Swarovksi released (in broadest possible distribution) its first fragrance, called Aura on April 1. (April’s Fools Day? A possible sign?)
Dutiful (and curious) blogger that I am, I went to the flagship store in Vienna on the first day of availability to have a sniff and beg for a sample. And beg I had to, one would think that to get people interested, giving out a sample would not be considered too much or untoward in any way. Not so. The good man at the Swarovski store looked at me as if I had asked him for a little crystal chandelier or two to take home.
Rolling his eyes at my greed and audacitiy and obvious unwillingness to buy a 100ml bottle unsniffed, he parted with a sprayed card only at first. I am rather meek normally, but if somebody behaves like that, I get furious. Suffice to say I walked out of the store with two samples clutched in my triumphantly raised fist, my mad cackling still filling the cavernous store… (Yeah, right. But I did indeed walk away with two samples.)
After this unfortunate, and from a marketing standpoint rather stupid display of retail failure, I was still determined to give Aura a fair run. As fair as a jaded Perfumista can be in any case…
It is pink for one. Not promising. The tagline is “the grace of light”. Okay, why not.
First sniff: Surprise!!! A fruity floral awaits.
People, this is what you all have been waiting for! Unprecedented fruity floral, rather pleasant if deeply, deeply unoriginal top notes of sugared berries and a sheer flower bouquet, fade into indistinct and watery, clean white musk and vanilla drydown. Yay!
So if you have nothing like this in your collection, why wait any longer?
The practical thing about this proliferation of identical smelling pink fragrances is that you can start choosing your “perfume” solely based on the bottle design. Thankfully Swarovski put some money into the packaging, and they offer a variety of sizes, which is highly commendable. The price is okay too. Thankfully it does not last that long on skin as it does on paper. On skin this is one problem that solves itself.
All good, no?
The pink aura projected by Aura is one of perfect assimilation. It is the BORG of perfume. The thirtyseventh drone from the right.
That is how I want to present myself to the world. Yeah, right.
Olfactoria's Travels 
Thanks for the laugh! That made my day.
You are welcome! 🙂
LOL!!!
Anyway, I didn’t even bother (to try it)
Surely no need to try it! 🙂
LOL!!!!!!
I will happily pass this.
Why on earth? Don’t you want to smell like a BORG??? 😉
LOL! B, that’s IT!!! The perfect term for this sort of ‘thing’. I won’t deign to honor such creations with any significant term like ‘perfume’…;)
We’ll call them Borg ‘fumes! All mutually indistinguisable, all pink, all generic sugar-berry-sorta-florals, all not bad per se, all non-offensive, all…as individual as identikit Barbies with only the clothes – the bottles – to distinguish between them.
It’s enough to make me haul out that Tubereuse Criminelle and blast ’em all to the furthest reaches of the Delta Quadrant…;-)
Barbies in different clothes, that’s it!
Blast them away with Serge! 😉
Olfactoria,
You do not even need to use your Jedi powers to persuade us that this is not the
droidn we’re looking for 😉(it was supposed to be dro
idn)May that (pink) force not be with you!
I salute you for your perseverance in the store! We will not let stupidity reign uncontested!
How utterly disappointing actual scent wise. I do like a fruity floral, but an interesting fruity floral, thank you. Average ones are too many as it is. Yawn.
Thank you! Maybe the SA was actually ashamed and that was why he did not want to part with it? 😉
“Behind his austere – and to some even arrogant – exterior it was all panic, cold sweats and humiliation – how COULD they put him in this position after all these years of faithful service?!”
Perfect! 😀
LOL! You’d think the SA’s have to buy the samples themselves…
Exactly! 🙂
Hysterical! Thanks for the laugh, B. And kudos to wrangling TWO samples from that very stuffy SA! Ha! I did just discover a very fun fruity floral that deserves a sniff – Hilde Soliani’s Il Tuo Tulipano. Love it!
There are fruity florals I like, the latest Jardin for example, but it has to have at least some originality… 🙂
lol
You need to buy a bottle (of something, not this), STAT. Your no-buy is raising your snark to dangerous levels! 🙂
Oh, I could be a lot snarkier still, I thought I was being polite! 😉
Sooo funny!!! Did the SA know that you’re a perfume blogger? Maybe he didn’t want to give you a sample for that reason — because he knows how generic their perfume is and didn’t want you to blow the image they are trying to cultivate. 🙂
Haha, that could be a very good reason, but no, I was quite anonymous. 😉
You surely made my morning here! 🙂
Thank you, that is lovely of you to say. 🙂
“First sniff: Surprise!!! A fruity floral awaits.”
ROTFL! Brutally funny my dear, brutally funny. Thank you for taking us with you—this was the perfect start to my Tuesday!
🙂
Thank you, Dee!
And I was hoping for so much here…;)
LOL, I’ll bet you were 😉
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