Review of five perfume samplers from FeelUnique – part 4

You know the drill by now! I order 5 perfume samples on FeelUnique, pay the £3.95 Postage and Packaging, and report back on what I thought of the samples, particularly, whether I'd ever buy a full-size bottle of it! November's opinings.

Sol de Janeiro Cheirosa '62 Eau de Parfum

As the name suggests, the Sol de Janeiro seeks to emulate the rhythms of Brazil in a perfume, in particular, capturing the essence of Brazil in the summer.

The caramel and vanilla base notes of Cheirosa '62 are very prominent, and they hit you straight away. After a while, a woody, almost smoky quality creeps in, giving faint aromas of someone who just smoked from a pipe. The sillage is quite weak, meaning people other than the one wearing the perfume would have to lean into them to be able to detect the perfume.

Overall, it's a well-constructed, grown-up fragrance (as evidenced by the understated yet elegant bottle it comes in, pictured above), but due to its minimal longevity and limited sillage, doesn't fulfil one of the main requirements of a perfume, sadly. 5.5/10.

Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Granada Salvia Eau de Toilette 

With top notes of blackcurrants, lemon and bergamot with base notes of White Musk, patchouli and moss, this is a light, clean, fragrance which is best suited to the summertime. 

Worn in the summer, I could see this being an enjoyably layered spritz. I did notice that the smell, although enjoyably citrus-y at the start, grew less nice as time went on, so your first impressions of the perfume will be the best. Curiously, it's marketed as a unisex fragrance, although I found it distinctly feminine. 6/10. 

Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Mandarine Basilic Eau de Toilette 

This fragrance is from the same Guerlain range as the previous perfume reviewed. With top notes of clementine, bitter orange, orange blossom, green tea and ivy, it's intended to be distinctly citrusy and zesty. The green tea and ivy balances out the fruit flavours, meaning the perfume sits on the right side of tangy, and I found the linger of it to be oddly soothing. 

Compared to the Granada Salvia, I got a stronger sense of a sensual escape from the Mandarine Basilic, and chiefly because of that, it's my preferred scent of the two. 

Having now tried the Granada Salvia and the Mandarine Basilic, I will keep my eyes peeled, to see if FeelUnique are offering samplers of any of the other fragrances in this range. It would be interesting to smell them all and have a more definitive ranking of them! But Mandarine Basilic was my preferred of the two: fresh and flirty. 7.5/10. 

Connock London Vittaveli Eau de Parfum 

The promotional material for Vittaveli Eau de Parfum boasts that the fragrance is inspired by the Vittaveli island in the Maldives. It has top notes of frankincense, geranium, spicy pepper berries and bergamot. The body consists of jasmine, rose, frangipani and hibiscus, and the base notes are sandalwood and vanilla orchid. 

This makes for quite a lot of ingredients, several of them, indeed, quite exotic. My initial impressions were that this blend of fragrances wasn't to my taste, as on initial impact, it smelt rather strange. But this is a perfume which gets better, because the sillage was much nicer. 

My requirement before buying a perfume is that it has to smell good at the start and after a few hours, in which case Vittaveli does not fulfil this first criterion. But it was certainly different from many of the same-smelling scents out there, so props for them for trying something maverick. 5.5/10. 

Narciso Rodriguez for Her Eau de Parfum 

With top notes of rose and peach, middle notes of musk and amber and bottom notes of patchouli and sandalwood, one definitely couldn't complain that this fragrance didn't smell feminine enough. It's very, very floral. 

Like Armani's My Way, I felt the scent was too mature for me (I don't know why, but I tend to associate overly-rosy perfumes with older ladies). Furthermore, I couldn't discern much in the way of peach in the perfume. What peach there was smelt very synthetic, which didn't add to my enjoyment of it. The linger evoked the smell of a bar of soap, which is not what I'm after when looking at perfumes of this price point. 

At least this perfume has showed me that, whilst I don't love the unisex fragrances (like YSL Libre), one can definitely go too far the other way! 4.5/10. 

For other product reviews, click here. If you would like me to review your beauty products, email me at lemon_and_lime7@hotmail.com.

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