king sized linen bed while looking at the window seeing the sunset and drinking tea. If there’s a scent for that feeling, this would be it! Way better than imagination imo! Smells clean warm and fresh~ Longevity wise inconsistent i find this fragrance usually lasts longer in clothes Versatile dry down is A M A Z I N G 6+ hours on my skin the rest is skin scent.

As much I like this fragrance some of my friend’s said that is too synthetic and for 235£ which is an absurd price that I could’ve bought a better fragrance, but in my opinion this fragrance is one of the most beautiful I have ever smelt good for summer and quite unique. Though I like this, this doesn’t explain the 235£ that it is and I agree that too synthetic and sometimes harsh to my nose.

Increíble la diferencia de este perfume al parobarlo en papel y luego en piel, en el papel se siente debil, y sobresale mucho la mandarina, sin embargo al probarlo en piel, es una belleza total, va mutando desde una salida muy sencilla de mandarina, a un almizcle precioso, muy elegante y dulce. por favor, pruébalo en piel. va en la misma linea de Maison Lancome oranges bigarades.

This is a cute fragrance. Citrus and a slight fruity touch with musk. Really calm, comforting and simple, this is the stuff to wear when you don't feel like wearing anything in the summer time, you'll be really relaxed while wearing this. Longevity is around 5-6 hours which is perfectly fine for a fresh scent. Unisex, anyone can wear this. I love this.

The drydown (on my skin) is AMAZING. I went to the store and bought Meteore. I happened to spray some California Dream on my hand before I left. Half way home I caught a whiff of it off of my hand and turned around and bought a bottle. As with most LV frags these days, the performance isn't great, but the scent is amazing.

My absolutely favorite perfume ever. I love the citrus & pear with the musk. I smelt it 5-10 times before I convinced myself to buy a bottle because it is super expensive. But I would definitely buy it again, even at that price. My boyfriend absolutely loves it on me too. A great date night perfume!

The musk in this is so good. I don’t know how this is rated low compared to its freshie counterparts at LV. Its not better than imagination or limmensite but I think after those 2 its up for grabs with afternoon swim & on the beach. Just 🔥 the pear note is also nice works well on my skin.

Oh boy, isn't this what (California) dreams are made of? I'm gonna have to agree with @frederickf_, this smells like a sherbet gelato/ice cream. It's fresh and sweet and alluring at the same time. It's elevated casual, perfect for spring and summer days. I adore this!

compared to Imagination, this is so much better. It just has more uniqueness to it and brings a fruity note that makes it stand out. Atleast first impression wise because I just tried this in their stand. still doesn't justify that fucking price!

California Dream smells like a hot vacation in a pool at the top of a building. One of my favs as a male. Not masculine but so pleasant to the nose you just wanna smell it all day long. For me it sits for 12+ hours and radiates moderately.