Cry Baby

I finally got my hands on this one after 10 years now and honestly... I find myself pleasantly surprised. To preface this: If you’re looking for a creamy strawberry milkshake-adjacent perfume, try something else! (SugarMilkCo’s scents might be more your speed.) Thankfully I saw a review on YouTube before ordering my bottle that clarified that the Milky note in this scent is more watery, like smelling your milk jug straight out of the fridge. Which is pretty close to how I experience it as well. The perfume is rather citrus forward right after the first spray, then the powdery note immediately developed on my skin. I’ve been wearing it for a few hours now and I definitely understand what other buyers were referring to when they described it as “nostalgic”. It oddly reminds me of those Böhme chewy candies from my childhood. There’s a tangy undercurrent to it without tipping into syrupy/dense territory. The milk actually feels like a support role instead of being the star, blending all the notes together. The “lipstick” accord I detect leans more toward expensive Dior ones (you know the smell) rather than waxy and cheap cosmetics. As for the caramel note - I have a high sensitivity to certain molecules and usually have trouble with perfumes that feature any caramel whatsoever (my nose immediately distorts it) However, this one doesn’t turn fecal or smoked ham at all. The caramel adds a comfortable, sugary warmth to it without overwhelming the base. Not burned caramel. It’s basically not even detectable. Summary: Comfortable. Citrus-leaning sweetness. Not sour at all. Milk is sidekick, not leading role. Soft powdery warmth and a tangy undercurrent. This is basically what I imagined GUDU’s White Rabbit perfume to smell like. Just slightly more sophisticated. Is it worth the money? If you’re a Melanie fan and/or have trouble with most gourmand/sweet scents? Then yes, definitely.

let me give you my honest review of someone who has been hyped to own this perfume for the past ten years and was even willing to buy small samples from resellers. disclaimer: i do not own or have smelled the old cry baby, this is a review purely focused on the new release. the perfume is not bad. it smells quite interesting, however for those notes it is not what i had in mind. of course, this has nothing to do with how good the perfume is. the citrusy smell is strong, something we have read in other reviews as well. you can also smell the touch of powder/milk. the more it stays on your skin, the smell becomes more caramel-like. but not hard caramel - something melted, soft. not an off-putting, strong smell. this perfume reminds me of those vanilla cream puddings with whipped cream on top - the whipped cream on top is exactly what the perfume reminds me of. dupes - not a direct dupe for this one, atleast from what i have smelled so far. BUT (and i believe most might not agree with me, however i am sure in myself and my nose) it reminds me a bit of a more softer, caramel version of ariana grande sweet like candy. that's the closest i could get to the original, its not the same but i cant get atleast 40% hint of it. was it worth buying? yes, definitely. it is still a nice perfume, but definitely not worth the price. i am a very big collector and i have grown with the crybaby album (i was 14 when it came out, and now im 24), so this is a very important, nostalgic item for me. i see myself using it, but this is not what i had in mind when i would think about crybaby. i was thinking something cute, but dark at the same time, morute. for me, the crybaby perfume should've smelled similar to kayali - boujee marshmallow. it does it more for me.

Such a dreamy little fragrance! After years of waiting, I finally got my hands on Cry Baby during the rerelease, and it feels and looks every bit as special as I had imagined 🍼 The opening is a gentle swirl of creamy milk, soft caramel, and a hint of citrus. The citrus notes aren’t bitter citrus however, and remind me more of a lemon cake, so yummy!! 🌟 It’s delicate, comforting, and truly so delicious!! As it settles on the skin, it becomes even more magical, and on me I smell notes of warm milk, strawberry sherbet, freshly baked cookies, with a light powdery softness and very subtle woodiesness! 🎀 I was imagining this scent to be a lot more strawberry-esque but on me personally, the berry notes aren’t that strong and do tend to fade away throughout the day, but when layered with a strawberry fragrance or even just using a strawberry scented moisturiser it really captures that warm strawberry milk with powder and caramel!! 💖 Sweet and tender without ever feeling artificial, Cry Baby has a nostalgic, delicious quality that makes it so easy to love! It’s so versatile, comforting, and without a doubt one of the most precious scents in my collection! 💗 As someone who has also tried (and LOVES) the miim miic 52, in my personal opinion, they smell almost identical!! The only downside I’ve found of the miim miic is that the longevity is worse than crybaby but other than that, it’s an amazing dupe for my bbys that wanna smell delicious but don’t wanna blow hundreds for one perfume!! 🍼💗

