Katie Puckrik Smells: Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb

It's sweet. Did I mention it's sweet?

Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf was the pink cumulus cloud my girlfriend, the artist Georgie Hopton, lived in when it was released in 2004. She'd discovered it after years of wearing Chanel Gardénia, and now that I think about it, perhaps there is a bridge between Gardénia and Flowerbomb: the candy-sweet jasmine that is a hallmark of both. My friend Georgie is fiercely smart and ferociously stylish, and could never be written off as a ditz, as I want to do with Flowerbomb. Flowerbomb is a real creampuff of a perfume, with everything that would make a little girl squeal, “YummeeeeEEEEEE!” if it were glopped into a sundae bowl at her birthday party. There are those sugar-crystallized flowers, that hot wisp of cotton candy. But it doesn't venture into the pain zone inflicted by the shrill, soapy musks present in teenage “carnival gourmands” like Viva La Juicy, and for that I forgive Flowerbomb its other excesses. It wears persistently, but softly, and even develops an appealing, low-wattage spiciness in the final fade-out. Georgie has long since moved on from Flowerbomb, but not from her perfume sweet tooth. She's swapped her caramel sundae for a root beer one: Annick Goutal Myrrhe Ardente.

Flowerbomb is available from Sephora.com and Amazon.com, starting at $22 for .33 oz

12 comments:

Melissa W.September 07, 2010 7:51 PM
I love the name, the bottle, and the extreme sugar overload of Flowerbomb. It is a fragrance I like to wear when I'm in a really good mood and want a cloud of good times (good times = candy scented) to follow me everywhere I go.

Have you tried Flowerbomb Extreme? I haven't yet but I've heard good things about it.
Katie PuckrikSeptember 07, 2010 7:53 PM
I've not tried Flowerbomb Extreme - but I'm always eager to try the "extreme sports" version of anything. It could go either way: more of what I love in Flowerbomb, or more of what I hate.
SpikeSeptember 08, 2010 8:02 PM
I've smelled it a couple of times now and each time my reaction is along the lines of "meh". It's just sugar to my nose.

I just don't think that the scent lives up to the name, which sucks cause I could totally be into a fragrance that is so violently pretty and floral that it's almost perverse. Kind of a Fracas 2.0.

Love the bottle though.
Katie PuckrikSeptember 09, 2010 12:45 AM
Spike, "so violently pretty & floral that it's perverse" is a good description for a putative Fracas 2.0. Or maybe Penhaligons Amaranthine.
TJSeptember 20, 2011 12:26 PM
You're right about the hot wisp; "Flowerbomb" definitely has a fuzzy, ozonic quality right out of the gate. The sensation calls to mind the "hot lightbulb" accord in CDG "Odeur 71."

I'm a guy and wear the "Eau Extreme" version, a former fave of Tilda Swinton. I get nothing but compliments (by the time you leave the house, the "Bomb" is pretty gender-neutral), and the "fruitchouli" base lasts up to 15 hours on my skin. It smells eerily similar to the intoxicating "Patchouli 24" by Le Labo, a unisex must-have.

Katie, I'm a sucker for the neutered renditions of the leaf!
Katie PuckrikSeptember 21, 2011 6:08 AM
Wow TJ, I never would've connected the dots between F-Bomb Extreme and P24!
TJSeptember 21, 2011 1:01 PM
There's definitely a connection, Katie, but just between the bases of each.

To those who are curious about the differences between "F-Bomb" and "F-Bomb Extreme," I say...not much. Both wear softly, which "bomb" does not suggest. The main selling point of "Extreme" is the everlasting drydown, even if it is only detectable by the wearer – and those lucky enough to cuddle THAT close to him or her.

And, the amber-hued "Extreme" bottle is a knockout. Ditzy, it can't be.
LCFebruary 28, 2012 6:02 PM
I know you posted this a while ago, Katie, but I recently smelled F-bomb myself and I have to say I can't tell the difference between this, the EDT version of Angel, or Estée Lauder Pleasures Delight. Maybe it's just my nose, but I can't distinguish any notes beyond the vanillachouli present in all of these fragrances!
LCFebruary 29, 2012 7:13 AM
Ha! I smell a new band name.
AnonymousJuly 29, 2012 4:50 AM
Confession. I am an oriental type girl who hates florals... and I love flowerbomb. When I first smelled it in the bottle it did nothing for me, but some sort of magical, chemical conspiracy took place when it hit my skin and I get compliments on it all the time. Who knew.

Hormones, man. They make everything weird!

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