Description
Especially Escada is a new women’s fragrance from the design house of Escada, described as delicious, luxurious and purely feminine, designed for playful, spontaneous and glamorous women of today. The perfume was conceived as an ode to good mood, joy, positive vibrations and strength.
Supermodel Bar Rafaeli was chosen to embody this image.
The sophisticated and velvety soft compositions is built around sparkling rose agreement. Rose, dewy and fresh, occupies the heart of the fragrance, mixed with watery accords of morning dew and sensual ylang-ylang flowers. Top notes of pear and ambrette seed also contribute to its freshness, while developing into the background of light musky tones.
The package design is described as a luxurious balance of contemporary and classical elements, characterized by clean lines and forms, gold stopper with the logo and deep pink colors. Especially Escada is available as Eau de Parfum in bottles of 30, 50 and 75 ml and the additional 150 ml body lotion and 150 ml shower gel.
Especially Escada was launched in 2011. The nose behind this fragrance is Jean-Michel Duriez.
recyfurdy – :
Great Pear Ice-Cream
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I heard a lot about Especially, so I wanted to try it out.
In the beginning it opens strong and (to my surprise) very pleasant with ambrette and some rose.
After about an hour the pear and water elements take over and become dominating, reminiscent of pear ice-cream.
Longevity: – 6/10
Sillage: – 6/10
All in all: 6 out of 10 subjective points -> nothing out of the ordinary, butbecause to me is smells like VERSACE BRIGHT CHRYSTAL, a fragrance which I love.
frz164InsuffBooni – :
Tested this in Kohls the other day. Initial blast was very synthetic to me, but after about 20 minutes this settled for me into a soft aquatic rose. I like this, the bottle is kind of cool and kind of classy (makes me wonder though if they were trying to copy the Tory Burch logo, lol). Not a room filling scent, more of a skin scent to moderate, but has pretty decent longevity, about a good 4 hours for me (2 sprays). This might be nice for someone wanting to take baby steps into the rose scents, or wanting a softer rose scent. Of course, wear what you want when/where you want, but I see this as being “especially” nice for say church/place of worship, or outdoor type of things like an outdoor bridal shower, a picnic, a garden party, visiting a a botanical garden, etc.
This is nice, if not terribly unique. Would make a nice gift probably for a mother, mother in law, etc….I do like this and if I didn’t already have so many rose fragrances, I might purchase this.
armagedon3283 – :
This was a blind buy but has turned into one of my favorite fragrances, especially for warm weather or when I want something lighter. I love rose and musk and thought this would be a great addition – and it was!
This is light, refreshing, just a tiny bit bracing, and settles from a burst of roses and enough musk for real attitude into a nice dreamy skin scent. The burst of pear keeps things from getting too overwhelming.
She’s the kind of girl that combines hot pink lip gloss with worn and studded black leather, or extreme lace-up stilettos with shorts.
Definitely keeping this one in the summer rotation!
redstar – :
I think this is a nice fresh and floral perfume, for certain, I like it very much ;))
reutsky2012 – :
I saw this on sale so bought a bottle. I’d wanted it for a while thinking it would be a great fruity floral. The bottle is gorgeous too which helps. I would say this smells like fruity shampoo. It is a bit generic and has poor staying power unfortunately. If you like soft fruity /florals you might like this
FrAeR.a2142 – :
This is a clean, fresh but sophisticated scent. Adds to a sense of being bcbg or at least, well groomed.
Просто Сергей – :
Really don’t go for floral scents usually, especially not rose, but found myself really drawn to this one. It’s a seemingly inconspicuous combination of rose, pears and musk, but it works and makes it more interesting than your usual flowery summer scent. It’s not very long-lasting, but it’s very elegant and feminine, so worth it. It’s become my summer signature scent
Nilopazen – :
I think my expectations were a bit off for what this perfume would be–I’d sniffed a bottle at Kohl’s and detected a little fresh spicy rose vibe that just didn’t show up on my skin. The fragrance is very nice, though, if a tad too sweet. It is an aquatic, fruity rose that has a very fresh, shampoo-y dry down. It only last about 4 hours on me, and it is a bit loud in the first 30 minutes to an hour of application. It reminds me of some of the fruity body splashes from Victoria’s Secret but better quality.
bjq691intitytek – :
I hate it. Oh my god how I hate it. I wish I could put into words what the drydown smells like on me, but the only thing I can think of is moldy strawberries and burger grease. Seriously. The worst part is I didn’t even spray it on me. I sprayed it on a tester and sniffed the tester, and since then, that smell is like, imprinted in my nostrils. I WISH I could become anosmic to it because I want punch someone it’s so bad.
