.
Post by FeralJasmine
.
Originally from Musette on Perfume Posse: Sunshine, is that brightest gold! It’s the summer sunlight as you emerge from a shaded canopy in a primeval forest, where darkness really does have its own backstory. You can sense the spirits of Nature that have gone before but there is also a thread of new life that is woven within that forest and once you come out of the canopy the brilliance of the sun affirms that life. Sunshine weaves all of those feelings into its composition – this is no sparkly little citrus, with a frilly sort of charm. It’s a grounded, warm scent, with a core of burnished brightness…….
Sunshine by Sidonie Lancesseur for Amouage 2014
Warm Sun on Skin: Amouage Sunshine
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Artemisia, black currant, almond
Heart: Osmanthus, jasmine, magnolia, vanilla
Base: Juniper, patchouli, papyrus, white tobacco
This is a pretty perfume. From the rush of blackcurrant softened with almond and apricot (probably the davana and osmanthus),through the jasmine-floral musky heart, to the drydown of blond tobacco and an earthy touch of patchouli, this one is just plain pretty on me. I love warm florals, and this one is definitely warm. It has some fresh notes but they aren’t obnoxious. It is light. It sparkles and effervesces. It smells like spring. It comes in a bottle that reminds me of a yellow Chanel handbag that I once desperately wanted for most of a day (I got over it.) It lasts about four hours even on my skin, which means it would probably last eight on normal skin. Pretty, pretty, pretty.
Photo Stolen Pixabay
Sure, I’ll take a bottle. It will be a nice addition to my summer line-up. And it costs what? Really??? Areyoufuckinkiddingme? You are trying to charge me 450 American dollars for this? I’ll give you $150. Okay, 200, I’ll throw in 50 for the bottle, and that’s my final offer. What do you mean, you won’t haggle?
So I will never own a bottle of this, as much as I want one. Like that brilliant Chanel handbag, I long for it but the value-for-money factor just isn’t there. I am not among the reviewers who think it’s an awful synthetic mess; I like it a lot. But I just can’t get my mind around the idea of paying that sort of money for it. At the end of the day, it’s a warm and pretty floral in a nice package. No more, no less.
Photo Stolen DeviantArt
Further reading: Australian Perfume Junkies and Perfume Posse
Libertine Parfumerie has $499/100ml
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $6/.5ml
What was Amouage thinking? What do you think?
FeralJasmine xxx
Australian Perfume Junkies 
Hi FJ! Gorgeous bottle. Rip-off price. Pleasant opening. Base smells like 90% of every other new offering out there. A great big fat no. Überunderwhelmed. Bussis. xxxx
LikeLike
CQ, “Überunderwhelmed” is the most wonderful word I’ve heard in ages. Don’t be surprised if I use it myself sometime.
LikeLike
Yep, I feel that way about a lot of the high end niches. They make Serge Lutens look like an absolute bargain these days.
LikeLike
Really true, Willa. And who ever thought that Serge Lutens prices would start to look like the new mass-market?
LikeLike
Hey there FeralJasmine,
I love Sunshine. It’s the most luxurious fruit-chouli ever and the almonds make me smile and sigh with happiness. I have drained two samples and a mid sized decant and I think it will be FB soon. When it goes on sale somewhere.
Portia xx
LikeLike
I love you. We’ll never have to share anything. Sunshine Bussi.
LikeLike
Val, We will have to share YOUR stuff.
Portia xx
LikeLike
I will wait for that sale too, Portia! I must admit that I love just looking at my FBs – even though I rarely drain any of them to the dregs.
Azar xxx
LikeLike
Yes, those FBs are swoon worthy all lined up. I love them too Azar.
Portia xx
LikeLike
Hi Portia and all, I apologize to all commenters. Something very unexpected came up yesterday and I dropped the ball on comments. But I am most intrigued to hear that Sunshine showed up somewhere for under 200US. I would buy it myself for that price.
LikeLike
Hey FJ,
There is no way I would pay 450 USD for Sunshine. I love most Amouage but I have learned over the years that I rarely use up a full bottle of anything. I can subsist on Sunshine samples or decants until I tire of it or until a new “must have” comes along. If someone just has to spend, Spend, SPEND on Amouage there is always the vintage Gold in the 14K gold bottle for $4,500. I suppose that has some intrinsic value 😉
Azar xx
LikeLike
Azar, your comment made me think of some frags that, two or three years ago, I was sure I couldn’t live without. Funny, I haven’t thought about any if them lately…
LikeLike
That price is out of my league and I too think its pretty. Thank goodness there are lots of less expensive things I think are pretty. For me to spend that much it would have to cause me to go into a state of complete euphoria.
LikeLike
Euphoria not enough for me. This is taking people for a ride. IMHO.
LikeLike
A ride indeed. The bottle itself is a cute spring fling, but euphoria? Naaah.
LikeLike
Sunshine was pretty enough to stay on my To Buy list. I won’t pay US$450 for it but when I found it on Fragrantica for < $200, I completed my transaction in less time than it took me to finish this comment 🙂
LikeLike
where do people list for sale on fragrantica?
LikeLike
Sorry, I meant Fragrancenet.
LikeLike
I haven’t tried this (or any Amouage’s really), but I agree that the price point is rather steep and hard to justify when there’s so many lovely scents that can be obtained for so much less. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading your take on it – and the price! 🙂
LikeLike
More and more, I think that perfumes are being made obscenely expensive deliberately, without much real effort to be better that other scents available for less.
LikeLike
thanks for the review…it’s true this one is just a tad out of most of our clutches…and for the same price we could actually buy a snazzy designer clutch!! Money is such a dirrty word!! xx
LikeLike
Yes, although everyone’s value/money ratio is different, it is surprising how many of us thought this one was outside our ratio.
LikeLike
I agree completely about this fragrance. I love it so very much but I also cannot justify a bottle at full retail.
It’s a shame it costs so much because it really is so perfect for summer.
LikeLike