I remember when this perfume first came out. I instantly wanted it and was intrigued to see what this smelled like. I was in middle school and didn’t have my own money yet, so I had no choice but to let the years slip by while this perfume became more and more expensive through resale after being discontinued. The day they announced that Crybaby Milk was coming back, I immediately preordered and began counting down the days until it finally arrived. It was love at first sniff for me. I pretty much knew from the notes alone that I would adore this. All of my favorite notes blended to perfection in an adorable bottle. This is sweet, creamy, woody, fruity and powdery all in the best possible way. None of the notes are too strong or stand out in a negative way. Crybaby Milk smells like a scented makeup pallet or an old Strawberry Shortcake doll from your childhood. I want to spray this on everything that I own. Is this fragrance worth the price? For me, absolutely yes. It doesn’t perform as well as some of my other fragrances, but I love it the same. To me, Crybaby Milk is nostalgic and childlike wonder in a bottle without smelling overly cheap. I’ve truly never smelled anything quite like this. I have smelled the dupe from Miim Miic and it is similar but not quite the same. Crybaby Milk is blended better and lacks the synthetic note I got from the Miim Miic dupe. I’m hoping this perfume will be stocked for years to come! <3

first off, this layers absolutely lovingly over fraise fouettée by le monde gourmand! its soso heavenly and helps amplify the strawberry and milk notes in cry baby. it also makes the scent more powdery, as if it adds a note of baby powder, which i adore ᰔᩚ as for cry baby herself, shes lulling, dreamy, and comforting, opening with bright berry jam notes simmered with a cup of warm milk, a hearty dose of lemon, and a dash of brown sugar. i love that this isnt too sweet, but keep in mind that the tart fruity notes are very domineering when initially sprayed. the fruits lean more photorealistic over synthetic, and theres a hint of strawberry and mother’s lipstick in the concoction somewhere. when it dries down, the berry notes disintegrate and im left with whiffs of milk tea, one brewed with caramel powder, and remnants of a freshly baked cake; this is what i imagine a little tea party inside a secluded wooden cottage smells like <3 its truly a comforting, one of a kind scent ~ this would make for the loveliest bedtime scent if it werent for the price tag (╥_╥) still, its far exceeded my expectations and is my second signature scent now! 🍼 ૮꒰ིྀ˶꜆ ́ ̆ `꜀˶꒱ིྀა

Since the original had been discontinued, I never had the chance to smell it myself. I have to say that the dupes didn’t do this perfume justice! I owned several dupes of Cry Baby over the years. I assumed it was a strong, syrupy strawberry scent with a lingering sweet sillage. They were all too sweet. The dupes were close, but they completely missed the essence that made this perfume an icon. Cry Baby opens with a surprising burst of apple juice, which threw me off at first. Then it clicked: what’s the first thing most of us drink after milk as toddlers? Apple juice! Soon after, it melts into a soft, delicate strawberry note, then shifts into a light, sweet, powdered milk scent that lingers beautifully. This is a skin scent! The dry down is powdery with a faint plastic undertone like the smell of a brand new baby toy. It’s strangely comforting and unsettling at the same time. The re-release proves why Cry Baby became such a cult favorite. It’s more fresh and powdery than I expected, and it's not overly sweet. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites!

