Nina

This was the first designer perfume I was gifted and that I fell in love with. I wore this throughout my 20s and loved the candy apple scent. I've actually been on the hunt for more mature/adult red apple praline perfume. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know. Nina is a bit more whimsical then my perfume tastes these days but it still has very fond memories. I haven't really heard anyone mention this but I do believe the formulation is different now, I decided to purchase a bottle of the Nina for Christmas for myself and it smelled completely different to me and very floral. I see on their website the notes have changed as well which was very disappointing. The notes that Fragrantica lists are the previous notes not sure when it was reformulated but now on the Nina website it's listed as top - lemon/lime; middle - gardenia/toffee apple; base - cedarwood/white musk. I definitely get more gardenia/white flowers and the apple note is less strong. Gardenia heavy scents tend to give me a headache so I ended up returning it. I was able to find a bottle from 2016 on FragranceNet brand new in a sealed box and I purchased it without hesitation. I was so happy it was the smell I remembered that wonderful nostalgic smell. Sadly I'm much more sensitive to smells now (after a head injury from a few years ago) and as much as I love love the smell it's too strong for me to wear I get a bit nauseous. I've thought about selling it or just keeping it for the pretty bottle but I may try to trade it for another perfume. I think I'd rather if someone else enjoyed it than me just keep it on a shelf. If anyone has a recommendation of a website where people can swap perfumes I would be interested in that, it's practically a fully bottle only spritzed a couple times. Please PM me to let me know and thank you in advance..

For once an affordable frag with a gorgeous bottle, price and smell! This is the fresh smell of an optimistic young woman in her 20's. She is well composed, but approachable. She is probably wearing crisp white and has high hopes. She smiles all the time and probably doesn't take anything seriously. She is worldly and fun. Energetic. The bottle is slightly ironic, as this frag is indicative of Eve in The Garden. It is as close to a sparkling lemon/cucumber soda on a breezy sunny day as you can get in a fragrance. It feels like a cool glass of tea in the summer, but no sugar. There is no sweetness here, just freshness. I personally wore this throughout my 20s, The other day I saw a small bottle on sale. Purchased it for the memories. My daughter is in her teens, and saw it on my vanity. She is always playing in my perfume. She couldn't resist the bottle. After one spray, completely hooked. It has become her signature! For the Christmas holiday I purchased her a full size at $52. Thankfully, because at her rate of consumption of Gucci frags, she needs a job! For reference: my daughter has loved Gucci Guilty, Gucci Guilty Black Por Femme and BBW Into The Night, and Princess by Vera Wang. If you lean toward peppery/ginger/citrus/jasmine/violet/honeysuckle/cedar/musk notes, you will love this. It lasts all day, has great longevity and silage. Just enough to make people turn around and wonder what smells so heavenly. This is for the young/growing up woman. Also, a great transition frag for those graduating to more mature scents.

I have lost count how many “Apples” I have bought over the last 10 years or so. I went through college with it, I gathered a lot of compliments with this fragrance. It is interesting how this is an old scent, yet I never smell it on anyone on the street. It is definitely for a slightly younger crowd, as for women over 50 that may be too much of a girl-ish scent. It is sweet, I picture rosy cheeks every time I smell it. It is surely a joyful scent, that smells like you are ready to flirt and turn heads. The longevity is great, the price tag is appropriate, sometimes you can even see it on sale. Definitely a good buy. The problem I have with sweet fragrances that often they smell cheap, and it totally kills it for me. But with Nina it is not the case. Nothing cheap-smelling there. The bottle too feels heavy and fancy (also, let’s really appreciate the design! It is so rare these days to see other than rectangular-looking bottles). I recall the video commercial for this perfume, probably one of the best I have seen. No exposed bodies, no sexuality, yet the scent is so flirty. Pure beauty. Another thing I appreciate is that when you use too much of it, you don’t get any of the alcohol-like scent which often you hear even from expensive perfumes. It feels very high quality and I can see how it could be a great signature scent for every day. It was mine for years. I still wear it sometimes and will continue repurchasing Nina until they stop producing it (which is hopefully never).

Why I EVER stopped wearing this perfume is beyond me! I wore this with such dedicated regularity about 7 years ago because I was obsessed with the GORGEOUS sweet, pretty red apple scent. Seriously, this is next level. I figure it must be the praline bringing all that sexy back, but this never smells chocolaty. It's a perfect, juicy, gentle, girly, flirty - yet STILL office-appropriate - scent! I got a sample again just yesterday and - OH BOY - I am buying a full bottle as soon as humanly possible. That rubbish "DKNY Be Delicious" range? Throw it in the bin. The lemon in the opening is never harsh or acidic. It brings a *very gentle* zest, and stops this perfume from being cloying. Because ...it IS sweet. But not a cloying, immature sugar-explosion. It's eyes-roll-back-in-your-head sweetly intoxicating! Thanks to peony, apple blossom, cedar, and musk for supporting the star of the show here. As a side note: This is 100% red apple. Don't be fooled by that green apple picture. Granny Smith apples belong in pies, not perfumes. PIES, NOT PERFUMES! .. But I digress. The sillage is amazeballs. I've *literally* had someone I work with leap on me after I confirmed that I was wearing this. Leaping. Onto. My back. With growling. Not all your favourite perfumes have to be high-range designer or niche fragrances. As long as they bring you a true element of JOY; they're worthy. *** Kitty rating: 10/10 (Yes. Just yes.) ~Compliment Counter~: 2 compliments 😁😁

A lovely fragrance. I wish this were still more available (I can buy it online but it's clearly disappearing). The opening is a green apple freshness and sweetness. Smells uplifting and enlivening, and this is the part that seems immeadiately suitable for summer. But it soon becomes less fruity and more gourmand with the praline. By about 15 minutes I only really get praline and musk and woods. Still delicious and I LOVE praline tbh, but the dry down makes it far less suitable for summer where I live (hot humid climate, praline is too cloying in that weather). It's a shame the fruitiness doesn't last longer, as I'd be fine with it if the praline and base came through after an hour or more. Maybe this is just how it is with time... I'm sure the bottle I tried was made many years ago. Still, a gorgeous, lovely fragrance, but more suitable for my autumn weather, and since I think it won't be available soon, I won't buy it. I also NEED to say, the opening is so so similar to Police To Be for Women, and the dry down is like a softer, less patchouli version of Angel EDT (2019 remake). I'd rather have Police To Be and Angel EDT separately so i can wear them in summer and autumn/winter respectively.