Herrera Confidential : Virgin Mint
Carolina Herrera (2017)

I gotta say.. I'm a bit disappointed with Virgin Mint. Despite it being a favorite to a good friend of mine, whom i speak to frequently about mint fragrances, in this case, I gotta disagree.

The opening here is all about the citrus. I'm met with a tart, but natural citrus, with a lot of bergamot. A hint of an almost vanilla like sweetness with a floral green vibe, I could only assume it to be the geranium. A very light geranium at this point in the opening, not like many geraniums I've smelled. Before you know it, the mint starts to emerge. The mint in this is light, and grassy, a little soapy too, and also a little smokey. It kind of just smells like a shower gel at this point.. I'm sad to report it this way. It reminds me of an Axe shower gel I had.

After about 10 minutes, I get more mint, but it's light. it's working with geranium to create and a floral and herbal sort of quality. To clarify, this is not floral in a feminine way. I start to detect a weird watery sort of note, as well as lime at this point in the mid. The lime is like a candied lime, and the watery note reminds me of that in Bond No 9 Wall Street. By the end I don't really get vetiver, but I do get a peppery green note, that they may be calling vetiver here. Although there are vetiver oils that can be peppery, to me this smells more like cedar, or Iso E.

All in all, there's a lot more going on here than the pyramid suggests, in my opinion, although it's simple, and well blended, it certainly smells different on skin, than on clothing and paper.

Like Smell'd says, that bottle and presentation is great. The box leaves something to be desired, but the bottle is fantastic (as is the whole Confidential collection. They made an extra effort to make sure the magnetic cap can only go on one way, with the Herrera insignia turning itself to run parallel with the label in the front.. now that's attention to detail! The bottle is heavy, and a beautiful hunter green glass color. I love cylindrical bottles like this, because they take up less area on my shelves. I weighed the bottle, because it's so heavy and it turns out to be 1.5 lbs! For comparison, a 5 oz Dunhill Desire weighs 14 oz. This Herrera is 3.3 oz! If you've ever picked up a bottle of the newer Rochas Moustache EDP, which is said to be one of the heaviest bottles around, it also weighs 1.5 lbs, so there's what you can expect.

With all that said, sadly, this is not a great fragrance for me. I think I was just expecting much more, with high hopes of a niche sleeper, based on its limited but really good feedback. I guess with mint fragrances, especially niche, I have such high expectations, that a lot of times, I wind up disappointed. What I'm getting at, is most people will like, or even love this, but I'm not most people. This is kind of boring, and kind of generic. It's no Menthe Fraiche, or Daesin Winter Green. I suppose having been spoiled with mint heavy scents like those, has put me where I am.

Though I will say it smells nice, the quality is great.. but the artistry isn't. Nor is the performance which also sets it back a bit for me. I get about 4 hours tops from this. I should also mention something about the atomizer if you plan to purchase a bottle. It's one of those that distributes more or less depending on how hard you push it. When you do a full press, it disperses it in an insanely wide spray, where you'll probably lose at least 50% of it, if you're aiming for skin. If you're aiming for a larger area, like your whole shirt, you'll be ok. It's better to do small light taps on the atomizer with this one, as it gives much more control. You might expect it to be all drippy, drippy doing this, but because it is pressurized, you can do this with no issues.

Lastly, I wanna say that at the time of this review, I bought this on Fragnet, during a sale, where it was discounted over 50% to $97. So that also influences my opinion of this fragrance. Had it been for the original retail price of over $260, there is no way this would be a thumbs up or neutral.

Like the beginning of holiday in the countryside, fresh herbs, citrus, humid soil in the morning and cool, sunny weather. An enjoyable symphony of crispness and coolness of the mint and herbs. Here the mint feels like smelling fresh mint leaves. The smell of peace and harmony youthful, joyful, charming, delightful and uplifting.

Lemon mint leading to musk, gives an effect like wet hair after bathing skin and wet soil like gardening. But the transition between these two is where the magic happens, the geranium note comes out wonderfully here, and it's herbal, floral character blends wery well with the other notes, making a smooth, mood changer scent whole that's perfect for spring and summer.

TLDR: OK (2.85/5). So close to being good, but ultimately let down by a poor choice of opening notes that clash with the mid notes and detract from the composition.

I rediscovered this bottle when gathering some warm weather scents for use as we move into spring. After applying a couple of sprays, I was again reminded why I had put this fragrance aside a couple of years back.

This fragrance has a nice blend of natural smelling geranium, vetiver and a slightly musky mint. These elements, which are found in the base and mid notes, are well blended and work beautifully together. One is reminded of Geranium Pour Monsieur, which must have been the inspiration here.

Sadly, because a good alternative to GPM would be welcome as a means of saving on the high cost of F. Malle products, I can't get past the disappointing opening of Virgin Mint. The almost obligatory citrus opening is simply not well suited for the rest of this fragrance. The bergamont is fine, and fades soon enough into the mid notes. However, the bergamot is accompanied by a semi-sweet orange note that lingers long into the heart of the fragrance. For my nose, this orange doesn't work well with the naturally citrus elements of the green geranium. These two seemingly similar elements don't play nicely together in the same way that lime and certain orange notes can be nasty when mixed. The clash between the orange and the geranium notes remains unresolved until the orange finally fades away. From there on, the scent is very nice, but while it is on the scene, the orange makes this fragrance smell reminiscent of the way an "Orange Mint" Tic-Tac tastes.

Sillage is average as is longevity. I will give this one another chance over the next couple of months and update this review if merited. The mint note here is very nice and I do want to learn to love this fragrance. For now, however, it is just OK and gets a neutral rating from me.

Presentation of this Carolina Herrera luxury "Herrera Confidential" line is very nice. The bottle looks great, has a magnetic cap, nice, elegant fluted glass and a good atomizer.

Reviewed from a full bottle after multiple wearings.

Probably worth sampling for mint lovers.