Kenzo has slowly but steadily been taking over our hearts and minds as the ultimate urban brand, cool and sassy but also wearable. Tongue in cheek form and function! I still mourn not getting my hands on those drop dead gorgeous neon yellow espadrilles this past summer, and who can forget their infamous tiger sweater?

For their latest fragrance drop, they felt like a little shake up of the current perfume traditions and go about creating it a little bit differently. Starting from their desire to create a scent that would introduce unisex scents to the large public, noses Antoine Lie and Jean Jacques followed their urban hearts and came up with not one but three scents to represent today’s generation. Three wayward but universal scents that can be worn by both men and women, depending on their mood, interests and personalities. All three named Totem, but with a subtitle to refer to their characteristics: Woody Citrus (yellow), Woody Floral (orange) and Woody Fruity (blue).

Completely against my usual preferences (lilies all the way!!), I went for the fruity, sweet scent, and that’s where lies my dilemma. The notes of sweet pineapple, cedar and cardemmon make it very fruity and almost overly so, but the cedar keeps it just from going over the top and does not let it descend in a downfall of sickly sweetness. Still, 7 times out of ten, that first hit is just way too much for me when I spritz it on. However, strangely, at the same time, this is the fragrance my husband loves most on me, and I get remarkable more compliments when I go somewhere wearing this… See my little conundrum here? What to do, what to do?

Kenzo Totem Blue – Available via Ici Paris XL and selected perfumeries / beauty halls
50 ml – € 46.75