Burberry Body

Burberry had one big fragrance release this season, their new fragrance Body.  The company had been hyping this fragrance on Facebook and Twitter for several weeks before it can out, including sending out very generous amounts of sample to friends and followers.  Most of Burberry's fragrances are light and floral, with the new release being the individual of the line.  I have a feeling that is why the fragrance was so hyped, it will bring a completely new fragrance customer to the Burberry line of perfumes.  This fragrance is described as a chypre with fruity notes in it.  I do believe that this is the first time that Burberry has even attempted any type of chypre and therefore I am very interested to see what they did with this fragrance.  I was very happy when Burberry sent me a small bottle of this fragrance to try out and really decide what I thought of it. 

The perfume is available at Sephora and that is the website where I found the best description of the fragrance itself.  "Wrapped around a woman, the iconic Burberry trench evokes sensuality, feminity, and luxury.  In this fragrance, an eclectic composition of fruity-chypre notes envelopes the body, creating a suggestion of effortless seduction.  The fragrance opens with a fresh, green note of absinthe and bright hints of peach and freesia.  Elegance emerges in the heart, where cool notes of natural rose absolute and iris are set against the subtlety and warmth of sandalwood.  In the base, woody cashmeran and creamy vanilla join the sensuality of amber and musk." 
The notes of the fragrance are: Freesia, Green Absinthe, Peach, Rose, Iris, Sandalwood, Cashmeran, Musk, Amber, Vanilla.  Maybe it's just me, but I feel like many of the notes in this new scents are very generic...how many fragrances do you own that contains at minimum three to four of the above notes?!  That isn't saying that they are bad notes to have in a perfume (quite the opposite in fact) but I just don't think that this fragrance shows as much originality as some of their earlier fragrances.  I am happy that I see a rose note in this fragrance however I am not surprised since I feel like many English fragrances contain some type of rose note. 

I have been wearing this fragrance for the past few days and I have finally began to form my thoughts around it.  It isn't one of those fragrances that I fell in love with instantly, it isn't unique enough for me to grab it from my collection more than two or three days in a row.  It is pretty however it reminds me very much of a slightly lighter version of Elizabeth Arden's Mediterrean with a bit more sandalwood in it.  When I first spray it on, the peach and the green notes come out right away but quickly fade into the vanilla, sandalwood, and musk notes.  I also get no rose from this fragrance which is very disappointing for me and a major reason that I wouldn't buy a bottle of this after my current one is finished. 

One of the hardest parts of this fragrance was placing it into a "wear" category.  It took me until last night to decide wear and how I would wear this fragrance.  Let me explain my logic quickly - I have certain fragrances that I wear in professional settings, others that are just for going out, and a few that are very casual and work best on lazy weekend days.  I quickly decided that this fragrance is not a professional fragrance, the sandalwood and vanilla are too sensual to carry off.  This isn't a light and casual fragrance that I would wear when walking down to the farmers market.  This leaves only a going out fragrance, however I found it too light to work with a black dress and heels.  I concluded last night that this fragrance is best worn for small gatherings at casual restaurants or informal dinner parties.  Considering that this is all that I could come up with wear times, my small bottle from the company will last for ages and I won't need a new one any time soon.

One last note on the wear of the fragrance - it doesn't last near as long as I was expecting with the heavy emphasis on the base notes, I only got about three hours from it before I needed to reapply.  If you are looking for a warm, easy fragrance to wear out for relaxed bistro dinners, then this is a great choice for you.  Personally, I liked it but i can skip over buying a new bottle.  My current bottle will last me for quite a bit since I won't be wearing it on a daily basis.  This fragrance is a big change from Burberry's previous scent offerings and I think that it will attract a new customer to the company, however it is very similar to many other scents that are currently being sold and is easily dupable.

photo courtesy of Sephora