The sad thing is that when I initially sprayed the tester, I thought how light and soft this smelled and how I should spritz myself with it liberally (thank Christ I didn’t).
Usually I am way more tactful with reviews because everyone is different, but there are so many perfumes out there with a similar top note composition that don’t dry down to a hot mess. I can’t give Escada a pass on this one. I’m actually really disappointed because I like Escada’s summer perfumes so much, so I thought I’d like a “normal” fragrance from them.
Silver lining: I did NOT test the intense elixir version.
dima366 – :
When I first smelled this in the store I liked it, so I impulsively bought it (which I regret). It’s a rather boring perfume. On me it’s a fresh floral smell. I really don’t get very much fruitiness out of it which is unusual for an Escada perfume. My mom smelt it too and said it’s boring. Although there’s nothing special about it I wouldn’t say it’s offensive either (unless you dislike rose). It’s a safe non offensive perfume to wear and I could actually see why some people would like this scent. I dislike rose and most straight floral perfumes so maybe that’s the problem. I do smell all the notes listed. I think what I initially smelt and liked was the aquatic and pear notes, but the rose/floral notes are too much for me. Overall, I was disappointed by this scent. To expensive for such a lack luster perfume.
Исмоилджон – :
Nice, but not exceptional. A soft scent that for me, starts as a watery fruit – I thought I caught starfruit – mixed with floral. It doesn’t seem to last very long, but that might be due to trying this midwinter in very dry air. The floral notes don’t come across strongly as rose – it’s very light. I would wear this as a daytime scent, but it would be pretty far down on my list.
Mafiosi – :
I own the Delicate Notes version, but now I want this one. After all this time wearing DN, I feel that I have to purchase the original version.
pbb888 – :
I reviewed this 3 years ago, nearly to the day: then, it was a hot Texas spring BBQ in a sundress. Now, it’s a cool, rainy California workday. My response then was a luke-warm “it’s nice”; with the cooler weather, my response has warmed a bit–this is a lovely, fresh but not squeaky-clean spring scent. It’s roses and pears and sunshine.
It claims to have “water notes” whatever that means; it is not the same as an “aquatic scent.” On my skin, aquatics stay way too aloof and distant, too tinny and shallow. With this, I think it’s the addition of the musk and ambrette that give a lovely, lightly-fleshy, very feminine (but not too girly) vibe. It settles better into my chemistry–I tend to enjoy musks and love when a scent makes me smell “like me only better” rather than smelling like something simply layered on top of skin. This scent blends more than I expected or remembered of it. The musk and ambrette, along with the ylang-ylang, impart a tiny hint of powder, just a dusting, and combine to almost give the illusion of heliotrope. The pear gives a fruitiness that is mellow, simple and in itself lightly floral–very different from some fruity fragrances which rely on the jamminess of berries. The pear and rose notes make it a “fruity floral” of a completely different character–not girly, but not too serious either, lighter than many fruity florals but not as aloof as many simple florals.
The bottle to me is a bit discordant. The bottle is of the “bright crystal” ilk–bold, heavy, “department store eye candy”. To my nose, this fragrance should be bottled in something tall and elegant, something maybe like an elongated pink glass pear.
A comment on longevity: this lasted well over 8 hours on my skin, after a simple roller ball application onto wrists and the back of my neck. I decanted it out for in my gym bag and possibly the roller ball is just a better mode of application. In any case, even at the end of the work day it was still quite distinct. Could be my musk-loving chemistry; curious if those who experienced poor longevity were those looking for an aquatic. Something to consider. This was lovely.
ZloeMaso – :
Ladies- I have an answer to the weak longevity. Spray heavily between your breasts and the fragrance will last much longer.
asvettik – :
Nice rosy fragrance that reminds me of the Chloe range. The dry down gets a bit sweeter, like the 007 fragrance. Nice, soft and clean and that’s about it! Moderate sillage and lasting power.
nukoko – :
My fiance loves this… when he smells it… he goes weak in the knees ^_^
Enough said…
pavel517387 – :
In love with this beauty! It stays on my skin all day.. Whenever I feel like I need something rosy and not too overpowering, I always go for Escada… Simple and just right!
amosha – :
It should be a joke, stays 5-10 minutes and I paid for that.If I crush single rose petal in my fingers I could get rose fragrance for longer time.
heihoqtx – :
Not very long lasting, but it will surprise you hours later wafting up out of nowhere.
