Freckled and Beautiful

I blind bought this because of FOMO, it’s been out of stock for about a year and a half. One of my fave fragrances used to be Messy Sexy Just Rolled Out of Bed by the same brand, but over the years I grew tired of its overt sweetness, and wanted to try this one hoping for similar DNA without the toothache. On first spray, I thought this was so weird. I was disappointed. But after about 24 hours of testing, I was completely obsessed. It’s so addictive. I don’t even know how to describe it. There’s definitely the strong honeysuckle, the neroli, the biscuits. It’s clean, a little sweet, and floral all at once without leaning too much into any of those to be definable. It does not lean juvenile or mature either. This fragrance dances in the liminal space. The nostalgic effect is understood. I love when fragrances make me feel something, and this reminds me of new love, or a yearning achieved. The top, the mid, and the dry down are each a little different, and each phase smells wonderful. The initial spray gets the sharp neroli and something very green, after a few minutes that softens and the gourmand notes announce themselves, and the drydown gets more blurry and milky as the hours pass to combine it all. Something about this scent makes me happy and it’s immediately gone up to my list of favorites. I ordered a backup bottle, something I rarely do, in case they go out of stock for a long time again. Edit: There is a slight sunscreen facet in here too that I did not mention. Summer in a bottle for sure.

childhood: Summer morning. Sunlight streaming through the kitchen window. You’re seated at the breakfast table, munching down Frosted Flakes. Your mother? Grandmother? comes into the room and starts slathering you in a low-key amazing smelling old school sunscreen, as everyone is almost out the door to head to the beach? The neighborhood pool? This person is also wearing a hint of a sharp white floral perfume. I see why Freckled &Beautiful can be polarizing, but that creamy, sunscreeny-Nivea like accord has me in a goddam chokehold. I don’t even mind the “biscuit” note (and I’m trepidatious with the funky, weird notes you find in the more daring, indie perfumes) (i’m not daring at all). *I’m editing to add: I’ve been through many decants of this and now i have a full bottle from wwdis and i want to say, it’s a shame the bottle is opaque. i like the white and pink styling of the bottle; definitely matches the childlike vibe of the perfume, but the juice is the prettiest color. it’s a sheer, lilac-y pink. i think it’s really special and sweet and innocent and compliments the scent perfectly. but you can’t experience the color with the bottle the way it is. edit 2: i am labeling this as a PM scent, not as a dress-to-impress “date night” fragrance, but rather one that i like to spray on my collar and a little on my wrist late in the day because i find it very comforting. a wind-down, comfort scent if you will.

I've been dying to test this for years and now finally got my hands on a sample. I'm wearing it for the first time today, and while I do love it, I don't think it's fbw. It's honeysuckle, milk and cookies to me, which is beautiful and there's really nothing else like it. I love the slightly plasticky, girly, doll head quality of heliotrope too. Anyone who thinks this is too heavy on the white florals should try wearing it for one or two hours, because after an hour the florals are totally mellowed out and beautifully balanced with the sweet milkiness. It really exudes innocence and beauty, I love the look of the bottle, and the name really hits the nail on the head. The problem for me, is that the sillage is weak and I feel like I could achieve something similar or maybe even better by simply layering a honeysuckle or jasmine with Chabaud Lait de Vanille or a similar vanilla lactonic fragrance. And I'd rather do that, because then maybe I would have better projection and it would be more versatile than spending $200 on a 50ml bottle of this. Maybe if I found this for a good price I would buy it, but that is never, ever, ever going to happen.

When I was thirteen, I bought a tiny terracotta pot that smelled like honeysuckle, along with a deck of angel oracle cards, from a funky little New Age bookstore. I spent my allowance on them, and they felt absolutely precious to me, in the way things only can when you are a preteen. Whenever I wanted to escape, I would pop the cork and take a sniff, imagining somewhere far away. I kept that little pot long into adulthood, even as the scent slowly faded, because it reminded me of innocence and simpler times. Freckled and Beautiful smells exactly like that little terracotta pot, layered with the 1990s soap-and-perfume quality others have noted and a trace of Coppertone sunscreen that deepens the nostalgia. Its soft honeysuckle feels luminous and comforting—less like a literal flower than the memory of one preserved in a cherished object. Floral, sweet, clean and ethereal, it captures the quiet magic of something ordinary becoming precious simply because of who you were when you loved it.

This scent instantly transported me to a scene. Yellow gingham tablecloth, large bay window in a kitchen, bright warm light and an orange grove and garden. A bowl of cereal and eating the cereal in front of a vase of fresh cut flowers. The milky sweetness of the cereal mingling with the sharp and green scent of the fresh cut stems and petals. This fragrance is very comforting and soft. I definitely smell the honeysuckle note and the green sharpness of neroli. But I definitely smell the milk, vanilla and biscuits at dry down. The first spritz is that honeysuckle and neroli. Then it softens to the milky biscuit but that green neroli note is definitely consistent past dry down. It’s a fresh and warm scent that is beautiful for spring and summer. But id wear this all year round anyway. The duration was fair. I’d say about 4 hours in is when it started to dissipate. The smell is my favorite and I’m ready to buy a full size of this gem.