Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Hanae Mori Butterfly

I was in a rush to get ready for work this morning, so I just grabbed something out of the basket of samples I have on my bathroom counter. Most of these are standard perfumes, and the one I grabbed this morning was Butterfly. This is fitting, because, as the Sephora site explains, the berry and almond notes in this scent wind up "giving an impression of vanilla." In fact, I would say also a hint of chocolate, the milk variety. Butterfly reminds me a little bit of Lea Extreme, only it's a bit lighter, not so dusky (incidentally, I happen to like dusky).

The notes in Butterfly are stawberries, bilberries, black currant, bugarian rose, jasmine, ylang ylang, sandalwood, almond, and praline. If you are afraid of all the fruit you see here, don't be: this scent is decidedly not fruity. The floral notes shine through here, the base created by the milky powder of almond, the caramel of praline, and the berries really does smell like vanilla. The sandalwood offers a little spice on the drydown and sticks around to give it a little kick.

Something about this scent reminds me of hot chocolate, yet it's light enough to wear in summer. Personally I would prefer a bit more of the sandalwood, but overall this scent has a nice balance.

*photo from Sephora