'' A good perfume should intermingle with your body's natural oils and give out a fragrance which is essentially unique to you. It should linger pleasantly in the air and not be cloying,'' - (underlined) statement by Ms B, my elder brother's girlfriend , 1996-1999.
Ms B and I shared a love and hate relationship - she loved me, I hated her!! She, unfortunately, was real sweet, understanding,caring, helpful and just...extremely NICE!! But, ofcourse, for me she committed the biggest sin - a sin which I found real difficult to forgive - she brought about a redistribution of my idolised brother's love and attention. Nope, I am not deviating from my topic..patience, I am getting to it..:-)...
As I was saying, the darling(??) Ms B. decided to take it upon herself to educate her boyfriend's kid sister in the important subject of 'personal care'...YAWNNN!!!Being a selfproclaimed tomboy, I was least interested in make-up,skin care creams and the rest. Everytime she came over to our place (which unfortunately was quite a lot), she would give me a lecture and tips on ridiculous things like ' an eyeliner is an expression of..''.' or ' your skin is the outer mask...' (I will save these for my review on the same..hehe) - ok,so I had a mental block but at that time, I didnt realise just how much these tips would help me in the future.
One fine afternoon, she was going through my dressing table when she noticed the absence of a perfume....on her persistent enquiry, I told her that I use my mom's ..and SHE SCREAMED!!! and thats when the lecture started (go back to the starting of the review...lolz)...' A perfume should be unique to you...you should use one or max two so that everyone starts identifying the smell with you' ...HUH?? ok, great, i'll buy one tomorrow.
'Tomorrow' dawned and ofcourse, I forgot about 'my need for my own fragrance'...but ofcourse, she being she, didnt. The next morning, my brother came to my room before leaving for work - a wide beaming smile on his face and an artistically wrapped package in his hands. '' Megs, look what B gave me for you''...my saccharine smile in place, I took the gift and opened it:
'Amarige' - 2 bottles of the perfume glared at me. Noticing my bro's expectant expression, I opened both of them and sniffed - and, as they say in hindi movies '' That brought about a dramatic change in my life''.....
''Amarige'' by Givenchy (yup, I am finally getting to the review) comes in an elegant curved bottle with a ribbed sea shell shaped frosted cap. I always feel that the packaging is representative of the product, and this is no exception - no frills, no complicated design - The bottle of Amarige is clear, classy with simple lines - quite a lot like the fragrance!!
Givenchy says that the fragrance is a mixture of violets,lilies, mimosa and orange flowers with notes of citrus fruits, melons and peaches...but my friends swear that it has a tinge of jasmine and vanilla!!
''Amarige'' is feminine and floral. Its sweet, sexy and sultry.Its Its perfect for both the romantic evenings and brings a slight touch of exotic appeal to the 'party nights'. However, its not too breezy and may be slightly strong for the day, especially during Indian summers.
The smell lingers for a looong time. A little spray and the fragrance embraces you (not envelops like most other perfumes) My friend, once said, that when other women get into the car for an evening out, he needs to put the windows down for a while to get rid of the suffocation which a perfume causes in a closed car. But ''Amarige'' is so subtle and so sensitive that he loves it. I have also been told that the smell is as fresh even after a couple of hours.
Its a perfume so different and so mesmerising that you'll fall in love with it - its been 6 years and I havent felt the need to even try a different perfume, its neither old fashioned nor 'modern'..its just...timeless.
I didnt realise till I started wearing this fragrance, what the essence of the lectures were - ' Amarige' for me is ....me. Its everything B said should be and more. It makes you realise just how beautiful it is to be a woman.
My 4 year old nephew probably summed the fragrance beautifully when he said '' hey bua, you are smelling yummy!!'...lolzz
In these 6 years, I have never failed to get compliments on it.The fragrance, being so unique, always makes people give a second 'sniff'!!...(:-)
I love the perfume - I love it inspite of it being given to me by Ms B (now you know what I was getting at in the intro)
The technical details
The perfume is a clear golden liquid with ingredients like SD Alcohol 39-C, Fragrance, Water, Benzophenone-2, Methylparaben, FD&C Yellow No. 6, D&C Red No. 33.
I have always received it as a gift (no, not all the time from B) so dont really know the price but the internet says its between $45-$75 (depending on the size)
It comes in 3 ounces - 1, 1.66, 3.33
the details are from : https://perfumania.com and https://givenchy.com
Ms B is now my bhabhi, Mrs B. - yeah, my bro married her and from her honeymoon, she bought me my second perfume - ''Pink'', by victoria secrets which she swore was the most 'apt' for daytime wear for me. Was she right??....wait for the rev!!
