Oh, Lola! Marc Jacobs 2011

I am laughing at the note "raspberry effervescent tablet" listed for Marc Jacobs OH, LOLA! The scent does remind me of an artificially fruit-flavored soda pop. It's less sweet than that, but the basic idea is conveyed all the same. Reddish berries. Could be raspberries. Could be gaspberries. Could be strawberries. Could be bogberries.

I read somewhere that Ann Gottlieb takes credit for what might be termed "the fruity turn" at Bath & Body Works. All of those fruit flavors apparently emerged with her encouragement and under her creative direction. Here, for Marc Jacobs, Gottlieb has collaborated with two other big noses (why it took three is a mystery to me... Calice Becker AND Yann Vasnier? WHAT????) to produce a fragrance in which the fruits have been given much more emphasis than the abstract flowers. The overall effect reminds me rather of the Victoria Secret Secret Garden line of (highly synthetic) fruity eaux de toilette, in particular the one named STRAWBERRIES & CHAMPAGNE.

To me, OH, LOLA! smells less appealing than most of the BBW bath flavors. From a business perspective, it probably does not matter much what went into the bottle, since the decorative plastic flower cap appears to be why people are buying the fragrances of the house of Marc Jacobs these days.

Not for me.

Oh Lola! by Marc Jacobs is berry, berry sweet. A play on words of course, but true to how it smells. Imagine the colour pink, berry flavoured lollipops, vanilla icecream and fruity shampoo, and you have basically conjured up the smell of Oh Lola! in your mind.

Lola was a little too musky and synthetic to my nose when I tried it a few years ago, so all in all Oh Lola! is a much more pleasant flanker. On the younger segment of the population, this fragrance could never smell out of place, but when I wear it, I feel like I've wiped seven years off my age. I am yet to determine whether or not that is a good thing.

This fragrance opens with a sugary burst of wild strawberry, fizzy raspberry, mushy pears and florals such as, cyclamen and peony. Neither ingredient is a hundred percent natural, opting for a sweeter and thus more chemical approach. The scent also packs quite a punch, and if applied too liberally, can cause a headache.

Oh Lola! is sweet without being a gourmand. It has some similarities to the original Lola, but comes off smelling much better, at least in my opinion. From afar I like the look of the bottle, but when I'm actually holding it in my hand, it feels awkward with the cap seeming unnecessary. To be sure, it's not something I'd reach for if I was in a hurry to get out the door of a morning.

I find this fragrance a little similar to Justin Bieber's fragrance, Someday. It would probably attract the same type of consumers too. In my opinion, both bottles are good for displaying, but not necessarily for wear. I can think of many other fragrances I would prefer to smell on young, teenage girls.

In my opinion, the expensive price tag is for the bottle design and elaborate packaging. The scent itself is not worth that much, and comes off rather cheap and generic. The lasting strength is good I must admit, but even that can't sway my final opinion. Oh Lola! is pleasant, but evidently not for me.

After the little box had been smiling at me for a week, I finally got to open it today.
I had purchased it on eBay, and there were still questions regarding the purchase.
These have now been clarified, and I get to free the beautiful bottle, crowned with a pink flower, from the little box.

The scent is the younger, more playful version of its more mature sister Lola, who is already a sophisticated lady of the world.

But the fine family resemblance cannot be denied by the little sister Oh Lola either.

While Lola likes to roam in velvet and silk, and is a "night owl," Oh Lola prefers a flowing summer dress that gently hugs her delicate figure.

She also prefers to be out during the day, wandering through blooming gardens and gentle river meadows.
The pear - raspberry aroma is sweetly fruity - lovely but not citrusy.
It makes you crave a "Conference" pear that is already showing small shoots in the garden.
The magnolia is already blooming, releasing its subtle fragrance.
The peony is full-bloomed but not dominant.
The sandalwood makes the scent smooth, and the tonka bean adds the Oh! effect.

For despite its charm, the scent is not arbitrary.
The vanilla envelops the cheeky Lola sweetly and attractively.

For me, Oh Lola is the charming daytime version of Lola, and I will gladly wear her in the summer.

What times we live in: all-you-can-drink and Vodka Ahoi...
Actually, both are an absolute horror to me and completely unreasonable… But you have to experience the "fun" of Vodka Ahoi at least once...

You take a packet of Ahoi-Brause, preferably raspberry-flavored, and pour the contents into your mouth, only to immediately follow it up with some cheap supermarket spirit.
It tastes really terrible, but it doesn't matter because: ALL-YOU-CAN-DRINK is the magic word.

Why am I boring you with such escapades??
Because Oh, Lola absolutely smells like Ahoi Brause raspberry….
Very fruity, but only slightly sweet, even a bit sour.
Once the first 5 minutes have passed, lovely flowers join in, and everything becomes a bit woody.
I like it… Unfortunately, it doesn't really last long on me.
Such a pity, because I find it quite expensive for that.
But I received it as a gift and - you don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

However, there’s a mental point deduction because the bottle is truly a masterpiece of ugliness… This pink rubber flower makes the bottle look really cheap… Well, it’s going in the cupboard anyway, so whatever! ;)

First of all, a huge thank you to the lovely Zauberpunsch for the well-filled leftover bottle! I will keep it and eventually place it in a nice display case :-)

Oh, Lola! is a lovely fruity scent. For some, it is certainly too fruity. However, it is not too overpowering if you adjust it to the weather. I find it ideal at temperatures around 20 degrees. The advantage of Marc Jacobs fragrances is that you can hardly overdose on them, as they do not last long on me (which is a downside, though ;-) ). The sillage is also rather weak, even if you apply a lot of sprays.

The scent itself is primarily raspberry. I find the pink bottle very fitting, as you can easily imagine what kind of fragrance you are getting when you see the bottle. Oh, Lola! is fruity and lightly floral. At the beginning, it has a subtle soapy note, which fades over time. On me, the fruit develops mainly in the scent; I hardly perceive any vanilla or the other components listed here.

I have already mentioned the longevity. Unfortunately, it is also rather low with this Jacobs, and you have to reapply multiple times a day, which makes the price-performance ratio look less favorable, and I find that unfortunate. If they improve this, I have nothing more to criticize about Marc Jacobs. Great scents, beautifully decorative bottles, simply lovely creations.