WHAT I SMELL:  Frida’s opening is wonderfully minty and fruity and the perfume feels like a cornucopia of fruit on a carved out watermelon on a beautiful summertime al fresco dinner party table. It’s juicy, a little spicy and rather snappy.  There’s also an energy in the opening as if a bee is buzzing around all of the juicy goodness and as it lands on various fruits, it carries the juice from one gorgeous and ripe fruit to another.  After around fifteen minutes, the fruit starts to make way for an indolic tuberose.  It’s thick, spicy and incredibly intoxicating.  But just as soon as the spiced tuberose starts to dominate, the other florals begin to take over evening out the sharper edges.  At this point, Frida is pure loveliness, its bright, soft, tender, but not demure as there’s a projection that is quite large, but the perfume at this point is radiant and full of life.  After the 30 minute mark, the tuberose starts to make its way to the center and once again, the perfume begins to become more spicy with a haze of incense hanging over the florals.  In the end, Frida leaves you with a lush, fruitful and floral bounty of beauty that I have the feeling will reveal different nuances depending the person’s skin.  Whatever is revealed, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

From the En Voyage Perfumes website:

This perfume celebrates the life of Frida Kahlo; the woman and artist, her suffering, her Mexican heritage and her love of nature.

Frida was feminine, fearless and a revolutionary; she cross dressed, smoked cigars, and has been a part of pop culture for over 50 years. A world-travelled sophisticate who had love affairs with both men and women, Frida remained happiest at Casa Azul, her traditional family home.

Tuberose, a flower that the Aztecs called the Boneflower, is an important note in this perfume as an homage to Frida’s brutal calamities and artistic transformation. Other notes include the hibiscus that she wore in her hair as well as the tropical blossoms and plants of Frida’s garden. The fragrance also devotes close attention to other details of Frida’s life, such as the heat of her native Mexico City, the smells of her cigarettes and her heavy hair.

TOP NOTES: The fruits of Frida’s Garden including Apricots, Watermelon, Peaches, Lemons, and Lush Greenery

HEART NOTES: Tuberose, Hibiscus, Cactus Flower, Champaca, Ylang Ylang, Gardenia, and Jasmine

BASE NOTES: Light Woods, Sugar, Oak moss, Aldehydes; Myrrh, Frankincense, and Copal; Tobacco, Green Pepper, Sexual Animalic Notes, Musk, Amber

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  A Frida Kahlo still life painting; except there is nothing “still” about her work.

THREE ADJECTIVES THAT DESCRIBE FRIDA:  bountiful, exotic, complex 

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT FRIDA:  Brooklyn Fragrance Lover, Perfume Polytechnic, The Sounds of Scent

BOTTOM LINE:  There is something for everyone with Frida; a little fruit, beautiful florals and just a hint of wood and some wonderful spice make this a beautiful celebration of the one and only Frida Kahlo.

• Bone Rating:  3.5 out of possible 5 bones
• Scent:  Floral
• Nose: Shelley Waddington
• Classification: Unisex
• Expense: $95 for 1 oz. Eau de Parfum