Juliette Has A Gun
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Tart raspberry bursts across the skin with an almost candied intensity, immediately shadowed by violet absolute's soft, powdery blanket. The effect is startlingly reminiscent of cosmetic dusts—as though you've just opened a compact mirror—with a faint plasticity underneath that signals this fragrance's synthetic DNA.
The orris absolute emerges with creamy, root-vegetable earthiness, anchoring the composition just as patchouli adds a faintly rubbery, skin-like sensuality. Cedar threads through quietly, providing woody ballast, whilst the vanilla begins its sweetening arc—this is when Lipstick Fever becomes most coherent, a powdery-fruity sillhouette with unexpected textural depth.
The fragrance reduces to its sweetest, most synthetic expression—vanilla-patchouli comfort without the vibrant top notes' freshness. The cedar becomes barely discernible, and what remains is essentially a powdery vanilla with lingering violet dust and patchouli's faint earthiness, leaning distinctly intimate rather than projective.
Lipstick Fever arrives as a peculiar collision between cosmetic artifice and botanical reality—a fragrance that smells simultaneously powdered and raw. The opening gambit of raspberry and violet absolute immediately establishes a feminine-leaning persona, yet there's an intriguing synthetic undertow that prevents this from becoming conventionally pretty. Those violet notes possess a subtle fustiness, almost talcum-like in their mineral density, which the raspberry struggles to soften rather than complement. As the composition settles, a pronounced orris-patchouli axis emerges, and here lies the scent's most interesting moment: the orris brings a cosmetic iris-root creaminess (that classic lipstick-case quality the name promises), whilst the patchouli adds an earthy, almost vinyl-like plasticity. Cedar appears as a supporting voice, lending structure rather than dominance, preventing the sweetness from becoming cloying. The vanilla base, rendered in absolute form, carries a distinctly artificial sweetness—not unpleasantly so, but distinctly perfumery-made rather than natural-seeming. This is a fragrance for those drawn to the intersection of retro femininity and contemporary minimalism; someone who appreciates makeup as wearable art and wants their fragrance to reflect that theatrical quality. It occupies an awkward middle ground—too synthetic for those seeking naturalism, too fruity-powdery for those after serious woody depth—yet possesses enough idiosyncratic charm to intrigue the curious dabbler. Wear this when you're feeling the artifice, not despite it.
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3.7/5 (161)