It is one of the more frequent conversations I have with husbands about their wives’ perfumes. They ask me to recommend something. I respond, “What do they wear now?” Probably the most common answer I get is “Clinique Happy”. Happy has found the right combination of easy-to-wear along with modest price. As a fragrance brand it has been content to soldier on with flankers for twenty years. It has been so long since something with Clinique on the label has caught my attention; until a recent visit to Ulta.
There was a grouping of six brightly colored tall thin bottles which caught my eye. When I got to the display I saw they were part of the Clinique My Happy collection. The concept was to make these six perfumes “layerable” in such a way that you could create your own version of My Happy. I am not a fan of layering because I expect my perfumes to stand, or fall, on their own. Plus, when I see “layerable” it usually is synonymous with linear. Meaning you need to buy a few to have a perfume which actually develops over time. As I sprayed each of them on a strip in the store I was pleased not to find linear fragrance in search of being a perfume but actual perfumes in each bottle.
Celine Barel
Cocoa & Cashmere sprinkles cocoa on an expansive synthetic jasmine. Lily of the Beach loads a pile of salicylates on top of florals to create a light beach style fragrance. Peace & Jasmine uses green tea as the contrast to fuller jasmine. Peony Picnic is a fun fruity floral with plum providing its part of the equation. Splash is a citrus floral that is a clear relative of Happy minus the woody base. You might notice that is only five. The sixth, Blue Sky Neroli, is the one I purchased and took home; along with a sample set.
Blue Sky Neroli is exactly what you expect from a name like that. Perfumer Celine Barel uses the commonly used ingredients to create her effect, but it works very well.
It opens with a mixture of ozonic fresh air ingredients brightened with lavandin, cardamom, and citrus. It is the judicious use of those last three which provides some texture to the same old blue-sky accord. The same happens in the heart as neroli finds some rose support. The base is a fresh vetiver riding on a white musk accord.
Blue Sky Accord has 12-14 hour longevity and average sillage.
The whole My Happy collection is moderately priced, and you can get a sample set for the same price as a bottle. It makes these perfumes great bang for the buck for being well executed perfumes. When you’re out and about give these a try you might end up with one in your shopping bag like I did.
Disclosure: this review is based on a bottle and samples I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
