Wicked Wahine

I was completely surprised by this fragrance. I've sampled some of the other fragrances by Royal Hawaiian and every time I thought 'Yep, just what I expected. Stereotypical drug store scents that are boring and not worth the 16 bucks/3 ounces to buy. Then I took a whiff of Wicked Wahine Hibiscus and fell in love! I was expecting another cheap, monochromatic flowery yawn-fest but instead was immediately seduced by a deep ambery slightly fruity/floral delight! Where did that come from!? Then I read the box which says 'A mischievous combination of the fresh, exotic Hibiscus blossom, infused with sweet fruits, candied almonds, and soothing vanilla and amber...' Ah ha! My nose has NOT gone off the deep end and lost its senses! The description they give is perfect and what I smelled after all! This is totally worth the 16 dollars I paid at the ABC store in Hawaii! It's longevity, projection and sillage are all actually quite good as well! And the surprises just keep coming with this fragrance! I completely recommend giving it a sniff. You can order it online through the ABC stores in Hawaii. I've ordered everything from coconut syrup to colorful towels online from the ABC stores, when it would cost more for me to carry it home on the plane, and can say that they are an excellent site to purchase from. I'm not affiliated with ABC stores or Royal Hawaiian perfumes in any way, I'm just a fume head that also happens to love Hawaii as well...

I have an older version of Wicked Wahine than this clear juice shown in the picture. I have no idea whether the one I have is still made, but it is my second purchase of the fragrance, since I long ago used up the bottles I bought in Hawaii back in 1988! It's my husband's favorite scent for me to wear, despite it's low price. From the first moment I smelled it, I was brought back to a place in time I cannot identify, but it must have been a very happy memory. I believe there were at one time in my distant youth many scents like Wicked Wahine, but the original WW scent is the only one I know of which still smells like that point in time. How to describe? It is spicy and floral, not sweet at all, but possibly an aldehydic opening. I smell carnation, roses, and the rest is rather indefinable to my hose. Obviously the base underneath is one which no one attempts to use any more.

"Wicked Wahine" -- what a name, what inmages it conjures! Ocean waves rolling up on a warm sandy beach. A medly of heavenly, heady tropical flowers: Night blooming orchids. Jasmine. Frangipani. Ginger blossoms. Ripe, luscious fruits. The opening does smell like a basket of coconut and tropical fruits. It was very sweet but it didn't last long on me. After this almost candy-like smell disappeared it became cool and green, all soft white roses with woody and fern undertones. It smells amazingly like Millot's great classic, "Crepe de Chine"(much more so than the remake by Long Lost Perfumes). And how 'bout that picture on the box? I love it that the woman is curvy the way a woman is supposed to be. My one complaint: the bottle looks kind of cheap. But it's the juice that counts and "Wicked Wahine" is pure nectar. Get yourself a bottle, this one should be in every collection.

The last reviewer put this well "Jasmine, orange blossom, rose and sandalwood" bomb. Drying to a lovely sandalwood and carnation actually. Not what most people think of as tropical. Even though, as others have said, there is no carnation listed on the notes on the site. The initial blast is rough but transient. I also later purchased online the WW hibiscus... this is a huge opening blast as well. yikes. I would only spray a half spray. It is like no other perfume, I can't even pick out the notes they are weird. I would believe amber and after a while a little vanilla. and rose. Again, it dries down nicely. But yikes the top notes are crazy. Prices were cheap, good for the money. I like them. Like someone else stated this is a gender bender. A man could wear wicked wahine.

I blind bought this because I have and love the Hibiscus version. I expected it to smell like Joy, which I also have and love, but as strange as this may sound, when I opened this bottle for the first time yesterday, I was just hit with this - it smells just like my mom. My mother can wear just about any perfume and it smells the same to me. But I wanted to give this a fair shot so I sprayed a little on my way to a dinner with a friend and she immediately commented that I smelled so good. I took it out of my purse and she, who just went to Hawaii a few weeks ago, said, yes indeed, this does smell just like Hawaii to her. The initial blast is bold but it dries down nicely. It's very girly, very grand dame to me.

I used the *original* Wicked Wahine back in 1975 while doing anthropological fieldwork on Kauai (tough job, but somebody's got to do it). I adored its soft floralness without the traditional Hawaiian notes of plumeria and pikake. Trusting my limbic system to remember WW accurately, this is not the original, but a spicier daughter. It's a very nice fragrance with about 1/2 of the original's notes, but a lot more spice. I think it might be missing the orchid note, the soft, powdery, "round" smell. "Take me back to my little grass shack in Kealakekui, Hawaii ..."

I must have 30 fragrances but this is the ONLY fragrance that my husband has EVER mentioned. Maybe 3 times a year he will comment that I smell great, and it is always when I've been wearing this! It's clean, hard to describe the individual scents! this would never offend anyone. I've been wearing this since 2007 & I go through a bottle every year, never get tired of it. it has Plumeria, Orange Flower, Night Blooming Jasmine, Ylang Ylang, Rose, Tuberose, Sandalwood and White Musk. LOVE this stuff!