This perfume holds a special place in my heart. It defines the summer that I met my now boyfriend of 3 years and brings up all of the fond memories. So, I’m not sure if I like it so much because of that, or because of the scent!
Soft, unassuming, sweet, and pretty. Worth a try and one of the few perfumes I’ve ever repurchased.
zazaza – :
To me this smelled exactly like Versace’s Bright Crystal.
Since I already had the Versace perfume, I gave the Escada scent away.
I enjoyed wearing it, but it’s not a unique fragrance.
kolyan220983 – :
This smells really, really good – but my hairspray have more sillage and longevity than Escada Especially edp… 🙁
Even if I spray my clothes like 15 times, it`s gone in an instant.
Rosy, musky, clean, cozy, fresh… similar to Chloe, but fresher.
babkin dmitrijj – :
Never been Escada fan not since the RockinRio’s…but yesterday I saw this beautiful bottle of Especially Escada..fallin in love for the first time and bought it along with the Escada Delicate 😀 Both are smells so beautiful!! Not that unique nor complicated but still..pretty! Not overly sweet like any other Escada fragrances. Not as dark and as deep as Nina Ricci’s and won’t giving you a headache 😀 The longevity is poor tho…too poor till I realised that my Mothercare baby lotion was staying longer than EE 🙁
aaoii – :
Love Love Love Love Love! <3 <3 <3
kalligylla – :
I fell in love with this fresh, simple scent. I think I could easily wear it every day and not get tired of it. The pear, rose, musk and ambrette makes for a heavenly combination, and moreover, it’s a modern perfume without vanilla or patchouli – YES. To me, not that similar to Moment de Bonheur, which is also very pretty but doesn’t have that sweet finish.
JohnNK – :
A fresh, slightly creamy, pale pink rose. Really, really similar to Yves Rocher’s Moment de Bonheur, but Escada did a better job here: the composition is more rounder, more prettier, and definitely lasts longer. Delicate, unoffensive, absolutely office friendly. Oh and don’t fear the rose, here you won’t get a dozen dark red roses in your face, just a few pink petals.
mdseg – :
This is fresh fruity floral. Dont be put off if you dislike rose based perfumes!
The balance is just right fresh and classy, I find it creamy pear with a hint of gentle rose with a hint of muskiness towards the latter end of the day.
It’s not overpowering but definite gets compliments so the silleage is there. Longevity for me is 4-5 hrs i can smell it on my seatbelt on the way home and the day after if i wear a different scent.
This makes me feel feminine and gorgeous, a classy perfume for most occasions. I would suit any occasion/company and I doubt would cause offence as it is not in your face just beautifully there!
мурат 777 – :
This is the essence of clean, soapy freshness. Not as sweet as Delicate Notes (fortunately). But it’s also a bit harsh, and I can taste it. I would use it VERY sparingly (i.e., only one or two sprays). I don’t detect any creaminess or powdery notes at all — it’s very bold. The lasting power is also much longer than any other Escada I’ve tried.
ZaXareNok – :
Escada Especially is wonderful perfume. This is one of my favorites. The scent is very fresh, but sophisticated, feminine and sexy. It is very joyful and vibrant, at the same romantic. When I use the EE, I feel confident and sexy.
I sense there: fresh, delicate notes of roses and water, juicy fruit and something sharp like bergamot or red pepper.
Unfortunately, the smell is not too long. It is noticeable about 2-3 hours on my skin, and much more on clothes and hair.
I think this fragrance is for a young woman who loves herself and is optimistic.
For me, the best in winter, on a sunny, frosty and snowy day ….
umd298speagoessenda – :
This one is pretty and fresh but a little generic for my liking…Not an exciting or delicious scent. Lasts a good 6-8 jours on my skin though. I wonder why perfumes last longer on some people? There must be a scientific explanation.
