BCBG Max Azria Bon Genre

Some perfumes have screechy openings that one must endure to enjoy the beauty of the perfume. Others are the opposite. Their opening is absolutely delicious and the rest is downhill from there. Not so with BCBG Max Azria bon genre. From beginning to end, there is a consistency of delightful notes that your olfactory senses will appreciate. This dark purple flacon is third in the series and as the color implies, it is the most serious of the three. Bon genre is not a run of the mill scent, altho it’s not ground-breaking, either. But it can be addictive. What I do especially enjoy about it are the co-mingled notes that effortlessly create a mild sophistication for this perfume. The key words here are mild. Bon genre is subtle. It’s elegance is low-key. It’s sensuality is there, but certainly not in a banal sense. It’s powdery seductiveness borders more on an earthiness that weaves in and out with its components of woods, spices, cardamom, pepper and musk. Its florals, too, are mild and almost indistinct. Eventually a sweetness can be found since litchi and jasmine are also present. Vanilla and patchouli finish this fragrance off quite nicely with patchouli taking a sweeter lead over the woods. Altho berries are listed in the notes, I didn’t sense any. Bon genre lasts a good few hours with close to the skin sillage. Its one of those scents that just when you think its gone, it bounces back. This is perfect for an office scent, dinner party, somewhere where you’d like to wear a fragrance close to your skin rather than have the fragrance wear you. For the price of $19.99 that I paid at a major discount department store, I’m happy to wear this season-less perfume. It wears beautifully for hours without re-applying and I really do love the sweet woods and vanilla mix. It’s rather addicting.

Litchi with Soft Purple Fruity-Florals and...Black-Orchids? This unsigned 2013 Amber-Floral has Black Orchid Tom Ford vibes hiding underneath the litchi & violet-esque fruity-florals. Opens with a burst of fruity-florals that evoke shades of purple, built from red-berries & litchi supported by multi-faceted bergamot and accented with black-pepper, but already patchouli and vanilla are swelling through with some creamy tones from tuberose. As it transitions to the heart, I get a floral bouquet that reads as black-orchid with a red-berry accent. The amber-floral & patchouli base continue the illusion of black-orchid for well beyond average performance. The longer it's on the skin, the more similar to Black Orchid Tom Ford it becomes. Although this isn't a dupe, I can see the Black Orchid inspiration in the base, but it's cleverly disguised with a more fruity-violet top with red-berry accent. This is different enough to stand on its own, although regrettably it's unsigned. It's a love for me. 10/10. Enjoy! Update 08/05/24: Sprayed this on this morning, and it's gotten stronger. The patchouli is reading more chocolate, but initially I get a litchi & fruity red-violet opening while the patchouli is building chocolate intensity. I still get Black Orchid Tom Ford in the base once it's well underway in the drydown - like a litchi Black Orchid flanker. Still a love, with two of my favourite notes: litchi & cardamom. 10/10 for a cheapie gem.

I smelled this awhile back in the BCBG store and thought it was rather pleasant. I forgot about it after some time but saw a 3.4oz bottle at TJ Maxx for $19.99 so I just had to. I'm glad I did because this is quite lovely. At first I get a lot of the red berries and black pepper...but after about 20 minutes it settles down into a lovely light vanilla orchid with some litchi infused with a little berry and patchouli. The longevity is decent too, I would say around 6 hours before it fades. I also got a compliment on it the minute someone smelled it at my daughter's school! She said it "smells like a beautiful fall day" I think her description is actually quite fitting.

So I finally saw this at Macy's today and I it's not what I thought it would be. I do like it, but I thought it might be more like True Religion's Love,Hope & Denim scent- meaning more gourmand and sweet. I really get a lot of patchouli, and it's not as sweet as I thought it would be. That said, I didn't purchase it but now I'm smelling my wrist and wishing that I had bought it! It's weird because even though it's not what I had thought it would smell like, I actually like the dry down on this. I may be purchasing this in the future.

A lot of fruity perfumes end up being way too cloying on my skin. This has just enough spicy and floral to balance it out that it ends up working very well. The jasmine and the tuberose are really nice. It also has really great staying power for a sweeter perfume. At the end of the day, you're left with a nice light warm vanilla.