Top Notes 
Cola
Key lime
Ginger
Heart Notes 
Coriander seed
Bitter orange blossom
Thyme
Base Notes 
Macaron
Amber
Musk
12/07/2014
Drseid
821 Reviews
Drseid
2
So Sweet It Is SCARY!...
Paris*L.A. opens with an over-sugared, slightly creamy key lime pie accord before transitioning to its early heart. As the composition moves to its early heart the key lime pie stays extremely sweet as an even sweeter cotton candy accord joins in as co-star. As the composition moves through the heart section the key lime pie slowly fades and eventually disappears, leaving the super-sweet cotton candy as sole star, adding in supporting almond. During the late dry-down the almond-laced sugary sweet cotton candy remains, now infused by relatively clean musk through the finish. Projection is excellent, as is longevity at nearly 12 hours on skin.
There is not much to say about this stuff except that it smells absolutely awful. It is no secret that I dislike most gourmands, but I think I can still appreciate compositions that are skillfully done, and this one just isn't. The best part of the composition is the opening five seconds, as the key lime pie accord is tolerably sweet when not reinforced by the other sweeteners to come (but only just). Once the cotton candy joins in it is a very quick "game over" for this sickeningly sweet confection based concoction. The marketing material released to help sell the composition says that one of the goals was to recreate a Coca Cola accord (I guess this is supposed to be L.A.?), but the Coke is nowhere to be found, leaving only the sugary almond-laced cotton candy confection that must be what the perfumer considers a recreation of a macaron (the other goal of recreating the smell of Paris?). If this is indeed the second goal of the perfumer, the outcome is so synthetic smelling it is completely unbelievable. I am afraid with Paris*L.A. we have a strong contender to make many "Worst Perfumes Released in 2014" lists and I know it will make an appearance on mine. The bottom line is the wholly unsuccessful $110 per 60ml Paris*L.A. represents a new low for the relatively disappointing A Lab On Fire house, earning it an "outrageously bad" 1 to 1.5 stars out of 5 rating and an "avoid at all costs" recommendation unless you love your compositions even sweeter than you can imagine in your wildest dreams (or worst nightmares, in my case). Terrible!
There is not much to say about this stuff except that it smells absolutely awful. It is no secret that I dislike most gourmands, but I think I can still appreciate compositions that are skillfully done, and this one just isn't. The best part of the composition is the opening five seconds, as the key lime pie accord is tolerably sweet when not reinforced by the other sweeteners to come (but only just). Once the cotton candy joins in it is a very quick "game over" for this sickeningly sweet confection based concoction. The marketing material released to help sell the composition says that one of the goals was to recreate a Coca Cola accord (I guess this is supposed to be L.A.?), but the Coke is nowhere to be found, leaving only the sugary almond-laced cotton candy confection that must be what the perfumer considers a recreation of a macaron (the other goal of recreating the smell of Paris?). If this is indeed the second goal of the perfumer, the outcome is so synthetic smelling it is completely unbelievable. I am afraid with Paris*L.A. we have a strong contender to make many "Worst Perfumes Released in 2014" lists and I know it will make an appearance on mine. The bottom line is the wholly unsuccessful $110 per 60ml Paris*L.A. represents a new low for the relatively disappointing A Lab On Fire house, earning it an "outrageously bad" 1 to 1.5 stars out of 5 rating and an "avoid at all costs" recommendation unless you love your compositions even sweeter than you can imagine in your wildest dreams (or worst nightmares, in my case). Terrible!
Itchynose
