Prada Paradoxe is the kind of scent that isn’t reviewed as frequently as it used to be on these pages, simply because there are fewer and fewer useful things that one can say about the determinedly predictable nature of such releases. But as it recently won a very high-profile award in the USA, this may be an appropriate time to add a contradictory voice to the claims being made about its merits.
It is, like many compositions currently aimed at young women, a fruity-floral concoction so sweet, you can almost see dentists up and down the land rubbing their hands with glee each time it’s sprayed. The fruits and florals in question happen to be pears, jasmine and neroli. But this hardly matters, because the emphasis is almost entirely on the heavy-handed, sweet, vanillic musks in the base, which yet again send out the message that in order to be appealing, women must become cupcakes.
Yes, the name is memorable. Yes, the bottle is striking. And yes, even the advertising campaign isn’t entirely devoid of charm. But the only paradoxical thing about this depressing fragrance is that it’s being presented to us as a new release, although we’ve smelt its like countless times before. Given its success, I guess we should now look forward to an eternity of increasingly non-paradoxical flankers.
Persolaise
[Prada Paradoxe review based on a sample of eau de parfum obtained by me in 2023.]
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I love green, fresh smelling fragrances.
I was wondering why I never see parsley as a note in perfumes. No I am not being funny as I find nothing smells more green, fresh and grass-like than chopped parsley.
I see cardamom, cinnamon, basil, mint and cumin but never parsley in fragrances.
Perhaps you know.
Didn’t Jo Malone do some ‘garden herb’ scents in one of their collections?