Harajuku Lovers G of the Sea

Every few seasons, Harajuku Lovers comes out with a series of new versions of the original Harajuku Lovers collection.  All of these collections have been limited edition and have spawned a few great fragrances but most of which aren't as nice as the originals.  This summer, Harajuku took the star of the collection, the G fragrance, and only made a limited edition version of this one.  G is styled after Gwen Stefani herself and I am surprised that this is the only fragrance that got the new limited edition version.  The original G is one of my new summer favorites so far this year, it is coconut vanilla and very yummy.  This new version is more of a citrus which is a break from the traditional of keeping the base of the original scent and then adding a few different notes to match the season.

"G of the Sea is a beautiful mermaid with gorgeous flowing hair and an adorable green tail.  Inpisred by the magical world of her underground playground, this new, limited-edition, Harajuku Lovers fragrance features a citrusy woody-floral scent.  Top notes delight in juicy splashes of crisp apple, magic water lily, and the tangy sweet surge of crushed berries.  Soak in its heart, filled with flirty bouquets of dewy freesia, whispers of pink peony, and delicate kisses of jasmine petals.  Finally, leave an enchanting trail of smoothly sundrenched woods, sensually transparent musks, and luscious amberwood."  This fragrance really has nothing to do with the original, which somewhat disappoints me since I wanted to add another beachy fragrance to my collection. 

The notes are of this version of the fragrance are: Crisp Apple, Water Lily, Crushed Berries, Dewy Freesia, Pink Peony, Jasmine Petals, Sundrenched Woods, Transparent Musks, Amberwood.  When I smelled this fragrance at the counter, I decided that I liked it but that it had nexst to nothing to do with the original version fo this fragrance.  This one is a crisp fruity floral and reminds me more of a Dior Addict 2 type of fragrance than the Harajuku Lovers. 

For an additional layer of comparison, here are the notes in the original G fragrance - Coconut Water, Mandarin, Bergamot, White Peach, Heliotrope, Exotic Tiare Flower, Orange Flower, Vanilla Bean, Tonka, Skin Musk, and Creamy Sandalwood.

When comparing these fragrances they are like night and day.  The original is warm and summery, the new version is crisp and floral.  The fact that this one is dressed up for the beach makes no sense with the fragrance itself.  I agree that they did need to change the fragrance a bit from the original, since otherwise it would be the same fragrance just released in a new bottle.  It would be hard to make this fragrance any more warm or beachy so I guess the company decided that they should try going in the other direction with it this time.  Last summer the company did a summer version of this fragrance and they remained true to the coconut and added a hint of a citrus.  I do agree that there are very few other ways that coconut should have been mixed up in this fragrance and smell any bit different from the original or last summer's version. 

The bottle of this fragrance is the cutest bottle that this company has done so far and I would prefer to buy the original fragrance in the new bottle.  Having this bottle on my dresser would inspire me to buy a second bottle of the same perfume even though mine barely looks used since I just really opened it up for the season.  I doubt that I will buy this fragrance since the lasting power isn't the best from this company and I would rather just wear Dior Addict 2 instead of this new version. 

I am wondering if the new editions of these fragrances weren't selling as well as anticipated since they only released one this time around.  It is true that I normally prefer the five originals from the Harajuku line, with the exception of one or two scents from last summer.  It will be interesting to see how this collection changes around this fall...

photo courtesy of Sephora