I’ve mentioned in the past that the press releases that accompany most fragrances can be amusing. At their base they pretty much say our fragrance will make you smell good and add an air of sophistication to you. The new Holiday Gift Set from Harvey Prince goes that one better as they attribute the ability to help with weight loss, attract men, and to appear younger. All of these are supported by scant real data but the studies do exist, performed at The Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation (STTRF);  and as I tell all the scientists I work with when faced with an interesting preliminary result, “Go run another experiment!” So following my own advice I experimented with the six fragrances in the Harvey Prince Holiday Gift Set.

The first fragrance from Harvey Prince was Ageless, which was released in 2008. It is labeled as “anti-aging perfume” and that comes from the study which EIC Michelyn Camen has written about previously that grapefruit, when worn by a woman, makes her seem younger when being perceived by a man.  Ageless gets right down to business with pink grapefruit paired with pineapple as the opening notes. They are followed by clean jasmine and an even cleaner white musk in the base. Neither of these do much but offer support to the grapefruit and pineapple. If grapefruit has a magical ability to make you seem younger Ageless has the correct dosage to achieve the effect.

Despite Tania Sanchez’s assertion that bacon is the aroma that makes all men weak in the knees; the group at STTRF begs to differ and says that of all the combinations of scents they tried it was a combination of lavender and pumpkin pie spices (nutmeg and cinnamon) which caused more men to come closer. Harvey Prince has taken this data and created three different riffs using those two notes as the core of the fragrance.

Eau Flirt was the first, released in 2009, and it puts the lavender in the top notes and pairs it with a nice licorice note, apple, plum, and raspberry. Despite the strong ancillary notes the lavender never gets buried and stays quite prominent. The same clean jasmine as seen in Ageless mixes with the nutmeg and cinnamon. It is here in the middle part of the fragrance that Eau Flirt should be at its “come hither-iest”. The same clean white musk is also here and there are some light woods around for the finish.

A year later Eau Fling was released and it is the lighter version of Eau Flirt. It has all of the same notes but the lower concentration of everything makes this version more expansive and quicker developing. It really just feels like the EDT version of the EDP that is Eau Flirt. Depending on how strong you like your fragrance one of these will be right for you.

Coupling was released this year and it is the much more sensuous of the three fragrances containing the lavender and pumpkin pie duo. As the name suggest this is for after the “come hither” has moved into “let’s go back to my place”.  Cucumber supports the early going before the mélange of spices and floral notes again combine to seal the deal as it were. I liked that Coupling didn’t end with the white musk as instead it lets the notes sort of simmer on the skin and slowly fade away. Definitely the fragrance for after the flirting is over.

According to the STTRF the smell of mint is reported to have appetite suppressing abilities. Eau de Lite is the Harvey Prince creation which seeks to use this data. I am not a big fan of mint in fragrance because they too often hew too closely, in my mind, to mouthwash or toothpaste. The very early going of Eau de Lite is a little bit mouthwash-y but it settles down very quickly into something that is quite nice. That is because on my skin the mint is matched in intensity by green apple which goes surprisingly well with the spearmint. Jasmine again holds the heart of Eau de Lite but it is the base note I find intriguing in an appetite suppressing fragrance as vanilla is where Eau de Lite closes and it is a sweet baker’s vanilla. It goes well as a perfume but I keep thinking if the mint stopped me from eating at the beginning I’d be reaching for the Haagen-Dazs vanilla by the end.

I think the team at Harvey Prince was also feeling the same way because Eau de Crème is their paean to ice cream and they head right to the Haagen-Dazs section and along with vanilla they throw in a pint of chocolate, rum raisin and lemon sorbet.  The lemon is what opens Eau de Crème then the boozy rum shows up followed by the chocolate-vanilla dichotomy. This is an over the top gourmand perfume that really grew on me over time. It is not for those of you with an aversion to sweet in your perfume but if you like the note list above Eau de Crème is like an ice cream parlor mash-in of all of those notes. If the previous fragrances didn’t make you seem younger, entice a man, or keep you from eating the whole thing; at least you can revel in an over-indulgence of sweet.

All of the Harvey Prince fragrances had excellent longevity except for Eau Fling which was more average. Sillage was also consistently above average except for Coupling which wore closer to the skin.

So young perfume scientists you have a set of hypotheses to examine. Like that old time chemistry set I received as a child; Harvey Prince’s Holiday Gift Set allows you to gather your own data out in the field. I’ll be waiting back in the lab, with my ice cream, for your reports.

Disclosure: This review was based on a Holiday Gift Set supplied by Harvey Prince.

Thanks to Harvey Prince we have a reader’s choice draw for any one full bottle of any of the fragrances in the Holiday Gift Set. To be eligible leave a comment on which one of the fragrances would be your choice, and why. Draw ends December 13, 2011.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilt perfume

–Mark Behnke, Managing Editor