Love, Chloe: A Department Store Fragrance That Smells Niche!

For the hardcore fragrance fragrance aficionado, most fragrances are broadly classified into two types - department store, and niche. Sadly, department store fragrances are usually seen as somehow less worthy than the niche brands (you know - the stuff "plebians" wouldn't have heard of - Serge Lutens, Annick Goutal, CB I Hate Perfumes). This is not without cause, as department store fragrances tend to be more mass-market than the niche ones, and so after a while, they do tend to all kind of smell the same. Part of the challenge of being a perfume nut is sniffing them all and finding that rare department store perfumes that doesn't smell generic. Those are the rare gems that smell more expensive than they really are (and thus awesome value for money).



Enter Love, Chloe. This was love at first sniff! The official notes for this are orange blossom, pink pepper, iris absolute, lilac, hyacinth, wisteria blossom, heliotropine, powdery musks, talc and rice powder. It was the orange blossom that prompted me to try it, because I'm a huge fan of orange blossom. And I'm glad I did - because here is the rare department store fragrance that doesn't suck.

On me, this is best described as a powdery floral that is very pretty and very wearable. The floral notes are most obvious at the start, but as they fade, the talc and rice powder emerge as dominant in the drydown. On my skin, I get mostly orange blossom, talc, and rice powder, and just a teensy bit of something that smells a little like rose, although it's not in the official description for the perfume.The net effect is to produce a scent that is fresh, feminine and soft, without smelling like every other floral perfume out there. In addition to the orange blossom (which I'm partial to), the rice note also comes out quite strongly on me, but that's not a bad thing - it adds a sense of softness and comfort to the fragrance, and it makes it stand out a little bit more from the other floral offerings in the market. And I'm always partial to a well-placed rice note, because rice was my staple food growing up, and a warm bowl of soft fluffy rice is the Asian equivalent of a hot bowl of chicken soup (only that I don't think chicken soup would make a good fragrance note, LOL).



Sillage on this is small, as it wears close to the body, so while this is a Fall release, it will also definitely be wearable during warmer months, and can be worn very well throughout the entire year. In fact, I think this will be ideal for people who work in closed, small areas like offices - you won't have to worry that you'll unleash your perfume on the entire floor with this one! So if you'd like to wear perfume, but you're concerned that your colleague in the next cubicle or your housemate sharing your room is sensitive to perfume, this is a good one to try because it doesn't carry very far. In fact, I kind of wish it had a larger sillage, because the scent is so pretty.

Wear time on this perfume was good. Half a day after I first sprayed this on, I could still smell it, although the wear combined with the already small sillage meant that I had to stick my nose to my wrist to be able to smell it. I think if the sillage were a bit larger the wear wouldn't have happened so fast. In fact, there isn't much about this that I don't like, other than I wish it had a longer wear time and a slightly larger sillage.



The best thing about Love, Chloe is that it's as universal as a department store perfume can be. Unlike some overly-sugared perfumes that seem to shamelessly target the Justin Bieber fanclub, Love, Chloe will smell lovely on pretty much everyone of any age group - I can envision my mother wearing it as beautifully as I do, an I can definitely see myself still wearing this a few decades down the road. Like a good neutral pink blush colour, or a pretty taupe eyeshadow, virtually anyone will be able to wear this. It has deftly managed to attain that rare quality of being accessible to all age groups, and easily appreciated, yet not boring or generic. This is a crowd pleaser, but with something extra for slightly more demanding noses.

And lastly, the bottle. I know that it's the scent inside that counts, but hey, a pretty bottle doesn't hurt either. This bottle is pretty basic, but what I really love about it is that the cap is attached to the bottle neck by a small gold chain. That's actually really nifty, because I'm always misplacing my bottle caps for fragrances. The decision to include the chain probably had more to do with aesthetics than practicality, but I'm glad to say the two coincide on this one!



So you don't need me to tell you to go and buy it, or at least try it out to see if it's something you'll like. Although I can't imagine who wouldn't like this, because it's so universal. If you're looking or a fresh floral that's still soft and comforting, this one is a good one to try. Heck, I'm going to put it out there and say that if you're female, this one is a good one to try. :P It is currently available exclusively at Harrods, but will be available from 22nd September nationwide in the UK.

(This product was sent to me for review. I am not affiliated with or compensated by the company. This review is my honest and complete opinion.)