If you’re a Baby Boomer I suspect you share a similar scent memory with me. The mothers, and their friends of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s wore lipstick. There was also a distinctive scent to those cosmetics. When a woman would unzip her cosmetics bag the scent of iris and violet would inevitably float out. It is a scent associated with Coty lipsticks. I joke that my first Coty perfume was Eau de Cosmetics Bag. It is a compelling pairing of floral ingredients which has been interpreted many times through the years. Juliette Has a Gun Lipstick Fever transports that distinctive lipstick accord a few decades later.
Romano Ricci
As lipstick evolved into the 1970’s and 80’s they became fruity. My first kiss was with a girl wearing strawberry scented lipstick. Romano Ricci decides to take that fruity style and fuse it with the classic scent of lipstick. By the end he offers a delectable edible version
The fruit comes first as a juicy raspberry burst to life. This is so playful I almost hear a giggle in the background. Violet imposes itself adding a more crystalline candied effect. A deep iris comes next. The iris used in the lipstick formula is not the powdery version. Instead it is deeper. Not quite the yeasty style of full orris. This finds the floral quality at the heart. It also finds its running mate violet. Together they reach back to those cosmetic cases of the past. The base is a gourmand-like accord of patchouli and vanilla which smells like a candy confection. It recapitulates the raspberry from the top with a different type of sweetness. Some synth woods and musks provide the finishing touch.
Lipstick Fever has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
This is not the first perfume to revolve around the lipstick accord, nor will it likely be the last. It does have just enough different delights to recommend to those who find this sub-genre of fragrance enjoyable. I liked the raspberry cosmetics bag I found in Lipstick Fever.
Disclosure: this review is based on a sample I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