First tip to Hawaii (Maui) April 2017, and stumbled across this. It is is MY memory of Hawaii. It may not be a traditional Hawaiian fragrance, but it embodies all the memories made as we traveled both Maui and the Big Island. Spritzed it on before taking our morning walk along the Ka'anapali Beach walk to the Starbucks for coffee. It is exotic. Can't tell you what is in it just by smelling it, but whatever is in it, I love it. Day and night.

This is so nice. Definitely smells so so similar to Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds, but still different. (It was released almost 25 years before White Diamonds). It smells lighter than White Diamonds in some way but still strong, and maybe a little more spicy. I’m not the best at picking out notes but I love it! I’d definitely recommend picking up a bottle it’s around $25 on Amazon.

To my nose this reminded me so much of Chanel No5. A beautiful summer scent that Marylin Monroe would have worn on a beach to sunbathe nude. It lasts and lasts. It is summer in a bottle. A blind buy I love! Tropical vintage vibes in every bottle!

I have owned this for quite some time. I received a bottle years ago as a gift from a friend who spent some time in Hawaii. I was recently invited as a guest of my daughter on a once in a lifetime 15 day Hawaiian Island hopping cruise. I didn't purchase this one since I still have some left, but bought the Hibiscus version for my daughter, & the Rose version for myself. Both new Wicked flankers are unique and strong, just like the first. The Hibiscus version is absolutely unisex and smells a lot like the Red Cigar cologne my husband favors. The Rose version smells like shampoo, the base of the original, and a fruity blush wine all in one with a bit of a synthetic rose after smell thrown in. I love all 3 of them and suggest you try Wicked Wahine if you want to wear a unique, heady, warm, floral spicey scent that will absolutely stand out from a crowd. I own hundreds of scents and there is not much I have owned/smelled that I can compare the original to. It is quite unique. What it is NOT: coconuts, fruity, sun-tan lotiony, light, lilty aquatics, or like many a signature “beachy” scent would be marketed as. Whenever I smell this, I feel like this is what the tiki bar in the movie “Pearl Harbor” had to have smelled like (the fight scene with Danny & Rafe)...humid and heavy, warm and musky cigar & whisky scented air, intense & pulsing spicy florals that waft in the open walls from the salty ocean breeze. I sprayed ONE small spray from the tester in the ships duty free shop and it garnered compliments from all around the store with plenty of "what is that smell?!" to the sales associates in the store. I sprayed two squirts of the Rose version in my hair and could still smell it the next morning on my pillow and sheets and on my hairbrush. Long lasting, quality perfume for around $22 or less and you get a HUGE bottle. This could easily be a signature scent. If I could possibly compare the uniqueness of the scent, the depth of the notes, or the blending of the florals and spices, I guess I would have to say it has the "feeling-vibe" of XoXo's Kundalini, or is reminiscent (maybe?!) to Lair Du Temps by Nina Ricci. Cheers!

Boy, this woman is wicked. One spray on a piece of paper filled my office with scent for weeks. Because of that I was afraid to even try it on my skin. I opted to buy a vintage bottle because I was determined to smell this fragrance the way it originally smelled. It is so far removed from how I imagine Hawaii to smell as it can get. I've never been to Hawaii, but when I imagine how it smells a Middle East Market doesn't spring to mind. This is balsamic, resinous, and spicy. Florals are here, particularly the pikake and the orange blossom, and I am also picking up stewed fruit not listed in the notes. Unlike what I've read about the latest version, I am not getting carnation at all. Nor am I getting the rose listed in the notes either. Though I think it is beautiful, it was also a shock to my senses because it wasn't what I expected at all. This is more the love child of Taboo than something like White Shoulders, or any other heavy white floral perfume created during that same time period. IDK, maybe Wahine worked in the red-light district, in which case, like Taboo (according to the perfumer who made that scent,) this would fit. Lovers of Taboo, Revlon's Intimate, Estee Lauder's Youth Dew, and other resinous scents might love this too. I still like it, but tbh, am a little intimidated by it and not sure when I would ever be able to wear it. Guess I'm still on the fence on this one.

You expect a musky floral but this is not. Yes, it is floral. yes, it is musky. But, it has obvious clove in the top and carnation with musk and sandalwood. The rose, jasmine and orange blossom are present. But the clove, carnation, musk and sandalwood are the main players. This is not a heavy scent like a Bellodgia or a Rumba, but it projects and is a strong scent. It is like the vintage florientals with an airy quality injected into them. Or maybe a watery quality since there is no depth to this of civet or patchouli.

I ended up surprised by how much I dislike the original Wicked Wahine considering that I love Wicked Wahine Hibiscus. They’re very different. I should have listened when some reviewers said that the orange blossom is really front and center in this, because I’m (predictably) disliking that part. (Note: the bottle I got is vintage. I’m unsure if the scent differs greatly from how a new bottle would smell.)

