Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely

Tender young trees bloom. Bambi nibbles on a twig!

Flowers, woods and musk: Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker just smells damn good. No fuss, no pizzazz, no bogus shock-value weirdness. There aren’t any hard edges, but it’s not a niminy-piminy time waster of a perfume, either. Just because it’s not a “statement fragrance” doesn’t mean that it’s got nothing to say. Lovely’s the quiet, together friend who makes you seem like a better bet just by hanging out with you.
Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely is available from Amazon.com, FragranceNet.com, FragranceX.com, Perfumania.com and Perfume.com, starting at $34 for 3.4 oz.

9 comments:

  1. Hilarious haiku, Katie! After viewing your review, I picked up 10 mLs of Lovely at the local discount department store and took it out for a spin. I was not disappointed at all. The opening seemed a bit fruity(ick), but, after a few minutes this turns into a very sexy, yet comforting, skin scent. Even my poor husband, after dutifully sniffing, admitted to liking it! Now for the big question: Will this ever be available as a body (musk) oil? My scent obsession of the week is body musk oil; I have plans to mix the perfume oil with jojoba oil and apply it to the ends of my hair and skin during the dry winter months. Narciso Rodriguez--Musc For Her oil--is supposed to be very good, albeit too pricy to justify a blind by. Any suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous, are you visiting from the past? Have you recently exited a time machine? I ask because I thought Lovely had been (sadly) discontinued, and I know for sure Narciso Rodriguez Musc for Her has, and yet here you are talking about them!

      Okay, I just checked the SJP website and it looks like Lovely is still going. But the product that your entire being is crying out for, the "Lovely Liquid Satin" body oil, is definitely discontinued. (You'll need that time machine after all.)

      But if you do happen across a NR Musc For Her on your travels, I think you'd be safe to blind buy it, because it's totally the sexy/comforting skin scent you and Hubs goes for. It's along the same lines as Lovely, but simpler, without Lovely's fruity opening.

      I think you might go for another of my fave musk perfumes: Annick Goutal Musc Nomade. However, no body oil to be found there, either.

      Ooh! How about Kiehl's Original Musk in the oil form?

      Delete
  2. Oh my. I just had quite a laugh realizing how random (and awkward) my post looks! Um, thank you for wiping the drool off my chin.

    No. No time machine here--I just caught the fragrance bug a few months ago and I'm trying to keep up with reformulations, flankers, and discontinued stuff.

    Anyway, thank you for the suggestions, Katie.
    I definitely have my eye on Kiehl's Original Musk oil because it has been compared to Muscs Koublai Khan. It should be a close to the skin, comforting, and slightly raunchy scent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Okay, well Kiehl's Original Musk oil is a deffo for you, and if Frederic Malle still made Musc Ravageur in an oil, that would be one for you, too. (Damn, where did you park that time machine again?)

      And I'm thinking you would LOVE what I'm starting to think is my favorite perfume ever (or at least in the top 5): Musc by Bruno Acampora. It's stupid expensive, but it's an oil that is just as you described in the last sentence of your comment above.

      Delete
  3. Lovely didn't seem fruity to me at all. I think what stands out the most to me is the soft musk and the slight herbal, anise scent.

    --Nora

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Nora (other anonymous),

    I just returned from the vortex called basenotes (in my time machine) and discovered that the reactions to Lovely are quite diverse (and hilarious):

    “…soapy floral with a touch of musk, like you had just taken a shower with one of those little pink rose shaped guest soaps and had forgotten to wash a few places.”
    “…I simply can't smell it. I get white flowers and then nothing.”
    “…smells like detergent. Gain, to be precise.”
    “…woody and herbal…”
    “fruity floral”
    “…smells like one of my old 80's men's colognes, but I can't quite recall which.”
    “girly”
    “dull”
    “It is unique: quite a bit edgy, quite a bit sophisticated, and very much creative”

    Some of the reactions can be explained by the fact that around half of the human population is anosmic to macrocylic musk. Anyway, Lovely is definitely fruity to me, but I can’t identify the fruit to save my life! Maybe lychee nut? Over-ripe mango?

    Here is the note list available on the SJP website:
    Top notes: bergamont, lavender, apple martini
    Middle notes: patchouli, paperwhites, creamy orchid
    Bottom notes: cedarwood, white amber, sultry woods, musk

    Apple martini? After the fruit calms down, I get soft florals, a big dollop of polite musk, and sweet stuff. No lavender; no woods. This doesn’t surprise me: Unless it’s called, Lavender Jackhammer or Anise Stun Gun, I rarely pick up on lavender or anise in a fragrance. On the other hand, I usually dislike fruity notes, so of course, I seem to pick them up loud and clear. Stay away: screeching, bossy fruit.

    Anyway, Lovely is a wonderful example of how personal taste and biology combine to give us our unique fragrance experience.

    --Guin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Guin, I enjoyed the roundup of Lovely comments.

      And now I want to see a line called X Jackhammer: Oud Jackhammer, Rose Jackhammer, Vetiver Jackhammer. Single note brain-melters.

      Delete
  5. Oops. That’s macrocyclic, not macrocylic. Also, I’m not sure if the generalization that around 50% of the population is anosmic to macrocyclic musk is entirely correct.

    --Guin

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete