Quest for the Best Love Spell, Part 2: Flankers
This is part of a series on Victoria's Secret Love Spell:
part 1: history & the missing mystery note
(coming soon) part 3: dupes
🍑 🌸
Let's dive in to one of my favorite parts of exploring Love Spell: the flankers!
In general, fragrance enthusiasts seem to have strong feelings about flankers - often claiming they are unnecessary or excessive. While I can see the legitimacy in these opinions, I personally love trying flankers/comparing them to the original - and have found testing Love Spell flankers to be especially enjoyable, as part of my "quest for the best" Love Spell.
Since Love Spell has been a long-running fragrance (more than 20 years!) at Victoria's Secret, it's no surprise that they've also released dozens of flankers (as you can see in the Parfumo directory screenshot below). So let's test and compare 8 of those today!
Love Spell Flankers I Enjoy (So Far)
💜 1) 
No. 01 - Love Spell Eau de Parfum
Did you know that Victoria's Secret released a eau de parfum concentration of Love Spell in 2013? I missed the release when it happened - as it was supposedly only available in stores, and I lived further away from any Victoria's Secret locations back then.
It was sadly the only time a eau de parfum was released for Love Spell, and they even changed some of the notes for this concentration. (So while No. 01 - Love Spell Eau de Parfum is technically a concentration variation, the note substitution made it different enough to include it on the flanker list.)
Notes for Love Spell eau de toilette & mist:
- cherry blossom
- peach
- grapefruit
- jasmine
Notes for Love Spell eau de parfum:
- cherry blossom
- peach
- orange flower
It does smell like there's still a bit of grapefruit in the eau de parfum. But it's nowhere near as acidic or tart, as it is in the eau de toilette/fragrance mist formulas - which is a nice change. I personally love the slightly-powdery touch of orange flower, and think it elevates the original Love Spell DNA.
💜2) 
Love Spell La Crème
This is my favorite Love Spell flanker (so far) - and it is actually in my top favorite fragrances of all time! Yes it is "just a mist", but it's one of the most beautiful blends I've ever smelled. Take the original fruity-floral beauty of Love Spell, remove the "salty" grapefruit, and make everything more like a fresh shampoo... and you have Love Spell La Crème. The fresh peach blossom + creamy magnolia are not a note combination commonly found in the world of fragrance, and it's such an addictive pairing to me!
💜3) 
Love Spell Splash (2023)
Love Spell Splash (2023) is like sipping on a chilled glass of "Hawaiian Fruit Punch" at the pool. A red, juicy-berry-"punch" beverage blend you knew and loved from childhood - but with a grown-up twist! The peach tea note has a "fruity-fresh shampoo" vibe, which is refreshing in the dry-down and adds more dimension.
Love Spell Flankers I Dislike (So Far)
💔1) 
Love Spell Daydream
Love Spell Daydream is a close cousin to 
Cloud Eau de Parfum. I mostly got sweetened baby powder, ozonic accords, and a hint of berries - which made me think of babies. While I love babies, I personally prefer not to smell like them quite as much as this scent does.
💔2) 
Love Spell Cashmere
This was promising, but sadly too light overall. The nectarine was delicious and felt similar to the peach in the original Love Spell formula, but the marshmallow overpowered and made things too airy/too light to make it memorable.
💔3) 
Love Spell Candied
This flanker had zero "original Love Spell DNA" for me, and didn't resemble any of the other flankers either. I got toasted tonka, marshmallow, and ambrette. I unfortunately didn't detect any peach. I often enjoy marshmallow notes, but this felt very bland and not memorable enough to my nose.
💔4) 
Love Spell Splash
Separate from the Love Spell Splash (from 2023) listed above, this first version of Love Spell Splash leaves a lot to be desired. With notes like strawberry + kiwi, I expected a sweet "Capri Sun" fruit juice feel - but the strawberry was so tart that it made the whole blend overly sour for my personal taste. (If you love sour strawberry, you might enjoy it!)
💔5) 
Love Spell Sol
This was another one that lacked any of the original Love Spell DNA, so it might as well be an entirely new fragrance altogether rather than a flanker. Despite not being listed, I mostly picked up watermelon blossom - or watery melon + powdery floral. It came across like an aquatic + melon + laundry detergent blend. I don't enjoy aquatic melon profiles, so this was a pass for me.
In conclusion:
- No. 01 - Love Spell Eau de Parfum wins for best concentration variation
- Love Spell La Crème wins (so far) for best flanker
Stay tuned to see how these stack up against other Love Spell flankers and dupes!
Gourmandgrl
flankers I suppose in perfumery is brand stretching. I do not like this idea and the fragrance lovers get confused.
In Cartier's Pasha collection for men, there are 14 in the database. I like three of them, including the original.
Rabanne's 1 Million collection for men has 16 in the database. Most are way too sweet for me, but one flanker, Golden Oud I like and have.
Those all sound like really nice fragrances though, regardless of how different they are from each other!
Also, I never knew why the Cartier Pasha cap was designed that way - super cool that there's more brand history/meaning behind it.
BTW, some people say the Pasha flacon is a baby bottle for men. The reality is that bottle cap purposely mimics the crown on Cartier wristwatches.
Cool Water was my first introduction to "blue" fragrances - never knew how many flankers they made, wow that's a lot!! Thanks for sharing that fun fact.
Would you say either of the flankers you own of Cartier's Pasha are better than the original? Or how do they compare?
Really appreciate you taking the time to comment - you taught me something new today! 😊
Did you have a favorite La Creme flanker?
Thank you for commenting, I really appreciate it! 💖
in the case of enjoying flankers more than the original, I enjoy Brilliant White Diamonds lots, while I could not enjoy the original White Diamonds at all. I also think the Rubies and Sapphires flankers are fine, tho Rubies didn't work for me and Sapphires has that lily of the valley which I already have within 5th Avenue so it's not a must-have.
Fantasy is an OK perfume, but it got old for me and I found it to be a bit too... simple? maybe almost generic in a sense? not truly so, since I've not smelled anything else like it aside from Snooki, but it's not very distinct to me. but I have 3 Fantasy flankers I super love.
I'm not a fan of the original Viva La Juicy, but all the flankers are fine to me. I am over the general scent that pervades every flanker too, but I still have 2 of 'em. I feel silly 'cause I bought Sucre and... I don't hate it, but I do regret the purchase now that I'm over that scent as a whole. :'(
Brilliant White Diamonds is a very pretty citrus floral. nothing super amazing or special, but it makes me happy! and it's cheap, so I win. I get the orange pretty strongly, surprisingly. I gotta smell more 2000s perfumes, honestly. I am picky about what I'll blind buy, so I wish it were easier to test stuff like that. ;_;
reselling it is something I keep thinking about, but I have no idea how to actually approach that at all. oh well...!
haha, anytime! I love to yap about this stuff. it also makes me appreciate what I have even more because I stop to think about why I love certain things so much.
That's good to know about Brilliant White Diamonds, I have avoided the flankers because of the original but I know we share some similar taste - what does Brilliant White Diamonds smell like, to you?
I agree about Fantasy, but I'm glad you still have a few of the flankers you enjoy.
I'm sorry you regret your Sucre purchase! 🥲 I'm sure you'd be able to resell for a good price, since those flankers can sometimes be harder to find, right?
Thanks for commenting, enjoy hearing your thoughts! 💖