BudmO – :
Very clean and cool rosie perfume, love it
Dimitch – :
it smells like flowers and bitternes. i just have a sample of it 🙂
Beliy73 – :
I loved it at first. But after some use, on me I find an annoying note that smells like used underwear. This same thing happens to me when I use Narcisso Rodrigues (pink bottle). Don’t know what happened suddenly, and what note is it that started rearing its ugly head. Wish that didn’t happen. I would have still loved it otherwise.
aritraste – :
Its the start of the year and I’m enjoying the weather here in our tropical country, just received my new batch of perfume samples and this is what I sampled today. The rose scent with a watery note starts this off nicely, and then, poof! Its gone in like half an hour? Such a pity that the pears is also super soft in this perfume. Oh my, Escada, you could do better than this!
visulka – :
Agree with Melbritt24. This does smell like Moment De Bonheur by Yves Rocher.
mattric – :
I love it! It’s fresh, green, young, sexy; but it isn’t a common fragrance. Indeed, it’s sophisticated, yet wonderful for everyday use, for a night out and also for a special occasion. Its roses are not ‘old lady’: this is a new way to smell a fresh, wanderful bunch of roses, full of dew..IMO..
Edit: this perfume loves warm weather. On summer, it is very longlasting and it’s got a very good sillage.
Vovan55555 – :
Fresh, watery, rose and juicy. It’s weak but it’s so fresh and delicious! It’s perfect for sunny spring days. I really like this fragrance but it doesn’t last more than 2 hours on my skin 🙁
Scent: 7/10
Bottle: 9/10
ProwPeldevodo – :
i really like this perfume, it reminds me a spring morning, very fresh and clean.
Irranttum – :
even so I´m more on the fruity scents, this rose one definitely got me! it´s warm and delicate, and the development is really nice…late spring evening in one bottle! but for EDP, it doesn´t stay long at all…
prince2011i – :
wow!especially escada reminds me of crimson roses in our garden after spring rain.it starts beautifully with mouth watering pear and soon goes on with sensual fresh crimson roses and ends up with a deep musky smell.
especially Escada is very different from other fruity perfumes of the company(though I like almost all of them too).this one is more grown up and has a classic edge.it’s sweet and sour at the same time,but still the most dominant note is rose.I think it would be the best choice for a garden party or tea party in spring.highly recommended for young girls with classy tastes.
Andreyjke – :
This is such a pretty, fresh, clean, uplifting fragrance. It’s not something I would have bought for myself but I really appreciated my sample bottle. The sillage is very weak and longevity is not good on my skin but I’m glad I got to try it out. Aquatic rosy pear. Very pretty.
komar1 – :
I love this, and its on my rotation of scents for this hot weather right now..fresh and summery but sexy on me…goes toe to toe with my versace bright crystal for favs
johnic-dj – :
oh, I love this fragrance so much. It is fresh, but the freshness is mild, airy and without citrusy sharpness. I detect pear, rose and notes that I didnt smell before. Could be ambrette seeds. To me this is special fragrance and makes me feel very feminine
EDIT I usually apply fragrance in my hair. And this one lasts 4 hours which is not bad, because all of my fragrances (floral-fruity type) have no great lasting power.
With this fragrance get compliments very often. LOVE IT
rzdmail – :
Yes, I wanted to love this because I love the pretty bottle so much. But the bright pink should have been a hint that this is a scent for girls/teenagers. It is pretty, not cheap smelling, like many “young” fragrances, but, alas, it starts with a sweet-to-sour floral, then for just a whiff becomes “fresh” but quickly dries down to a boring musk. I think my two teenage daughters would be all in with the flowers-to-musk deal, but not me. I need something more peppery, bold, and with a smooth (but not musk-powder) finish. I guess “Especially Escada” might be okay for a grown woman for work or for a summer day, but it’s not interesting enough to make me want use it as a “signature” scent or for a special night out with my husband.
I will keep trying.
taviza – :
This is such a very beautiful fragrance!! I am so in love with this scent! It is very feminine and just makes me feel so womanly when I wear it! 🙂 I am not a huge rose fan either, but the combination of these notes are perfect and it’s not an overpowering old lady rose scent, but a beautiful light combination.
kjw752InsuffBooni – :
It is fresh and flirty. Romantic and cheerful. Not sweet as usual Escada, but still a bit too sweet for me.