Floral and powdery, reminds me of my grandmother. I was "gifted" this fragrance from my mother-in-law (as in, she regifted it) and while it's not an offensive scent, it's powerful, and it's extremely long lasting- I mean this scent has clung to my clothes and lasted even through a washing machine.

Update: I purchased a vintage bottle of this, and the new reformulation in the box pictured on Fragrantica and the vintage Wicked Wahine have no relation to each other. The vintage Wicked Wahine has a lot of aldehydes and jasmine. The drydown on it is very powdery. There is a spicy wood note, but it's not strong. It's very floral and smells very '60's. I like it much more than the modern, and the modern one I'll probably use to scent my bath water. I can see why the sales clerks on Maui wondered why I was bothering to search for it. First review: I have never had the chance to smell the vintage version of Wicked Wahine, but the modern version sold now in the box image pictured above is mainly all white musk, with just a little synthetic sandalwood on the drydown. I get no beautiful Hawaiian florals in it, nor do I even smell any rose or neroli or orange blossom as they claim on the back of the box. Apparently another victim of reformulation. For those of you who get a beautiful floral, how old is your box of perfume?

Ordered this scent from Amazon along with the lotion. Once it arrived I sprayed it on my wrist and then spent the next hour trying to wash it off. It smelled to me as if it had gone rancid. I asked my daughters if they liked it and and my youngest replied "no, that smells like pet shampoo." Chemical and rancid. No flowers of any kind. Amazon may have sent an old bottle. I couldn't even give it away at our yard sale.

Does not smell tropical to me at all. Just very overwhelming and spicy. Luckily I was able to return it. Not recommended for a blind buy.

I remember smelling WW for the first time in the 80's as a kid. There was a Hawaiian import shop in my local mall in the Midwest (random, right)? I've been obsessed with fragrance basically from birth. So of course when I was at the mall with my mom I sniffed everything I could get my hands on... even as an elementary schooler. I remember LOVING Wicked Wahine as soon as it got into my sticky little paws. My mom wouldn't buy me a bottle, so I'd run straight to that import shop & smell it every time we went to the mall. I liked it so much that I remembered the name of it all these years later, and when it popped up during my internet travels a couple of years ago, I impulse-bought a bottle. First: I like it, but it's not the fragrance I remember. (That said, who can, with 100% accuracy, remember a fragrance they sniffed as a child?) I remember WW in the 80's being white floral, with a characteristic of sultry warm roundness, a touch fruity, and with an undercurrent of spice. Cut to today. Wicked Wahine surprises me by being a very carnation-forward scent. No, really! I know it's not listed in the notes, but: trust and believe! It reminds me very much of two other carnation-forward fragrances I love: Comme des Garcons Red: Carnation and also Lush's Potion (that's a body cream but when it was a Lush forum fragrance years back, I bought a bottle: carnation and clove, yum). Because I love spicy carnation scents, I really like WW, but for those who are expecting a traditional island floral scent, you may be disappointed. Instead of the silkiness and creaminess of plumeria/tiare/frangipani, this is a vibrant red carnation with hints of spice. Long-lasting, and hours later the spice has dissipated, leaving the scent of a clean carnation soap. Unexpected, and not necessarily tropical-feeling, at least to me, but I still really like it!

Wicked Wahine I love Hawaii. The scented breezes, the warm ocean water, the romance, the sunshine, and especially the flowers. When you fly to Hawaii, the first thing that greets you is the scent of flowers in the warm balmy air. This is what I look for in Hawaiian perfume...I want Hawaii in a bottle. I love vintage Hawaii, and the picture on the label of Wicked Wahine, which is a nod to the Gauguin paintings of Tahitian women, made me love this perfume before I even wore it. I imagined myself as one of the women in Gauguins paintings, smelling of lush flowers, salt water, grass skirts, and coconut. It was a lot to ask of a vintage “drugstore” fragrance, I know, yet this perfume gave me so much more! It was deeper, spicier, more lush and more beautiful than I could have imagined. They even managed to bottle the warm balmy breeze! I thought the “wicked” in the name referred to the spiciness and warmth. I realize now that wicked actually means DETERMINED, RESOLUTE, TENACIOUS; a woman who knows what she wants and uses all her intelligence, beauty, and determination to achieve it. I immediately thought of the US’s true Royal, Princess Ka’Iulani, who’s real name was Victoria Kaʻiulani Kalaninuiahilapalapa Kawekiu i Lunalilo Cleghorn (1875–1899) who was heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Kaʻiulani was known throughout the world for her intelligence, beauty and determination. To me, she is the poster child for determined women everywhere. She never stopped fighting for her kingdom, she was the epitome of Grace, Beauty and Intelligence in the face of adversity. This perfume pays tribute to her and “wicked” women everywhere; it’s beautiful AND fierce, balmy, soft AND powerful. What a treasure!