sniff test: christina aguilera eau de parfum

Christina Aguilera Eau de Parfum natural spray 75 ml

She Says:

It’s been twenty years since Grammy-winner Christina Aguilera started her solo career, over a decade since she launched this perfume, and six months of winter here in Toronto with only one spring day warm enough to open a window without catching a cold. That’s when I seized the opportunity to try it again. The bottle is an hourglass wrapped in lace (in keeping with the cabaret theme of her “Lady Marmalade” heyday) and about as subtle. This boudoir vamp in the ‘sensual scent’ category adds a shrill and peppery peony and plum accord (reminiscent of port wine) but that’s frankly welcome foreplay before a drydown to the inevitable musk-vanilla-amber threesome. 2 out of 4

He Says:

Credit multi-year appearances on The Voice for keeping Aguilera relevant in the perfume aisle of your favourite drugstore. One of the few reality tv singers to boast a true vocal talent, the singer quickly jumped on the celebrity fragrance bandwagon that made Beverly Hills neighbours Paris Hilton and Katy Perry very wealthy. This particular scent was created to “enhance her new style of sexuality” boasting a bottle inspired by a dress designed for Mae West by Marcel Rochas. There is also a vague reference to Marilyn Monroe.

The scent opens with a fruit salad of peach, blueberry and mandarin notes which are quickly eclipsed with aggressive jasmine, lily of the valley, plum and peony. Like an episode of The Voice, it smells like each note is jumping up and down waving its arms to be noticed by the judges. The drydown of musk, amber, vanilla and sandalwood just adds to the confusion. 1.5 out of 4

Sniff Tests are the personal opinions of Nathalie Atkinson and Dave Lackie.