Black_Forest – :
Fresh, flirty scent. Fruity but not too sweet like many Escadas summer parfumes are. I can smell pear and rose scent too but rose scent is not so powerful. My spouse like this one 🙂
mobigettzz – :
I have to review this again. I think I could love this dewy scent if I sprayed a ton of it. Very nice and refreshing with a very nice interpretation of rose. LOVE. I normally like the monsters.
DenNinecrori – :
Very dewy and fresh being the heart of the fragrance, mixed with watery accords sensual ylang-ylang flowers. Not too strong but lasts.
Powlineeanime – :
A musky rosewater-like scent that is perfectly fine, and yet I feel there are other perfumes out there along the same lines that bring a lot more to the table and have better longevity and sillage.
MaBB – :
I received a sample of this a while ago and one time decided to finally try it, and I was pleasantly surprised, I had never heard of Escada before, and the scent Especially Escada is beyond gorgeous.
It is a very fresh scent with hints of floral. Very pleasant and it uplifts my mood every time I wear it. It’s like spring in a bottle without the very heavy floral notes. I think this perfume very work-appropriate too, because it’s nice and pleasant without screaming that I’m wearing a perfume. With this, I think the compliments would be “you smell nice” and not “your perfume smells nice,” but the scent is still very very beautiful.
Longevity is average for me, probably 3-4 hours, but the bottle itself is gorgeous, the light pink liquid suits the gold cap perfectly. I might buy this perfume if I finish the current bottle, but for now, it is a very gentle scent to have.
titkas – :
This is a lovely summer scent. It’s floral and full of rose. Usually I am the person who is not impressed by rose notes but in this one the rose note is quite good and light.
galtran – :
This isn’t your grandmother’s rose scent, it’s like fresh roses after spring rain. I got a sample from Sephora and I can’t stop sniffing myself.
Also even my husband’s peculiar sense of smell gets roses on this one.
qyj456speagoessenda – :
Lovely musky rose scent. Neither amazing or unpleasant, sweet but not too much. Just a nice young perfume
qng520InsuffBooni – :
I think it smells as a veeeery cheap perfume, sillage is really synthetic, as if it was bought on sale in a supermarket.
I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
43Sergey55 – :
This is the first Escada fragrance I was impressed with enough to purchase, and boy am I happy I did. This is just lovely juice! I find it sexy, youthful, atmospheric,and faintly sweet.The rose in this is a gentle modern mixture combined with just a hint of pear and IMO lasts and projects a decent amount.Delicious.
Bagi – :
Well I put it on Today..new bottle just bought..taking it back….too strong floral..for me..and developed a headache..lets hope I can return it.. I do love the Lady Gaga..
Tomas2 – :
So I was given a sample. Pleasant at first – rose and aquatics. Staying power for EDP is laughable – it’s been half an hour and I need to bury my nose in my wrist to be able to smell anything.
No drydown, no sillage, nothing. Maybe Escada should stick to what they do best – creating overpowering sickly sillage monsters that work for some people brilliantly.
tany_8842 – :
I love this scent–it’s fresh and the rose comes through with a slightly aquatic undertone–yum!
vlq751Diobtetty – :
I’m wearing a sample of this that I got from Sephora and it is so lovely! This smells so beautiful and refreshing on me. I absolutely love this scent so much. I’m in search of finding replacements and alternatives to my all-time favorite Promesse. Although, both scents don’t smell alike they give off the same vibe with my chemistry 🙂
As of 2/7/14, I decided to go with the lighter version of this which is called Delicate Notes, it’s pretty much the same scent with the same vibe, just lighter and more airy, which I love. I will be stocking up on this for sure since I have a feeling it may be discontinued in the near future.
slaven – :
Fresh modern rose scent, moderate longevity and sillage, soft and pleasant. Will be a safe fragrance to buy blindly or foe a gift.
olegan1968 – :
my first blind buy..however not too regret. beautiful scent but no last..
Надежда1983 – :
Up-to-date rose scent. Very clean and new (new like pack of unused paper or card).
cnl880speagoessenda – :
In first minute I was thinking- oh no, once more rose! That is too boring!!!
I do not like rose if she is very pointed. But then a rose somewhere was hidden. And this scent start to be strong and sharp. I do not know what is it. Because I can not see nothing very sharp in Perfume Pyramid.
gororiso – :
One of top 5 best perfumes I ever had.
