Truth be told, it was hard to make myself get down to business and actually try out the Harajuku Lovers Sunshine Cuties collection on my skin. I was too busy staging a stripped-down rendition of the great George Cukor film, The Women, with the dolls. G was playing the role of Norma Shearer's long-suffering wife, Baby was Joan Crawford's fabulous maneater, and Love was Rosalind Russell's gossipy busybody. The dolls were giving it their damnedest, bless 'em, but they were missing out on certain key nuances. The biggest problem was that Baby kept “improvising” by shouting out “Super Kawaii!”, which was completely out of character for her part. I finally gave up, ripped their little doll bodies off of the individual perfume pedestals, and commenced to spritzing. It turns out the Sunshine Cuties are slightly better (and in a couple cases, a lot better) perfumes than they are actors. The SC set are completely different scents to the original Harajuku Lovers, and overall, they're more interesting and diverse. Here are the quick stats, in order from my least to most favorite: Love: clashy fruity-floral that smells like musk and nail polish. Baby: peachy floral that dries down to jasmine soap. G: lime and coconut with a smidge of sandalwood and vanilla. Music: woody white florals and creamy musk with a bit of apple and pear. Lil' Angel: dry, not too sweet vanilla with a hint of lemon/orange. I think this one is great -- it reminds me of By Kilian Love. A Sunshine Cuties gift will guarantee miles of smiles for any kawaii-krazy tween -- and for anyone who collects kitschy toys and gew gaws. And since they smell (mostly) pretty nice -- and excellent in the case of Lil' Angel, you won't have a “waiting to exhale” moment around the fumed-up little tykes.
Sunshine Cuties are available from Amazon.com, starting at $30 for 10ml
See my review of the original Harajuku Lovers series here.
Wow,, SC Lil' Angel smells like BK Love?! Who'da thunk it?
ReplyDeleteNot I, amber_j! I was so surprised. 'Course, it would be overselling it to say LA smells exactly Love -- it doesn't have the complexity, depth, staying power, expensive ingredients. But it does mimic Love's effect of dry, almost "fresh" vanilla.
ReplyDeletehey Katie - how do they compare to the originals?
ReplyDeleteBloody Friday, I go into more detail in my video reviews of both collections (I've added a link in the above post.)
ReplyDelete"I'm going through this . . . for you . . . I'm here . . . in the trenches!"
ReplyDeleteThanks, Katie, as always, for enduring the chemical warfare of mainstream perfumery for all of us. ;)
And thanks to you, I now have "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" stuck in my head.
ReplyDeleteBad earworm, bad.
oh thanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteNathan, I'm struck by how you know the entire title, including parentheses, of my jaunty little earworm.
ReplyDeleteYes, well, don't think I didn't notice that you used the word "struck" instead of "impressed".
ReplyDeleteYou can't pull the wool over a fellow wordsmith, Nathan!
ReplyDeleteThese scents last about five minutes on me but I have to admit that I love the little dolls. I am five years old at heart.
ReplyDelete