Annick Goutal Petite Cherie

While wandering through Saks during Sniffapalooza, Andrée and I were lured by the Annick Goutal counter and its absense of a crowd. Finally, a place we could browse quietly. I like to try perfumes at my leisure, a reason I like Sephora so much, but no sooner did I pick up a bottle of Mandragore when it was sniffus interruptus. The snooty SA wanted to know if she could be of assistance. "Yeah, go away," I said inside my at that point quite weary and scent-overloaded brain.

"What are your favorite perfumes?" Snootina asked.

For some reason, despite having been exposed to a gazillion niche and other fancypants perfumes that day, the first scent that popped into my mind was D&G Light Blue. The SA's lip curled in distaste.

"Well," she snooted, "these fragrances are of higher quality, but perhaps you would like Petite Cherie (pronounced with a strong faux French accent). It has a pear note that you might find similar to Light Blue's apple note."

I doubted that, as I still hadn't found an AG scent that I actually liked (and...do pears really smell like apples?), but let her spray some on paper for me. Not bad. I was pretty good about not trying a lot of scents on my skin during the day, and gave her some fresh real estate to spritz. Andrée really liked Petite Cherie on me. Oddly enough, I did too. And when the fey male SA offered to rub some PC body cream on me, I let him (on my hand, although I could have gone for a foot rub at that point). The opening note was definitely pear, a lovely fresh and juicy ripe pear, one with a blushing greenyellow skin. And the drydown was faintly musky with a bit of rose, and a slightly metallic green grassiness. But not too much grass.

I loved it.  But I did not buy it.  Not there at least.  Not until a week later. Why fork over $72 hard-earned dollars to a snooty SA at Saks (one who dissed my favorite summer scent) when I can order it from a discount e-tailer for $40?  I may like the occasional department-store fragrance, but I'm no dummy. :)

Notes: pear, peach, musk rose, vanilla, fresh grass