Avatar3 – :
fresh, clean and very sweet, great for summer mornings…
Kaitlyn_fromAD – :
It’s so nice to find at least one Escada fragrance that isn’t hell bent on smelling like tropical fruits or a gourmand. Especially Escada is a really pleasant, soft floral.
I’ll admit that it’s not the most innovative fragrance out there, but it is more than just a typical crowd pleaser. I find it to be both delicate and feminine on the skin, even at times a little creamy.
The rose note in Especially Escada is more soapy than it is natural. I would disagree with those that say it is dewy and fresh. The entire composition smells clean, powdery and sweet. If anything, it smells a lot like a ylang ylang scented shower gel I used a few years ago, perhaps made by Lux.
I must say, I love the packaging for Especially Escada. The hot pink and gold combination is really eye-catching, always managing to grab my attention whilst browsing the fragrance department. This is a good marketing strategy from Escada.
Especially Escada is still relatively overpriced in Australia, particularly in our main department stores. If this fragrance would only go down in price, I think we’d see some more fans. I do like Especially Escada, but I sure ain’t prepared to pay over $40 to own it.
baren19499 – :
When I saw Especially – I thought it is pink and rosy perfume -again and boring. I would add that I was looking for something spring. Crossed the shelf between Dior, Chanel, Gucci, etc and looked at Escada and…That’s it! Captivating, unique, incredibly feminine and sexy. My husband also shared my enthusiasm. Escada positively surprised me. I was afraid to a little bit this rose, but thanks to water notes smell is not the one rose dominated. I do not feel pear. The ambrette seeds? I’ve never heard of, but they can make the smell is so beautiful and unique, you want to smell it and smell …Cute bottle 🙂
malia – :
This perfume was personally matched to me by a sephora Perfumist / Beauty Consultant Ms.Loretta and this happens to be my 3rd signature scent.Especially Escada is a crisp rose, musk and water smell! I just grow to adore this scent more and more overtime .The perfume bottle and gold cap is truly a work of luxury artwork.
NikAr012 – :
Got this as a carded sample from a generous Fragrantican, and figured I’d give it a whirl. I do like the smell of roses, and was intrigued by the combination with musk and ambrette. This isn’t something I’d buy, so it was fun to try. It’s a very simple fragrance, very linear–it did not change much at all on my skin. The rose and musk aspect is similar to Lovely and Narcisco Rodriguez for Her–only without the smokey patchouli, so it doesn’t get as dark as those 2 can get. It is a very light fragrance and seems to sit fairly close to the skin–I don’t think it is projecting much, but I could be wrong. There is a sweetness that I think is coming from the pears and the ambrette; not a syrupy, sugary candy sweetness, but the smell of full-blown flowers just before they spoil. I think that could also be coming from the ylang-ylang, which can get a little intense; they are also lending a bit of a tropical feel (almost like Bora Bora by LC).
It’s spring, and in the 80’s at the moment; I’m freshly showered, in a sundress and getting ready for a cookout with some friends. This is the perfect scent for a casual, fun evening.
temniyarhimag – :
A pleasant suprise
Although hardly exceptional, I found that Especially Escada is able to encompass a sparkling floral scent without smelling so generic and mainstream.
Its scent seems to adapt to any time of the day, thereby making it a versatile fragrance.
This may sound like another typical aquatic fruity floral, Especialy Escada is unforgetable and stands out from the rest.
obernarve – :
My two younger brothers gave me this for christmas in 2011. It was a happy surprise when I found out that this has very little in common with those cloyingly sweet fruity Escada fragrances that I associate with teenage girls. To me, this is a melancholic, classic, aquatic, clean rose. Not very original but rather elegant. My father passed away last year so I associate this fragrance with our last christmas together and for emotional reasons I can’t really use it right now, but I find it beautiful.
hjvf – :
Reaching into my mainstream queue tonight, with a bath on the horizon, I pulled out Escada ESPECIALLY ESCADA, probably because the numbers were in its favor. Somehow I’ve amassed a little pile of these vials on their big vibrant fuchsia-magenta cards. This is probably because I tend to veer away from Escada whenever possible because of the scars left behind by this house’s first launch, one of the most potent perfumes ever to have penetrated (and it did) my skin: ESCADA. Asafoetida, big time. I swapped it away.
