Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
I have every Pink Sugar from Aquolina (original and flankers) and they were all cheap blind buys. But this one was so elusive for a couple years. I gave this 4-5 tries. I really tried to make it work with this one. But it seems to be one that I will eventually pass on to someone else. A loved one who enjoys her occassional drink now and then loves it and she can even smell the sweetness in it. So I guess I will have to give it to her. If you like the original, you will like this one too, and if you hate the original you will hate this one too, because they are sooo extremely similar.
I re-added a 1oz bottle of Cloud to my collection and plan on adding the other Cloud's soon, as well. I have come to not only love them all, but honestly, they have become some of my favorite perfumes I have. I find they all last a very long time and my favorite part of the fragrance is actually the scent they leave on my clothes/blankets/pillows/etc the next day. I wanted SO much to hate these fragrances...but alas, I have caved and accepted that I really do adore them. So, about Pink Flower. I do not like raspberry, alright. All raspberries smell SO artificial to my nose (I have found only two scents with raspberry in them, which are wearable for me, but still not the loved ones). Pink Flower is all about artificial raspberry on patchouli base. It is very harsh and strong in the beginning. It is very sour and sharp. Then comes a little bit of sweetness, but as I have already said it is not sugary sweet by any means. Patchouli base is there, but patchouli is okay, not strong and rounded. Perfume is simple, very linear, with weak longevity (less than 3 hours on the skin. Today is about 10C, seaside climate, wearing outside) and strong sillage only for the first 30 mins after 5 sprays (the scent is still there after 8h of wearing it on my hair). All in all it's a very fun and happy scent, not sophisticated or natural in the least, but surprisingly multilayered. I agree with one reviewer who mentioned that there is something rubbery about this, which might not be everyone's cup of tea. HEART: 60 min out, it's close to my skin and I have to sniff myself to get this- but the sugar's still going strong- and now there's something floral & mildly citrusy. Likely orchid and bergamot. It's subtle. If you love this and wear it well, it might very well be the bargain gem to end all bargain gems, because this fragrance is nuclear! (And, if you wear this well, you also have my envy. I wish I could pull this one off, but I cannot.) It seeps into every pore (and leaves a rather attractive, yet noticeable, sheen while doing so). You will be noticed. You cannot wash it off without taking a shower.
Aquolina Perfumes
when first putting it on, 10-20 minutes: at first, you get that REALLY LOUD licorice smell. it also has a fruity smell, like strawberry. i kinda smell the raspberry
This smells beaaautiful 💛💛💛!!! I also own Berry Blast and btwn these 2, this one smells the most different from Pink Sugar. It also smells the most “grownup”, crowd-pleasing, and wearable amongst all 3. I love love love Pink Sugar & Berry Blast but the overwhelming cotton candy sweetness def makes them seem like they’re catered to a younger crowd like teenagers, tho everyone of all ages can wear them obviously (like myself 😝). This one seems more grownup compared to the other 2 bc the cotton candy in here is just a tad bit toned down & muted + masked by the coconut and florals which makes it more wearable for everyday casual events. A grownass adult can wear this to the bank and no one will bat an eye, IMO. I don't get as much coconut in this as some others do, to my nose this isn't a coconut gourmand, just a tropical scent that has some coconut blended in with the ylang ylang and tiare. to me this is the perfect perfume for two distinct characters: the flashiest, pinkest, juicy couturiest, dog in bag-iest, charmiest mean girl of them all, and the other is dahlia hawthorne from ace attorney. I already did a rather long review on BR540, which I'm not a fan of but I really love this one. But it took a while. I'm going to try to explain the main difference here, because they are very much alike, but at the same time very different for one big reason. I'd also want to touch on the subject of fragrance snobbery because these two have definitely ruffled some feathers when people compare mainstream to niche - but that would fill up a book. So perhaps that will be for another time.Maybe if I had sprayed it on myself when I was already overheated and a touch sweaty, the warmth and salt could help balance out that weird chalk-sugar smell. Like Monoi Eau de Vahines, which I loved as a kid but can’t stand it now. I even sprayed them side by side and the similarity was huge. It was the strong monoi oil scent, overpowering all the other notes in Creamy Sunshine. Found it headache inducing.
