Fujiyama Mon Amour

I have had this one for years. It really is unremarkable, as has been said, until the drydown. Beautifully blended after that, BIG scent at the start that lasts for about two hours. Excellent scent trail for about twice as long. It does have the floral/fruit quality, but there is something familiar about this one--as if she has been around for a bit. The musk is softly left after all the other notes calm themselves, but do not totally fade out. This is definitely one that is appropriate for going to the club; maybe even best there. It doesn't break the bank and will cut through without making one smell too loud and too cheap (for the price). Bottle: 8/10 Long: 8/10 Sillage: 9/10 Juice: 7/10

I think this smells amazing. I got at 9.99 at marshalls I remember. However, this smells nothing cheap/obnoxious. Old- fashioned lady like.

Bev was my mother's best friend. She drove a big luxury sedan and wore her hair short, swore by Adidas sneakers and loved tennis. I always considered her a tomboy-ish sort, very athletic and competitive. There wasn't anything really feminine about her-but she did wear this perfume, this enchanting, unforgettable perfume that I never knew the name of, but I can never forget the scent. It's the smell of Bev's hugs! I don't know if Mon Amour was around back in the 1980's. But there was something like Mon Amour out there in the 80s. I wish I knew what she wore because this could be its twin. But, I digress. I bought this at TJ Maxx today, an entire gift set for a mere $15 USD, which included a 100ml flacon of frag, body lotion and shower gel. I couldn't find any reviews of this here on Fragrantica, probably because I misspelled the name of it on the tiny keyboard on my phone. I referred to another website simply looking for notes in it and found Brazilian Rosewood, Bergamot, Orange Flower, Cedar, Oakmoss, Jasmine, Rose, Nutmeg. With that wee bit of info, I asked the clerk if I could open it, as it was likely I would buy it just based on the notes listed. As soon as I got a whiff, I knew I would have it. Mon Amour is very different from what I usually gravitate toward. I'm not much on sweet scents, and this to me has a very sparkling/sweet sort of quality to it-almost like Orangina, if any of you are familiar with that particular drink product. Here's some irony: I was in the check out and just happened to grab an Orange Fanta on the way out the door with this lovely box tucked up under my arm, smelling the fragrance that I'd spritzed on my hand. You know when you open a carbonated drink and you catch a whiff of whatever is in the bottle? That prompted me to sniff my hand and say, 'Whoa, that's a lot of orange blossom!' That's where the sweetness comes from in Mon Amour, but it's not a sugar-sweet smell, it's the smell of the volatile oils one would expect to experience when an orange is sliced open, still in its peel. It's not quite bitter (not at all in this frag) but it's pungent and for me, very uplifting and very energizing. I have to tell you, the orange blossom/neroli stays with you throughout the wearing of it. It never fades into the background but is always *right there*. There is also a creamy note in here somewhere, which I will attribute to the combination of the white jasmine and oakmoss which marry in a very fleshy combination on me. (GORGEOUS!) This isn't a vanilla-creamy smell, but more like what I get when I slice open a muskmelon/cantaloupe or a honeydew-that sort of creamy richness. I like it a lot! After I'd worn this for about 2 hours, I realized this perfume reminded me of an orange-spiced tea my mother used to drink when I was young. I kept trying to figure out where the tea note was coming from, but then it hit me that this is how the rose note in Mon Amour presents: a dry, dark tea rose. It's not forward at all, but buried deep in the heart of this fragrance. You would have to bury your face in the neck of the wearer to pick up on this tea rose note, but it is there, it's just that the orange blossom holds it at bay, forever dominating the olfactory senses of the wearer. For all of the loveliness of this perfume-and it really is very nice all around-to me it's going to forever be a sporty, casual scent simply because it smells like mom's bestie, Beverly. I cannot smell this and not think of her. That isn't a bad thing. It's actually very nice to me. I think if the scent wasn't so closely associated with her in my mind I would say this is a very pretty and delicate fragrance with amazing longevity and rather moderate sillage. It's a twist (an orange twist?) on the florals and woods that I really enjoy and I'm very glad I found it. It will be a bit of a change-up for me thanks to that very orange blossom punch. I don't usually do anything fruity, but this one I'll do gladly thanks to the woods and musk that keep it grown-up rather than teeny-bopper. Besides, it's always wonderful to remember someone who I dearly loved and who was such a big part of my childhood. ***Edit- According to my mom, Bev exclusively wore PARIS by Yves Saint Laurent. I've checked the notes and though they share several, It makes me wonder if, even when worn by someone else, a frag is smelt differently than perhaps even the wearer smells it? Perhaps many formulations ago PARIS smelled like this, but I haven't smelled it in years so I can't say. Just going by what my mom told me.***

I blind bought a gift set of this at TJ Maxx a couple of years ago with my cousin for fun. It was very inexpensive and I kept gravitating towards it, so I had to buy it. Upon opening the box, I was worried I'd just bought an "old lady" aldehydic nightmare, but you really can't judge this one by the bottle, (which I normally like to mention in reviews, but I think what I just said is a good indication of my opinion on the bottle design). Mon Amour is absolutely stunning. This perfume smells almost niche, to me, and develops in 3 very distinct stages. The top smells like a sparkling, refreshing Italian orange soda. Very fruity sweet, to me, without too much sugar. It develops into a middle that smells like an enormous bouquet of assorted fresh-cut flowers. The dry down, however, to my nose smells purely of essential eucalyptus or tea tree oil. It ends beautifully and seems to have decent longevity. The only issue I have with this perfume is that my boyfriend doesn't care for it. I have yet to wear it around him, but seeing as that it's fairly strong, I don't want to give him a headache. However, for me, overall, this is a good example of a blind-buy gone right. I give it an 8/10. xx

Notes taken from Amazon: "Top notes are orange, green notes, bergamot, and brazilian rosewood; middle notes are nutmeg, jasmine, and rose; base notes are sandalwood, amber, musk, oakmoss, and cedar." Mon Amour is a pretty generic fruity floral in the opening stage, not terribly well-blended, and nothing special. It is pleasant enough, though, and the wait for later stages is comparatively short. It is in the dry-down that Mon Amour really begins to shine. About half an hour after application, florals and fruits blend to create a soft, creamy sweetness that's reminiscent of higher-end scents such as Coco or Feerie (they don't smell the same, and the latter two are by far superior, but the texture of the creaminess is similar, lending Mon Amour a character that belies its bargain price). As far as inexpensive fruity-florals go, Mon Amour is a lovely little buy: great for daily wear, inoffensive, and pleasant to smell, with soft-to-moderate silage that lasts about 3-4 hours. Recommended.