Escada has since undergone some sort of major managerial restructuring–or maybe some of the staff passed away from overexposure to asafoetida–so now it seems that they produce exclusively fruity-floral fragrances in brightly colored bottles evocative of the tropics. These compositions are really so different from the original ESCADA, that I have nothing truly to fear in donning them, and yet I instinctively avoid them.
ESPECIALLY ESCADA opens with an unpleasant blast of chemical solvent smell. This is the sort of perfume which punishes you if you don’t wait a minute or so before sniffing. Then it calms down and settles into a slightly more complex than usual fruity floral. There is something in this composition which I like, but I would never have guessed any of the notes to be honest. I do love ambrette, but this does not smell like that. It smells a bit less sweet than most fruity florals I’ve tried of late, but I’m not really detecting anything identifiable. I do not believe that this is any more aquatic than the sweet laundry fragrances in circulation today, but this is not a soapy scent at all and it doesn’t really smell that clean. It’s not that it smells dirty, it’s just that it falls about in between.
Chernowgoscha – :
I received a good sized sample of this in the mail a couple weeks ago. I finally gave it a try yesterday and I had mixed feelings about it. It’s very floral… in fact, it smells almost entirely like roses and musk. It’s also very strong. I put it on before I went to the MVD and I felt as though the entire room could smell me. I liked it more at first than a few hours later… I got tired of the smell it left on my clothes. I like scents that are sweeter/fruitier than this.
belkakrohka – :
A very crystalline rose scent, if that makes sense? Watery, fresh and floral all at the same time, then gets softer and sweeter over time. Doesn’t last a super long time, but I still love it for spring. I find it uplifting and energizing.
pusyakuzin – :
I received a sample of this, and I’ve been using it for a couple weeks now. The initial opening is roses, roses, roses! I love roses, so I inhaled the scent deeply and could practically imagine I was walking through a lush rose garden. After about 10-20 minutes, I smell delicious watery pears breaking through.
Once the pears come through, the roses start to fade and the pears just grow stronger. This fragrance is basically pear, rose, and water notes, but the simplicity doesn’t compromise the pretty scent. It makes me want to take a leisurely walk through a garden and a refreshing dip in the pool at the same time. This fragrance is perfect for spring/summer, and wearing this in the winter puts me in a cheerful, bright state of mind.
It smells pretty linear. There’s no dramatic transformation—just watery pears and roses. Down to its last half hour, there’s some musk but not much. It’s a daytime, casual scent. It doesn’t smell expensive or sophisticated, but youthful and girly. There’s something about it that sort of reminds me of Tocca Bianca, but livelier and with pear. My biggest complaint is that the sillage, projection, and longevity is rather weak, which is why I would give it a 4 instead of a 5. After approximately 3-4 hours, I have to put my nose directly to my wrist just to catch the faintest whiff of it; I find myself reapplying this scent often in a day. I’m still debating with myself on if I should buy a full bottle or not—I really, really like this scent, but I wish it lasted longer. 4/5
szsp.sv123 – :
I just tested this today for the first time and wasn’t overly impressed at first.
My first impression was that it was a fairly pleasant fruity floral and although not exactly massively attention grabbing it smelled better than most of the other Escadas I’ve tried – with the exception of my beloved Escada Signature (Escada 2005). Most of the other Escadas have really disappointed me as I think they mainly smell fairly generically fruity and a lot cheaper than they actually cost!
I couldn’t really discern what floral notes are actually in this perfume and certainly it doesn’t particularly smell, to me, of roses. It just smelled like a fairly pleasant mix of anonymous flowers mixed in with a little fruit!
Although I wasn’t too impressed initially by this, I have to say that 10+ hours later after spraying it on it smells much nicer to me now and I’m amazed that it’s lasted as long as this, given that it’s subtle, soft perfume. I totally expected it to have disappeared after an hour or two so even though it’s very subtle I’m very surprised I can still smell it so many hours later. Presumably, it’s the musk in the base that gives it more staying power and a bit more oomph than I thought it had initially.
So. now I’ve changed my mind about this and I do quite like it! It’s delicate, subtle, clean and feminine and I’d definitely consider adding it to my collection. I still think Signature (Escada 2005) is better though!
gdv616intitytek – :
Especially Escada: “When Flowers Attack!” (?) …
I’m a bit surprised that my reaction to this has any real depth of Especially Negative emotion at all.
I loved the 80s Escada scent strips in my mother’s Vogue mags.<b