Hanae Mori (for women) by Hanae Mori EDT

You can blame it on Angel. After all, just about everyone else does. But I have a feeling it's more than Thierry Mugler's creation that created a social climate in which women of any age find it acceptable and desirable to smell like cheap candy. After all, "yummy" scents have existed before 1992. Just think of Nirmala, Molinard's 1955 classic that more or less (more, if you ask me) spawned Angel. Yet, we (as in those of us born before the 1980s) grew up associating womanly, adult scents with Shalimar, Cuir de Russie, Opium, Miss Dior... We dreamed about the day we would be allowed to wear wicked chypres and dangerous orientals or the Queen itself, Fracas. How disappointing it was to come of age and discover the shelves full of marshmallow fluff.

But we're here to discuss the original Hanae Mori for women, a perfume I usually tend to avoid at all costs. I was more familiar with the EDP, so when an EDT sample showed up here I remembered some people saying this Hanae Mori version was airier and less cloying. Which meant I had to try it.

The good news is that I survived.

I don't know what I expected from notes such as strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, red currant, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, vanilla, praline, patchouli and sandalwood. It was all pink, all the time. Regular readers know I actually like vanilla and many sweet gourmand scents. It's the sticky, sickly synthetic fruit notes that do me in every time. While I've definitely smelled worse than Hanae Mori, it was still like wearing a bag of pink marshmallow. And it's time I face reality and admit I simply cannot deal with strawberry in perfume. No way, no how, not in a million years.

While the late drydown is quite faint and pleasantly vanilla-like, it isn't worth the agony of smelling like I've had an unfortunate encounter with Strawberry Shortcake (and she won).

Hanae Mori EDT ($90 for 3.4 oz) is available from most department stores and the like, while online discounters offer it at half the price. My sample most likely came as a GWP from Sephora.

Photo: cafemunchkin.com

Hanae Mori (for women) by Hanae Mori EDT

You can blame it on Angel. After all, just about everyone else does. But I have a feeling it's more than Thierry Mugler's creation that created a social climate in which women of any age find it acceptable and desirable to smell like cheap candy. After all, "yummy" scents have existed before 1992. Just think of Nirmala, Molinard's 1955 classic that more or less (more, if you ask me) spawned Angel. Yet, we (as in those of us born before the 1980s) grew up associating womanly, adult scents with Shalimar, Cuir de Russie, Opium, Miss Dior... We dreamed about the day we would be allowed to wear wicked chypres and dangerous orientals or the Queen itself, Fracas. How disappointing it was to come of age and discover the shelves full of marshmallow fluff.

But we're here to discuss the original Hanae Mori for women, a perfume I usually tend to avoid at all costs. I was more familiar with the EDP, so when an EDT sample showed up here I remembered some people saying this Hanae Mori version was airier and less cloying. Which meant I had to try it.

The good news is that I survived.

I don't know what I expected from notes such as strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, red currant, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, vanilla, praline, patchouli and sandalwood. It was all pink, all the time. Regular readers know I actually like vanilla and many sweet gourmand scents. It's the sticky, sickly synthetic fruit notes that do me in every time. While I've definitely smelled worse than Hanae Mori, it was still like wearing a bag of pink marshmallow. And it's time I face reality and admit I simply cannot deal with strawberry in perfume. No way, no how, not in a million years.

While the late drydown is quite faint and pleasantly vanilla-like, it isn't worth the agony of smelling like I've had an unfortunate encounter with Strawberry Shortcake (and she won).

Hanae Mori EDT ($90 for 3.4 oz) is available from most department stores and the like, while online discounters offer it at half the price. My sample most likely came as a GWP from Sephora.

Photo: cafemunchkin.com

Hanae Mori (for women) by Hanae Mori EDT

You can blame it on Angel. After all, just about everyone else does. But I have a feeling it's more than Thierry Mugler's creation that created a social climate in which women of any age find it acceptable and desirable to smell like cheap candy. After all, "yummy" scents have existed before 1992. Just think of Nirmala, Molinard's 1955 classic that more or less (more, if you ask me) spawned Angel. Yet, we (as in those of us born before the 1980s) grew up associating womanly, adult scents with Shalimar, Cuir de Russie, Opium, Miss Dior... We dreamed about the day we would be allowed to wear wicked chypres and dangerous orientals or the Queen itself, Fracas. How disappointing it was to come of age and discover the shelves full of marshmallow fluff.

But we're here to discuss the original Hanae Mori for women, a perfume I usually tend to avoid at all costs. I was more familiar with the EDP, so when an EDT sample showed up here I remembered some people saying this Hanae Mori version was airier and less cloying. Which meant I had to try it.

The good news is that I survived.

I don't know what I expected from notes such as strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, red currant, rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, vanilla, praline, patchouli and sandalwood. It was all pink, all the time. Regular readers know I actually like vanilla and many sweet gourmand scents. It's the sticky, sickly synthetic fruit notes that do me in every time. While I've definitely smelled worse than Hanae Mori, it was still like wearing a bag of pink marshmallow. And it's time I face reality and admit I simply cannot deal with strawberry in perfume. No way, no how, not in a million years.

While the late drydown is quite faint and pleasantly vanilla-like, it isn't worth the agony of smelling like I've had an unfortunate encounter with Strawberry Shortcake (and she won).

Hanae Mori EDT ($90 for 3.4 oz) is available from most department stores and the like, while online discounters offer it at half the price. My sample most likely came as a GWP from Sephora.

Photo: cafemunchkin.com

HM by Hanae Mori For Men (Eau de Parfum)

HM by Hanae Mori is a fruity floral for men. There, I said it. The amusing part is that I'm quite fond of it. I bought the bottle for my husband six or seven years ago, before the long line of Lutens and Malle bottles on the top shelf of our perfume cabinet. I think I was trying to wean him off his Givenchy Pi and looked for something just a little less sweet, but full-bodied and more interesting than traditional men's cologne or Polo.

While I could never stand the original Hanae Mori for women in all its strawberry-vanilla glory, something in HM For Men won me over instantly. It was quite complex and I really liked that it was an EDP and not an eau de toilette. I never subscribed to the idea men's scents should be lighter or not as long lasting as women's. There was a neverending note list which the SA recited to me, most of them easily detectable on skin.

Other than the bracing lemon-lavender opening (which lasts on my own skin surprisingly well), nothing in HM is particularly masculine. There's an abstract ripe fruit in the heart that morphs into a unisex woody iris but not as gracefully as Daim Blond- HM tends to take some sharp turns. Jasmine, rose and lily of the valley aren't exactly pillars of masculinity, but they stay surprisingly close to the skin and blend with the rest of this extravaganza. Then come the part that identifies this fragrance as an Angel (the feminine classic, not A*Men) offspring- a chocolate-vanilla drydown of the yummy variety. However, HM is much better behaved than Angel. Maybe it's the lack of the infamous caramel note, or the fruit is better done. In any case, while Mugler's beast tends to turn my stomach, Hanae Mori feels pleasant and friendly.

I still have that bottle. The husband has moved on to bigger and better things, as did I. But once in a blue moon (and cooler weather) I like to wear a couple of sprays of it, just because. It's a fun little thing, not very demanding and has a cheery, uplifting quality.

HM by Hanae Mori EDP for men is available from most department stores for about $70 and about half this price from several online discounters. I bought the bottle at our local Bloomingdale's.

Photo of the Hanae Mori Barbie doll: wowdolls.com

HM by Hanae Mori For Men (Eau de Parfum)

HM by Hanae Mori is a fruity floral for men. There, I said it. The amusing part is that I'm quite fond of it. I bought the bottle for my husband six or seven years ago, before the long line of Lutens and Malle bottles on the top shelf of our perfume cabinet. I think I was trying to wean him off his Givenchy Pi and looked for something just a little less sweet, but full-bodied and more interesting than traditional men's cologne or Polo.

While I could never stand the original Hanae Mori for women in all its strawberry-vanilla glory, something in HM For Men won me over instantly. It was quite complex and I really liked that it was an EDP and not an eau de toilette. I never subscribed to the idea men's scents should be lighter or not as long lasting as women's. There was a neverending note list which the SA recited to me, most of them easily detectable on skin.

Other than the bracing lemon-lavender opening (which lasts on my own skin surprisingly well), nothing in HM is particularly masculine. There's an abstract ripe fruit in the heart that morphs into a unisex woody iris but not as gracefully as Daim Blond- HM tends to take some sharp turns. Jasmine, rose and lily of the valley aren't exactly pillars of masculinity, but they stay surprisingly close to the skin and blend with the rest of this extravaganza. Then come the part that identifies this fragrance as an Angel (the feminine classic, not A*Men) offspring- a chocolate-vanilla drydown of the yummy variety. However, HM is much better behaved than Angel. Maybe it's the lack of the infamous caramel note, or the fruit is better done. In any case, while Mugler's beast tends to turn my stomach, Hanae Mori feels pleasant and friendly.

I still have that bottle. The husband has moved on to bigger and better things, as did I. But once in a blue moon (and cooler weather) I like to wear a couple of sprays of it, just because. It's a fun little thing, not very demanding and has a cheery, uplifting quality.

HM by Hanae Mori EDP for men is available from most department stores for about $70 and about half this price from several online discounters. I bought the bottle at our local Bloomingdale's.

Photo of the Hanae Mori Barbie doll: wowdolls.com

HM by Hanae Mori For Men (Eau de Parfum)

HM by Hanae Mori is a fruity floral for men. There, I said it. The amusing part is that I'm quite fond of it. I bought the bottle for my husband six or seven years ago, before the long line of Lutens and Malle bottles on the top shelf of our perfume cabinet. I think I was trying to wean him off his Givenchy Pi and looked for something just a little less sweet, but full-bodied and more interesting than traditional men's cologne or Polo.

While I could never stand the original Hanae Mori for women in all its strawberry-vanilla glory, something in HM For Men won me over instantly. It was quite complex and I really liked that it was an EDP and not an eau de toilette. I never subscribed to the idea men's scents should be lighter or not as long lasting as women's. There was a neverending note list which the SA recited to me, most of them easily detectable on skin.

Other than the bracing lemon-lavender opening (which lasts on my own skin surprisingly well), nothing in HM is particularly masculine. There's an abstract ripe fruit in the heart that morphs into a unisex woody iris but not as gracefully as Daim Blond- HM tends to take some sharp turns. Jasmine, rose and lily of the valley aren't exactly pillars of masculinity, but they stay surprisingly close to the skin and blend with the rest of this extravaganza. Then come the part that identifies this fragrance as an Angel (the feminine classic, not A*Men) offspring- a chocolate-vanilla drydown of the yummy variety. However, HM is much better behaved than Angel. Maybe it's the lack of the infamous caramel note, or the fruit is better done. In any case, while Mugler's beast tends to turn my stomach, Hanae Mori feels pleasant and friendly.

I still have that bottle. The husband has moved on to bigger and better things, as did I. But once in a blue moon (and cooler weather) I like to wear a couple of sprays of it, just because. It's a fun little thing, not very demanding and has a cheery, uplifting quality.

HM by Hanae Mori EDP for men is available from most department stores for about $70 and about half this price from several online discounters. I bought the bottle at our local Bloomingdale's.

Photo of the Hanae Mori Barbie doll: wowdolls.com