i remember when the portals parfums brand was first announced. i said i wouldn't be surprised if melanie rereleased crybaby in the near future and the fans chewed me up LOL. "no! she can't do that. she doesn't have the recipe" and here we are :) sadly, i dont have the first cry baby to compare but i'd describe this as a fruity, creamy, citrusy/soapy, almost "clean" fragrance. i was hoping for more of a strawberry milky/lactonic, powdery scent? maybe i'll give it time to rest so the juice can macerate like most fragrances do. the bottle is super luxe but that $175 price tag hurts lol. either way, i'm happy and grateful i was able to get myself a bottle this time around. can't wait for a K-12 fragrance in the near future ;) EDIT (10/19): i've had this fragrance for about a week and a half, and i'm noticing a slight change already! it's so weird! the caramel and fruit notes are coming through more. i still get that citrus note but it's very faint now.

It hasn’t been reformulated so I don’t understand why they put different notes for this particular release. but I must say this is a very pretty & soft perfume doesn’t smell like anything in my collection. I just knew Burberry her was going to be similar or yum bougie marshmallow or pink panther. but anyways I never understood the hype or the price point for this fragrance for the simple fact it has awful longevity you will get about two or three hours out of it after that it’s undetectable on the skin but I’m a collector so that’s not a deal breaker for me another thing I didn’t expect the bottle to be so small and the nipple felt very sturdy I was expecting a real nipple lmao but good luck on your purchase this is the last batch of the year it will be back in January I believe.

Okay first to get this out the way, this is by far the cutest and coolest bottle for a perfume ever!!! I love the baby bottle...well bottle and I love the details like the writing under the cap and the back being open for you to see how much "milk" is left. As for the actual perfume, this might be an unpopular opinion but I own the 2025, 2016, and the MIIM.MIIC dupe and I think they all roughly smell the same when you spray in on yourself. That just might be me tho... anyways... 10/10! I love Melanie and everything she puts out! I can't wait for her new albums! yea...

I haven’t smelled the original crybaby, but this one smells incredible, I love it more than any of the dupes I’ve tried, I put this one before work ( only one spritz on the arm ) and I’m Almost done with work and its still there like I just put it on, it’s not to powderly, I think it’s a nice milky strawberry, with some citrus to it too. I believe if you missed the first run they will be restocking it in November, definitely one of my new favorites, highly recommend if you like a lighter fruit smell and if you like the dupes you’ll definitely love this 🖤🖤

the crybaby perfume opens with a burst of citrus and froot loops, very unexpected, but fresh. after about 1/2 an hour, the powdery-ness and milkiness comes out. the dry down smells like powdery strawberry woods and I love it so much. the projection is actually pretty good, and it lasted about 6 hrs on me before it was a very light sweet powdery scent. overall, I think it was worth it :) not sure what season it is good for, maybe winter? edit: sprayed this on at 6:30 pm, went to bed and woke up at 6 am. could still strongly smell it on my wrist😭

As someone who burned through 6-7 bottles during my teenage years, THIS IS EXACTLY HOW IT USED TO SMELL. so many dupes, remakes, or comparisons are immaculate. the strawberry and milk notes are almost the weakest ones here. nobody truly understands just HOW woody this perfume is. I used to always get compliments when I wore this because I smelled “like a tree.” Mocha milk, burberry her, miimic, all of them are incredibly strawberry & milkshake heavy and smell nothing like this.

Smells like All Cried Out perfume by Wilson and Spoon Co on Etsy or TiK Tok Shop but this is more faint and less strong. It is very fresh, clean smelling, fruity berry,, and woody. You get a powdery lipstick scent in the background but I do not get much milk or caramel I'm sure as the juice ages, it will get that milky caramel to pop up more. I like it. It just isn't anything to go crazy over or feel bad about missing out on since it is such a faint light scent.

it’s identical to the OG!!!! i have a sample of it and wore it rarely before the re release, so i can say that it’s legit identical. it’s also pretty different than all the dupes that are just super strawberry syrup heavy. it’s milky lipstick carmel sweetness!!! INSANE PROJECTION TOO! ! !