And the biggest difference? Cloud has considerably less band aid smell compared to BR540 so if you dislike BR540 because of that, give Cloud a try. If you do a wrist test, with each scent on each wrist and compare them, yes you can tell the difference. BR540 is far more complicated and has some better quality ingredients. The sillage and longevity are also very different - Cloud doesn't announce its presence before you enter a room, it actually sits pretty close to you but the longevity on me is rather impressive, I can smell it on my wrist the following day until I take a shower. BR540 on the other hand is loud, you will not miss a person wearing it in the same room. I do not want to fill a room ever, I think that's not attractive and I want people only to be able to smell my perfume if they're standing close. So for that reason alone I'd choose Cloud. People looking for leaving a big trail behind them will not be happy with what Cloud offers. I sprayed this on myself (quite liberally) on a whim, hoping to find something new and relatively inexpensive. I was looking forward to it. In a way, I *really* wanted to like it. The burnt note" sounded disgusting until I actually smelled it - it turned out delicious on me and I can't get enough of it. It oddly completes the fragrance - not really the same after it's gone.
About
This one definitely has the rounded sweet cotton candy, it isnt foodie smelling though, both this and the yellow bottle have better dry downs. No burnt sugar in either. I do not get the fruity notes much, as many others' experience seems to be as well. It takes like 15 seconds for the berries(?) note to disappear after spraying it. On me, Pink Sugar does not have a slightest hint of freshness. I would probably pass out if I wore this on a hot day. Not a summer scent, so I'm saving it for cooler weather. The fragrance has a very Fruity opening. It’s heavy on sweet berries, mainly strawberries. But I was getting something peachy and pear like so I was wondering where this smell is coming from. Then I started reading the notes and I noticed “Ambrettolide” as I’m not familiar with this note so, I did some research :p and I found out that this is a macrocyclic musk which mostly smells sweet and musky with a Fruity undertone. The sweet notes gives a candy like vibe and the whipped cream is also noticeable from the very beginning. Gradually the strawberries fade away and the fragrance becomes more like the drydown of original Pink Sugar but it’s less caramel-y and more creamy just like a Red Velvet Cupcake. The floral notes are not that noticeable to be honest. The main notes to the nose are basically Strawberry with Candies, vanilla, whipped cream & ambrettolide. I honestly does not understand all the comparison with La vie est belle. Original LVEB is about praline and iris with patchouli base. This Pink Flower is all about raspberry and probably some peppery vanilla with a patchouli base. If the comparison with LVEB goes with the logic as: all sugar sweet patchouli perfumes are similar to LVEB, like Girl of now, Jimmy Choo or Flowerbomb, or other "sugar" in the bottle, then Pink Flower is not even that sweet to be in the raw of "LVEB-ish" sort of scent. If not to talk about the ingredients used in LVEB (which are a head better than used in Aquolina). I maybe may compare LVEB Intensement (the new release with prominent raspberry and vanilla), but still they are different enough. LMAO omg ok so i knew everyone said this is polarizing but i thought that was just a barometer for whether or not you like strong gourmands. given that i love gourmands, i thought this was a safe blind buy and at worst i'd think it's just okay. cut to me absolutely hating this 🤡 i can definitely smell the cotton candy but it's like cotton candy melting away in something absolutely disgusting. i assume that's the "burnt note" people often mention, but it honestly smells more like something rotting than burnt sugar or burnt plastic to me, and it overpowers any sweetness this has. whatever note that is (the licorice? fig leaf?) i want to avoid like the plague. i was hoping it'd become less pungent as the day went on, but that nasty scent is still all i can get from this multiple hours later.
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