Rory Rants: Iggy Azalea, Paris Hilton, Mariah Carey, and butchered tuberose

I have been on a perfume blog hiatus as I work on my film... but of course, I've found some way to intertwine perfumes with the costume design. One punky character is now wearing Shalimar (both on and off set! I am rather proud of my perfume matching skills). Conceivably, her character could steal that scent from her mom's dresser. Another character, inspired by Iggy Azalea, has been harder to shop for.  She needed a sweet, over the top perfume, but also one that could complement Shalimar.

Iggy Azalea- Pu$$y

I wanted her to have a celebrity perfume, something she could conceivably buy at Wal-Mart. I also wanted her to wear Paris Hilton, so that I could have the excuse to buy some Paris Hilton perfumes. I have a morbid fascination with her, and the original Paris Hilton perfume was fairly well reviewed on Makeup Alley.

The key for this character was something pink and fun, so I also picked up Mariah Carey's Luscious Pink.

Paris Hilton smells at first like indefinable fruits and watery indefinable florals, and then quickly fades to laundry detergent that soon disappears on the skin. It's unoffensive, but it's not interesting either. My character is feisty and gaudy, and Paris Hilton's scent, despite her image, is anything but that.

Luscious Pink fits the character better. The bottle is an oil spill contained in glass, topped with a pink plastic butterfly. It smells citrusy, sweet, and a little boozy (Bellini?), pretty much the perfect pink fruity floral scent.  As it dries, the bergamot and musks come forward, which pairs with Shalimar, and the staying power is surprisingly decent.  I wonder if it is edgy enough for my character?  I want to try more celebrity scents, but compared to everything else I have to do for the film, it's not exactly realistic, so I think there is a strong enough argument for my character to wear Luscious Pink.

So, when I went to return Paris Hilton, I somehow found myself exchanging it instead... for this:

This was by far the most disappointing.  All the blogs said it smelled like peach, jasmine, and above all tuberose.  There is something fabulously 90s goth about the bottle, like sterling silver jewelry with a purple PVC dress.  Yet on the skin it smells like a blast of chemical apple, followed by a shrill florals and a sterilized tuberose, that quickly fades to a faint watery smell over a lingering bitter tuberose note.  It kind of gives me a headache.  WHY PARIS WHY??  The bottle is so jolly that I might keep it.  Maybe if I smell it enough times while thinking of Estee Lauder's Tuberose Gardenia or By Kilian's Beyond Love I can convince myself that this purple bottle is actually filled with the most over the top, fun, gothy, tuberose scent!  Or maybe I should just return it.  I'm not sure.

EDIT: I am trying to rationalize that this is like a summer version of Serge Luten's Cedre (which is as weird as it sounds) so that I can keep the bottle.  It is kind of working.

EDIT 2: I finally got rid of it while downsizing for LA.  Adieu, Paris.