Chocolate or cotton candy? At the fair I’d say, take both. But when comparing the chocolate based scent of Serendipity 3’s Serendipitous and the somewhat Cotton candy scent of Aquolina’s Pink Sugar, I’d have to advise going for the cotton candy. Both fragrances, Serendipitous and Pink Sugar, are lovely. But Pink Sugar wins out because of it’s complexity and the fact that it doesn’t have some potentially troubling notes like Serendipitous does.
Famed New York eatery Serendipity 3 is renowned for their frozen hot chocolate drinks and desert concoctions. Chocoholics are said to be willing to wait in long lines just for the chance to sample the delectable chocolate treats offered by Serendipity 3. So when Serendipity 3 released a chocolate based fragrance, Serendipitous, the world took notice. Chocoholics like myself, drooled at the thought of wearing the scent of their favorite treat.
Serendipitous by Serendipity 3 starts out with just a hint of a soft orange note. Those of us who, like myself, loathe citrus notes and orange notes in particular need not worry. The orange note in Serendipitous is very soft and doesn’t last for more than just a few minutes. The chocolate note is gorgeous and is the predominant note. This is not a milk chocolate note but a powdery cocoa note. It is very sweet and sugary and smells good enough to eat.
But, as Serendipity 3’s Serendipitous dries down, the chocolate note morphs a bit. It changes into a bit of a caramelized, burnt sugar note mixed with the chocolate cocoa note. On some women, the caramelized note will smell just caramelized. But on other women, such as myself sadly, the caramelized note comes out as a touch smoky and burnt. It almost reminded me of burnt hair a little bit. I did find that how and where I wore Serendipity made a difference in this note being something that ruined the scent or simply the Caramel note. When worn and sniffed from the wrist, the note came out as burnt. When worn on the neck or chest and allowed to waif up to the nose, it simply a caramelized sugar note. So do experiment with what part of the body to wear Serendipity on.
Because of this problematic note, it might be best to limit the gift giving of Serendipity 3’s Serendipitous to those who are die hard chocolate lovers. If one’s chemistry is right for the scent and you don’t get the burnt note, it really is quite lovely. But if you do get the burnt note, it could be quite unpleasant. That’s why I would recommend Aquolina’s Pink Sugar as a gift suggestion over Serendipitous.
Pink Sugar by Aquolina has the following fragrance notes:
Top Notes: Sicilian oranges, raspberries, fig leaf
Middle notes : lily-of-the-valley, licorice blossom, red berries
Base notes : vanilla, caramel
Pink Sugar by Aquolina is not an overly citrusy scent. The orange note is very faint and only lasts for a few minutes. So those who loathe citrus and orange scents, like myself, can very easily wear this scent. The fig leaf scent is not overly green, and those who don’t like leafy or green type scents can easily wear this fragrance. The lilly-of-the-valley is not perceptible, in fact there is absolutely no floral scent at all to Pink Sugar, at least to my nose. So those who hate floral scents can also easily wear Pink Sugar. The licorice blossom note does not come across as licorice at all, unlike scents like Lolita Lempicka. I hate the smell or taste of licorice, it makes me physically ill. Mercifully I don’t detect one drop of licorice in Pink Sugar.
The base notes of vanilla and Caramel come out mixed around the other notes. But don’t think that this is a simple vanilla scent, because it is a very rich and complex scent. Pink Sugar by Aquolina does have a scent that is very true to it’s name. It does smell like pink sugar, and more than a little like cotton candy. The smell literally makes you think of something pink. It’s a very sweet scent, but not sickeningly sweet. It’s a gorgeous scent, and is probably my favorite fragrance of all time. And as a side note, Pink Sugar layers very well with other scents, including Serendipity 3’s Serendipitous.
Pink Sugar by Aquolina is appropriate for women and teens of all ages (my 71 year old mother even loves it). Some women might find the scent a bit youthful, but that’s a matter subject to personal taste. I would feel comfortable giving this as a gift to any woman or girl who likes vanilla or sweet scents. And as a bonus, it’s a fairly affordable scent also. Personally, I always keep a bottle of Pink Sugar on hand and I never fail to get compliments when I wear Pink Sugar.
Please see my other articles about fragrance and perfume:
My comparison of Marc Jacobs’s Marc Jacobs fragrance and Michael Kors’s Michael Kors Fragrance:
