essence
essence
132 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
The peach strikes first with almost agrestic brightness, whilst the orchid adds a fleeting touch of elegance that quickly dissolves into powdery florals. Within moments, heliotrope's almond-tinged sweetness dominates, establishing the fragrance's uncompromising gourmand trajectory.
Lilac and jasmine emerge to intensify the floral sweetness, creating a somewhat suffocating embrace of candied florals and cosmetic powder. The synthetic quality becomes undeniable here—this smells unmistakably like expensive sweets rather than flowers, a deliberate aesthetic choice rather than an accidental one.
Vanilla and tonka bean anchor proceedings with creamy sweetness, whilst musk attempts subtle projection from beneath. The fragrance becomes increasingly powdery and abstract, fading into a vague sugary residue that dissipates rather rapidly, leaving only a faint impression of heliotrope's lingering warmth.
*Like a Day in a Candy Shop* arrives as a perfume caught between whimsy and self-awareness, aware of its own saccharine nature yet wholly committed to the bit. The opening gambit of orchid and peach suggests sophistication—orchid particularly tends towards the refined—but this is immediately undermined by what follows: a heliotrope-led heart that leans hard into powdery sweetness, flanked by lilac's soapy florality and jasmine's creamy insistence.
What's most compelling here is the synthetic accord at 52%—this isn't a failing but rather the fragrance's honest admission of its own artificiality. Rather than attempting to pass off as "natural" gourmand florals, it embraces the plasticated sweetness of a confectionery counter, where peach becomes almost medicinal candy-floss and heliotrope transforms into something closer to cosmetic powder than flower. The jasmine doesn't add sophistication; instead it curdled slightly against the vanilla base, becoming cloying rather than creamy.
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3.9/5 (88)