At any rate, I like Agent Provocateur better now than I did when I first tried it several years ago, but I don't entirely love it. I've worn it three times in the last week, and each time I enjoyed it very much for an hour or so, then the richness and the powder started to wear on me and I wished I was wearing something else.



Eau Emotionnelle, released by Agent Provocateur this year, is meant as a lighter variation on the original. I have yet to see a complete list of notes, but additions include cape snow bush, lie de vin, pink pepper, white tea and osmanthus. The opening is fresh and mildly fruity; the mid notes are fresh and mildly floral. Agent Provocateur calls Eau Emotionnelle the original's "charming sister", but they are not so closely related to my nose, or at least not until it has dried down and the similarities in the base notes are evident. Even then, most everything that made Agent Provocateur what it is has been smoothed out, toned down, and made acceptable for office wear: there is but a trace of the earthy warmth, buzz of spices and dark animalic undertones. This is lighter, blander, and much less sexy.

That's the standard explanation for the widespread appeal of celebrity fragrances, but I've always had a hard time with it. Your average "celebrity lifestyle" seems more likely to stand as a dire warning to be very careful what you wish for, or as an illustration of the age-old adage that money doesn't buy happiness. Whatever your stance on the subject, Britney Spears, whose latest fragrance, Believe, is currently launching in stores, may have a hard time finding buyers for her lifestyle at the moment. Still, here is Believe, launching under the vaguely ironic tag line "the greatest freedom is to believe in yourself". Whether that message will resonate with her fans is yet to be seen, but I'll start with the good stuff: the packaging. The outer box (see right) is fun but not tacky, and the bottle, with its simple triangular lines, echoes that same blend of playfulness and elegance. It is Britney all-grown-up, having discarded the girl-glam look of her Curious and Fantasy fragrances.

Fantasy is the second fragrance release from Britney Spears under the Elizabeth Arden label. It follows Curious, which apparently made a tidy 30 million in its first three months alone. Fantasy was created by nose Jim Krivda, and the notes include red lychee, golden quince, kiwi, cupcake accord, jasmine, white chocolate orchid, musk, woods, and orris root. should begin by admitting that I am so entirely outside of the target market for this fragrance that my opinion is pretty much meaningless. To start with, I am more than a few years past the age cohort of interest, which is said to be 18-30. My advanced age, perhaps, explains my second handicap, which is that I only vaguely know who Britney Spears is, and it may also explain the fact that I do not find the bottle design particularly appealing.

I remember when Boucheron introduced Pour Homme Eau de Parfum in the early nineties. It was considered rather decadent, rather gay, to have a man wear something called "perfume". In retrospect such concerns over one simple word are hilarious, but at the time it took some days for me to muster up the courage to go into Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills to investigate the scent. Thankfully, a kind salesman guided me to the tester. I immediately loved Pour Homme and bought it.

Burberry Brit has notes of lime, icy pear, green almond, white peony, sugared almond, mahogany wood, amber, vanilla beans and tonka beans. It was described as "fresh green floral" when it was released, but I do not find it particularly green, it is far too sweet to be called fresh, and it is not predominantly a floral. The top is citrus with lots and lots of sugar. It is joined very quickly by candied pear and almond. I find the opening stages almost unbearably sweet, but keep in mind that I am wearing it now in 90 degree weather. I first tried it in colder weather and I didn't find it quite so overwhelming. It soon warms up to a soft vanilla woods scent with a bit of amber; the citrus and fruit notes for the most part disappear with the top notes. The sugar remains, but it does calm considerably. I have seen this described as spicy, but I find it rather bland.