I have the OG and I got the restock a few days ago😄😄 It’s practically identical. It does have the fruitiness at the top but dries down to a creamy scent. I’d say the OG has more of a woodiness to it?? Overall it’s overpriced 100% but I’ve worn Crybaby for years

I’ve owned both Yara Candy and now own this; Yara Candy is not even close to this. Cry Baby is smooth, fruity, creamy, subtle powder....Yara Candy is sour peach rings.

This smells so much less sour and better to me than the miimic dupe, and honestly just straight up different (and way better) than the oakcha dupe! So far I love it!

@Detman101 stfu you hater. You just made an account to already nonsense.

I apologize for the length of this one, but this has been such an ordeal and I really wanted to take my time before leaving a review. My OCD and touch of the tism definitely kicked in a while back and this will be a deep-dive for sure. As a long-time fan of Melanie Martinez's music, I had never stopped kicking myself for not ordering her perfume while I had the chance when it initially came out. Years later, not only have I acquired a full bottle of the original 2.5 fl oz, but I have managed to procure 2 of the re-release and I have a LOT to say. Let me begin with addressing the rumors and the opinions others have put out about this re-release. Catherine Selig is not dead. In fact, you can click her name here on Fragrantica to find her nose on releases as recently as this year. She also has a LinkedIn account. Her passing was pure speculation on a part of the fandom and I have no idea how they even came to this conclusion. Anytime I heard this, however, I would point out that, not only was it incorrect, but that TAKASAGO, the original manufacturer of the juice, would have had the formula and access to the ingredients. TAKASAGO is still in business and, upon further digging, you can actually purchase their oils individually to use in your own perfumery. Powershovel Creative is not only the company that created the baby bottle component, but they are still active today and make components for Ariana Grande's fragrances. In other words, literally everyone involved in the initial creation of this fragrance is not only still in business, but are continuing to make new products today. So why then did Melanie say this was incapable of being created again? I'm uncertain, though I have my own speculations. All of my reviews include discussing the bottle. I think it goes without saying this is one of the most creative perfume bottles in existence. As someone who owns both the original as well as the new version, I can say there are aspects to both I prefer, however the changes were absolutely beneficial. To start, the larger size is actually a plus. You get almost an entire fluid ounce more. While I agree with people who say the original has a roundness to it that the new one lacks, I think it's because, while it looks like they used the original dimensions to create the new one, they simply elongated the bottle, they didn't add any girth, which I honestly think would make it feel slightly strange in the hands. Also, the nipple lid is now magnetic instead of a twist-on. While I personally do prefer the security and shape of the twist top, I immediately thought the magnetic top makes this a more accessible product overall. The magnet is also decently strong, so it's not likely to fall just by lifting it by its lid. I noticed on some original bottles, the twist top has disintegrated faster and has seemingly caused peeling and the magnetic top should alleviate this altogether. Somewhat unrelated, but I appreciate that in my batch of the perfume (the second wave) we did get the same clear plastic nipple cover as the original bottles had in the canister. (I think of it as a "sombrero" of sorts.) The most important part of this re-release is the fragrance itself. I've smelled the original, I've inspected both ingredients lists, I have multiple dupes, and I can say with absolute confidence, this is exactly the same formula. The same ingredients are being used, the ratio is probably as close to the original as possible, and I genuinely feel as if people who say otherwise are subject to a bit of contrast bias. Before anyone makes the popular argument that this version is, "more citrusy," I implore you, go watch the video of Melanie and Catherine with the ingredients on the table and pause. You will see some of the oils labeled: "Tangerine Oil," "Bergamot," "Lemon Oil," amongst others that very well could add a refreshing, tangy quality to them. This fragrance ALWAYS had citrus notes in it, which were likely used in the top and middle, as citrus oils are usually the first to fade in a perfume. The