Decadence
Decadence

If you’ve ever thought that the plastic flowers that adorn the bottles of Marc Jacobs’ popular fragrances Daisy, Lola and Dot were more than slightly OTT, you may want to turn away for the rest of this review. With his latest feminine fragrance, entitled ‘Decadence‘, Jacobs has pulled out all of the bottle design stops and has fashioned a flacon that resembles one of the designer’s much sought after handbags, capturing the familiar shape of his bags. After all, what is the ultimate accessory next to fragrance? Here the designer bag and the designer scent combine to create something that will have the eyes of many fashion fans bulging and their mouths shouting “gimme”! As the press release says, it’s “the ultimate statement maker”, and a statement it certainly makes.

Decadence, the fragrance, was composed by Annie Buzantian (Puredistance I & Marc Jacobs Dot) and is billed as something “glamorous and indulgent” and “impulsively luxurious”. The whole thing seems aimed at a more serious audience and isn’t as youth-courting as Jacobs’ earlier fragrances. In an industry where only the young matter, it’s good to see something that isn’t aimed at tweens, but Decadence is far from mature and appears to simply offer an alternative to the wishy washy bottles of clean florals that saturate the market. But just how decadent is it?

The Candy Perfume Boy’s Hitlist: Q3 2015
The Candy Perfume Boy’s Hitlist: Q3 2015

It’s that time again. That’s right, we’re at the end of a quarter (specifically quarter three of 2015), which means that it’s time for another instalment of The Candy Perfume Boy’s Hitlist. First things first though, an apology. Over the last month or so I have been more than a bit sporadic with updating this blog and posts have been scarce. Unfortunately, writing about perfume is a passion of mine that sometimes has to take a back seat when work and everyday life gets in the way. Right now, I’ve been going through some stressful home things (nothing bad, in fact it’s good, but still stressful), so please accept my apology for my lackadaisical approach to The Candy Perfume Boy.

Anyway, that’s enough of the apologies. Let’s jump into the hit list for quarter three, with a quick recap what this is all about for those unfamiliar with ‘how we do’. In these posts I take a look back at the fragrances, launches, blogs, books, brands or perfumers that have been taking my fancy over the last quarter. There are no rules. Well, there are three rules with this series; 1) the subjects must be linked to fragrance somehow (a rule that I’m allowed to bend); and 2) the hitlist is to be published towards the end of each quarter; and 3) the list must include my favourite things, as if I were a fragrant sort-of Oprah, which I like to think I am, but for the record, am not.