C.O. Bigelow Lemon Eau de Parfum

I have already bought the new Chloe fragrance for this spring and when I wrote about it, I stated that I had no place for it and that I would have to review it and then put it back in the box and keep it there until I had more room to put it on my dresser.  And knowing that, I tried forcing myself to not buy any more fragrances for the spring.  I kept good on my vow until about two weeks ago when I began trying some new fragrances at Macy*s and Sephora and my resolve began weakening.  I wasn't finding anything that was blowing me away so I have actually been good the whole time.  But that doesn't mean that I have totally given up on looking for new fragrances to wear...

While playing around the C.O. Bigelow website, I found a fragrance that I haven't tried out yet and I wanted to order it immediately.  I have often written about how much I love the Lemon product line and how I have been collecting it over the years.  One piece that I haven't tried yet it is the fragrance in this line, a simple Lemon EDT that matches all of the Lemon body care line.  I haven't always been a citrus fan since these fragrances can sour on me very quickly.  In fact, the new Chloe scent is one of the few citrus fragrances that has ever worked with my skin chemistry (but this might be because it has about 22% rosewater in the fragrance), making me curious if there are any more that will work well for me.  I have always loved other people in citrus fragrances and I love how light they are in the warm weather months and my goal has always been to find a light citrus fragrance that doesn't sour on me.  So far, I can only wear a citrus if it a top note and combined with a group of flower middle notes.

The Bigelow Lemon fragrance has me curious, the lemon scent in the body products is natural and therefore it wears off in less than an hour.  I did wonder about the staying power of this fragrance, will it wear off in very little time or is the formula revamped from the body product line?  Looking at these facts, I wanted to try this fragrance before I ordered it online.  This perfume is a bit harder to find than it used to be so I tried it at one of the few Bath and Body Works that carries this full line of products.

"This freshly scented Eau de Parfum is inspired by one of our most-loved, favorite original formulary, Lemon Body Cream.  The pure, sparkling Lemon fragrance blends effervescent citrus notes with green lemon leaves and sensual, creamy undertones of white musk.  If you love C.O. Bigelow Lemon Body Cream, you'll love this sparkling Eau de Parfum."  This fragrance has a strong lemon note in it and appears to have a series of notes that complement and bring out the lemon notes.  I see that there is a musk bottom note in this fragrance and that will help to keep the fragrance strong on the skin.

This fragrance proved to me that I must try every citrus fragrance on before I consider purchasing it.  The lemon in this fragrance is very strong and smelled exactly the same on the skin as it did when I sprayed it in the air.  It reminded me of Lemon Pledge and this is not a scent that I can wear all day long.  And then of course, this fragrance lasted the whole rest of the day on me and I had to wash it off at night.  I do wonder how it lasted so long since the lemon is a top note and none of the other notes ever came out in it.  The only explanation that I have for the formulation on this fragrance is that the musk is only in the mix to stablilize the lemon and to extend the life of the fragrance. 

I still love the Lemon Body Cream and the rest of the products in the line however this is going tobe the one product that doesn't work at all for me.  I still love citrus fragrances on other people and I wish that I could find one that really worked for me.  As of right now, the newest Chloe fragrance is the closest that I will get to a citrus scent.

photo courtesy of C.O. Bigelow