reason I said the ratio is likely as close to the original formula as possible is because I think I have an explanation for how this perfume is being produced, now. Flower Shop Co. are the new producers of this perfume, however, as the Portals Parfums website says, they are using the same formula as the original TAKASAGO release. As I previously mentioned, you can purchase TAKASAGO perfume oils individually. I think what's happening here is that Portals Parfums purchased not only the original formula, but are also outsourcing the ingredients from TAKASAGO. During that same interview with Mel and Catherine, there were 4 exclusive accords made by TAKASAGO: "Strawberry Milk," "Sinister Woods," "Baby Lotion," and most importantly, "Melanie's Lipstick." All of these accords, or blends, are exclusive to TAKASAGO. I believe that Flower Shop Co. are simply ordering the ingredients directly from TAKASAGO, who are located in Japan, and reassembling the formula in-house in Hollywood, California. This not only explains why, to my nose, they are identical, but it also would explain the massive price hike. If they're having to import perfume oils from Japan, the tax and tariffs are probably insane, which is why with the addition of the improved bottle, increased amount of juice, as well as general inflation results in a $125 increase. More labor and shipping to do it this way, as well. Regardless of if you think this perfume is worth $175, I can honestly say with the amount of extra effort they probably had to go through just to reproduce this perfume, I definitely think this is simply the price you have to pay if you want the exact same product as before. All of this said, how does it perform? What do I think of the overall smell? Truthfully, with my body chemistry, this fragrance doesn't necessarily last as long as I'd like it to and I definitely get that lipstick accord the strongest. I wish I got more of the strawberry milk accord than I do, though it is noticeably laconic. It doesn't immediately come across to my nose as everyone seems to describe it, and I have to be honest, I think this perfume, while definitely nice and unique, is SEVERELY overhyped. That's not to say I don't like it, and maybe it will mature and develop as I continue to use it, but for me, it's just nice. You have so many options out there, now. For a similar and cheaper alternative, I do like Miim.Miic's 52. It is a bit sweeter and not quite as deep, but I found it to at least have the Cry Baby DNA. Think of it like BR 540 compared to AG's Cloud. Sisters, not twins, cut from the same scent cloud but not identical. Can I recommend this fragrance? To be honest, I can only recommend it to a certain degree. If you are a huge MM fan and have been longing for this perfume for years, I can say it likely won't disappoint you, but I will also say this perfume is not worth the $1k+ that some people were selling/buying it for. It's not that amazing, there are so many dupe options, and I honestly think it comes down to why you're interested in this fragrance in the first place. If you've pined over this, I can promise you, this re-release will give you the same experience as the original bottle, and even if you're a collector of her merchandise, I don't recommend seeking an original bottle while these are available. This is much more worth your time and money than the minor differences will ever be. I promise. 8/10, not what I was hoping for but not disappointing.

Cry Baby is not a sophisticated, ultra-niche fragrance. But it IS lovely and easy to wear. I think a lot of people are disappointed because they expect it to be a creamy, soft strawberry milk. It's not. It's primarily sweet, fruity, and powdery. This scent opens bright, the fruity notes are not necessarily strawberry to me, more like nondescript berry and maybe even green apple with how tart the fruit impression is. The powdery sweetness keeps it from veering toward sharp, but expect this to be bright and FRUITY. As it dries down, it does round out a little more and I can see how it could be interpreted as milky, despite the marked powderiness. It tests the boundaries of my tolerance for sweetness, for sure. I don't really pick up distinctive caramel or woods - it's kind of like sniffing a strawberry pixie stick with something in the background grounding it. For me, this lasted all day and had decent throw. The bottle is not necessarily my vibe, but I appreciate that it's super well made, heavy, and has a good atomizer. I don't think I'd say this is a $175 fragrance, but I'm keeping it anyway. I know that I'll reach for Mochi Milk in this powdery-sweet category more often since it's less sweet and a little more interesting.