Clean Clean Skin

My Sephora perfume sample pile is growing larger and larger with every single online purchase that I make to fulfill my Illamasqua obsession.  In fact, I just made another one before I started writing this up, I need to move closer to a store that actually carries the brand.  Now that the warmer weather is here, I have revisited my sample pile and am looking for the fragrances that are light and what I want to be wearing this time of the year.  The one that I am currently trying out is a new scent from Clean, a brand that has created a following around their fresh, soapy fragrances.  Normally, these are not my style of fragrance, I prefer light florals over the clean and fresh scents.  I ordered this sample with one of my many Sephora orders since I was a bit curious about these scents and don't currently own any type of soapy fragrance. 

I first tried this sample when my order came last winter and I originally liked the fragrance and was planning to buy it when I could wear it.  However I have pulled it out again this morning and I am not quite as big of a fan of the fragrance as I thought that I was, perhaps I was just so ready for the warm weather last December that I wanted any type of light fragrance... 

Sephora is the exclusive carrier of this brand (to the best of my knowledge) so I got all of my information off their website.  "This fragrance captures the delicate scent of bare skin.  Hints of dewy flower petals wrap around notes of pure creaminess and warm musk to evoke the simple scent of touchable skin.  Enticing, fresh, pure.  Clean skin at its best."  The notes of the fragrance are: Sheer Honeydew, Lotus Blossom, Fresh Air Accord, Dewy Petals, Aquatic Notes, Blue Rose, White Musks, Amber Woods, Creamy Vanilla.

The first time that I tried this fragrance, I found it to be a clean, aquatic floral and I was so excited to order a bottle during the spring months.  I'm not quite sure why I decided that I really loved this fragrance but I am very glad that I tried it again before I ordered a bottle from Sephora.  Seeing as how Clean fragrances only come in large-sized bottles, this would have been a very annoying mistake to make.  The second time that I tried this fragrance on, it smelled like nothing and I could barely smell it on my skin within an hour of application.  Today I tried it on again and it smells like an aquatic mens colonge.  I don't see how this fragrance can smell so different every single time that I use it, I have rarely had that happen with other fragrances and never with the "clean soap" type of fragrances that have very few notes in them.

The lasting power on this fragrance is among one of the worst that I have used recently, it is gone already and I applied it about an hour and a half ago.  I know that this fragrance contains many top notes but the musk and vanilla should allow it to have a longer wear time than many of the traditional "soapy" fragrances.  I am nearly convinced that I will never find a fragrance in this category that will work for me and that this hole in my fragrance collection will just remain a hole.

photo courtesy of Sephora

Clean Outdoor Shower

Clean is a company that is well known for their fresh and easy to wear fragrances. The company was first launched in 2003 by Randi Shinder who desired a fragrance that was reminiscent of pure soap, the universal fresh out of the shower scent. Unable to find a fragrance of this type to her liking, she developed the original Clean fragrance. Thie line of perfumes are formulated in very small quantities to ensure that all ingredients are fresh, pure, and very high quality. The brand has since expanded with several more fresh fragrances and Outdoor Shower is one that has been released in the past few months.

I was initially attracted to Outdoor Shower because its bottle is a beautiful shade of green. This is what caused me to pink up the bottle at Sephora and the fragrance inside is what caused me to want to buy it. The Sephora website states that, "Fresh, green, dewy, and exhilarating this floral scent is inspired by the experience of showering al fresco, secluded by nature. Heady exuberance and feel-good freedom have been captured and bottled in this crisp, clean, leafy-green scent. Extracts of water lily, violet leaves, and sparkling bergamot with hints of tropical rain accord and sandalwood blend into a refreshingly simple fragrance". This fragrance is both green and floral and the water notes come out very nicely upon application.

The notes are - Aquatic Accord, Bergamot, Violet Leaves, Muguet, Water Lily, Tropical Rain Accord, Musk, Sandalwood.

None of the Clean fragrances have much staying power therefore I highly recommend them during the hottest days of the summer. This one is one of the more complex ones, in that it contains the rain and floral notes. The green notes in this fragrance really come out and make it a crisp, pleasant fragrance for casual days.

photo courtesy of Sephora