Gwen Stefani L & Dior Midnight Poison: When Bottles Matter More Than Perfumes {Perfume Short (Reviews)} {New Fragrances} {Scented Images} {Celebrity Perfumes}
Gwen Stefani L and Dior Midnight Poison -- we hesitated between categorizing them as "New Perfumes" or "Fragrance News". Technically speaking they are 2007 new launches, but the real news are not that they are new perfumes but rather copies of previous fragrances poured into new bottles. This is going to make our task easier but less fun also if all we need to do is type an = sign between two different packages.
Alfred de Musset once famously wrote "Qu'importe le flacon pourvu qu'on ait l'ivresse!....." calling attention to the effect wine has as being more important than the bottle containing it......
In a new interpretation of this famous saying we can say that the bottles and the ads do seem to matter, more so than the perfume itself. In a more complicated way, it could also mean that the perfume is so good, it could go into all sorts of different bottles and no one ought to care about the magicians' tricks and successes in exchanging packages.
We like the bottle of L by Gwen Stefani and the ads are great, but the sad truth is that L is but a copy of Annick Goutal Petite Chérie, only in an americanized version, which means it is more tenacious and more linear than the original fragrance. It really feels like a counterfeit. It is a very nice pear fragrance by the way.
Dior Midnight Poison is an aquatic rose patchouli perfume completely devoid of personality and character. A sort of diluted version of Calvin Klein Euphoria, but more to the point it smells almost exactly like Love Bird by Nanette Lepore, which already reminded us of other fragrances. You will just have to figure out which brand image, bottle, and price you prefer. The flacon of Midnight Poison is not as nice in person as it is on pictures as the blue color is not as subtle and closer to a dull dark blue. Eva Green may be able to tell a great newly adapted Cinderella story but the scent is just a generic jus.
Last year we complained about too close similarities between Betsey Johnson and Hilary Duff which were launched at the same time, but this is getting to the point where it feels like smelling copy cats of fragrances found right across the aisles.
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Comments
I wasn't impressed by gwen's perfume either. I figure that perfume copies will be happening more often...I have had both with love and betsey johnson, they both seem different to me. With love is much more woodsy warm and betsey's is a gourmand.
I returned the with love though, it didn't last long enough.
Posted by: Rebecca | September 3, 2007
I agree that Betsey and With Love are not as closely related as the ones I mentioned in this article. I think I made this remark in the context of looking for distinctive fragrances, in that context, they were too close for my taste. This year, my standards have evolved to expect fragrances that are related but offer twists. In this new value context, Midnight Poison and L, I felt, were not even offering twists.
Posted by: Marie-Helene | September 4, 2007
This smells exactly like Maybe baby and the bath and body preducts by Benefit. Nasty and not as original as I would've hoped.
Posted by: Louise | September 20, 2007
I have heard about this comparison being made before. I say it's for people who like a simple laid back pear perfume. Packaging is what will make the difference too.
Posted by: Marie-Helene | September 20, 2007
I adore this perfume, and I'm pretty fussy. I've been a perfume addict all my adult life. On me "L" smells great from when I spritz it on in the morning to the evening. Throughout the day different notes emerge and fade, but it always smells clean and fresh--a great spring/summer fragrance. I'm 49 years old and don't care either way about celebrity fragrances--I'd never buy one to smell like a famous person, but then again, I wouldn't pass one by if I happened to love it, as I love this one.
Posted by: Carol Read | May 4, 2008
A quick follow-up to my rave review in May. I was crazy about this perfume for maybe six weeks. Did the perfume turn? Did my hormones change? Whatever happened to either the perfume or my sense of smell, today I put the perfume in the trash. After yet another "last try," I decided I don't want that smell on me again. Go figure.
Posted by: Carol Read | October 14, 2008
Maybe you just got tired of it. Well, you have already trashed it, but otherwise why not keep it and pick it up later on. The reverse of what you experienced happens not infrequently too.
Posted by: Marie-Helene "Mimi" Wagner | October 14, 2008
i just bought a bottle of L. I love it, yes, it does smell of Maybe Baby and the Benefits range, including the Benefits Love me and then try to leave cream which i had been using this year and think is the BEST cream ever so it is nice to find a perfume that smells just like it except it lasts much longer than Maybe Baby perfume and cream. Maybe Baby fades very quickly, in about 2 hrs tops. im very fussy with perfumes but i love Gwens.i love the peachy pear-iness smell
Posted by: fiona | December 8, 2008