Fragrance Girl

My dear friend, the Left Coast Nose, perfectly articulated what I had vaguely been thinking about Lola. She commented that she's "allergic to silly bottles ". And I whole-heartedly agree. However, I don't think I always felt like that. And that, I've come to realise, is the point.
Lola is a fragrance targeting younger perfume buyers. The marketing is all geared that way. And if I were seventeen, I would probably fall in love with it too. Teenagers don't always realize (or perhaps choose to ignore) that strong scents can sometimes be quite annoying for other people.
Although I'd seen some advertising for Lola, I hadn't properly noticed it. It was only when Chandler Burr picked it out as one of his spring fragrances, that I thought it might be worth a sniff. The advertising for Marc Jacobs Daisy is all about pretty flowers and clearly has a very wide appeal. The advertising for Lola is a lot more edgy. I could definitely have identified with Lola when I was an angry young woman.
When I asked the girl at the beauty counter if I could try Lola — she gave me one measly squirt. 'That's a bit mean', I thought. But later I was extremely grateful for her stinginess. Lola is strong stuff and one small spray was sufficient to give it a thorough testing.
The long and the short of it is that Lola is a fruity floral with a musky vanilla drydown. It's not particularly original, and is reminiscent of many other fragrances. What's going to set it aside is the quirky bottle and the advertising with attitude.
When I was seventeen I wore Loulou (the shame of it). It was pretty heavily advertised. I was looking for an edge and in my naivety I thought that Loulou provided it. Lola is way better than Loulou ever was, and I can imagine that in twenty years' time lots of women will be reminiscing about Lola as their first fragrance.