Coach Cherry Coach 2026

I would never think this was a cherry fragrance if it didn't have it in the name, as cherry isn't the prominent note for me. Instead, there's an intensely warm ambery and almost medicinal base, which I think is the pink pepper and patchouli. That's overlaid with an extremely interesting bitter magnolia note. Yes, there's cherry, but it's not typical cherry. Plus, you only catch it now and then with a bit of jasmine sambac.

I didn't think I liked this at first or that it smelled like me, but the pink pepper and magnolia combo is so intriguing. I can't think of anything else that smells like this. It's one that's better to try on skin and wear a while to decide how you feel rather than just sniff it on paper in the store because it really starts to grow on you after a while.

The scent starts off with a distinct floral-cherry mix that is superb. Sometimes, a cherry note can smell a bit medicinal thanks to its popularity in Tylenol and other medications, but Coach struck a very nice balance with this blend. Unfortunately, the cherry note fades quite quickly. I'd say that within 2 hours it is completely invisible, which is a shame given that how it's touted as being the center of this fragrance. The scent after 2 hours changes into a generic warm floral that lasts about 6-7 more hours. It's not bad by any means, but it's not what was advertised!

If the perfumers at Coach could come up with a flanker of this fragrance that manages to have the cherry last much longer, preferably around the entire length of the fragrance's life (for me, this would ideally be around 8-10 hours, which is my personal minimum to even consider purchasing a fragrance), I would be extremely interested in it. Of the fragrances I've tried, the only fragrance house to capture this is Carolina Herrera with Very Good Girl Glam (although they use a black cherry note rather than a plain cherry) but the bottle of that is just so tacky that I struggle to actually pull the trigger and buy it. I will say that I prefer the scent of Coach Cherry as it is in the first two hours to VGGG, in addition to very much preferring the bottle.

I think the longevity of cherry as a note might have something to do with this. Even what's considered THE cherry scent by many, Lost Cherry by Tom Ford, only lasted about 6 hours on me before fading away. Ideally, if a cherry note is inevitably going to fade away within 6 hours, it has to be paired with something that does last long that either smells similarly or interacts with the cherry note well enough that buyers don't care. Although the cherry trend in fragrances looks like it may be fading, I can only hope that at least one perfumer at a major house manages to come up with a solution to this conundrum that is worth waiting for.