So Nnnnotorious

When Ralph Lauren's Notorious perfume came out late last year, I was dying to try it. The fragrance strips in all of the magazines were delicious, and I absolutely loved the ads with Laetitia Casta. Even though I find most Ralph Lauren perfumes to be pedestrian, I was quite impressed with the fact that everyone kept raving about the chocolate cosmos note that was in this fragrance - supposedly quite revolutionary. At any rate, I just thought the bottle was very nice and elegant.

However, Notorious is notoriously safe, on the side of boring. It is categorized as an oriental, with "Deep black currant, spiced bouquet, decadent chocolate cosmos, sensual patchouli musk." Sounds so glamorous, right? In the initial spray, I definitely detect the currant and floral notes, which are pretty, and in the drydown, the musk and patchouli really hit me, and that is the predominant note in the drydown. I never noticed any sort of chocolate. Also, the sillage of this is not great... it lasts maybe 2 hours on me before I smell absolutely nothing, and I did spray quite a bit.

Sadly, this perfume is a pass for me. If someone gave it to me as a gift, I would gladly accept it and use it, but I don't think that I would go out and buy it myself. It just doesn't make enough of a statement for me. Just for reference, this is $65USD for a 1.7 ounce, and $75USD for a 2.5 ounce. I believe Sephora also offers for 1.0 ounce for $45USD.