Naughty Alice
Vivienne Westwood (2010)

The Naughty Alice is a princess of the night, but not the princess of darkness. She's not dark in an "Alice in Chains" way, but she's a creature of the night, who comes out to see her lover. I am not talking about sex. I am talking about the courtship and falling in love part of a relationship.

A frozen winter cloud made from the lightest, silkiest creamy cold makeup powder, sparkling and angelic. Gentle, pristine, and one of the more enjoyable modern powder perfumes I've known. Contains some intensity of wood in base notes. I love it because it's not too sweet, heavy, or musty. It's actually not sweet at all. Naughty Alice on the other hand is fluffy, delicate. It also smells like cool, high end face cream. Very little rose to me, and not classic old school rose, more a modern rose, with a little sparkle.

Eventually a heavy, deep musk begins to emerge that will last until dry down and beyond. I discovered that it has an incredibly persistent musky drydown that leaves an impressive trail. This profound woody musk accord is heavy, sinking down, pooling at your feet, and leaving a fine wake. Despite this sense of molecular weight, it retains a powdery, soft, fluffy and enveloping vibe.

The Naughty Alice clings to fabric, hair and skin, staying warm and slightly damp, and never turning dry or dusty. I think I would need to wear it in different seasons to understand it fully. Smelling like this makes you feel like you are delicate, approachable and safe to be around, and yet at the same time, it feels alluring and sensual. It is such a pleasant combination of emotions.

A conventional more than decent floral vanilla with a touch of laundriness provided by a rose/ylang-ylang accord. Soft and somewhat yummy with a talky powdery dry down (with a faint violet undertone). Not bad after all.

Although not so Naughty after all, I find it fairly sexy, probably not in an in-your-face kind of way, but that is often a turn-off anyway, so thumbs-up.

Nothing naughty about this; just another forgettable, fruity-musky floral. "Carnal violet" sounds great; sadly l didn't get any kind of violet here. Decent longevity, but otherwise, meh.

Pretty packaging - very Fortnum and Mason - so not that original. The trouble with this scent - now don't get me wrong I admire Westwood - I love Anglomania (despite it's burnt rubber whiff) and Sin Garden - the trouble is that it goes on all girly and cute but give it an hour or two and all you have is dirty old woman! Believe me. Dashing out the other night, I gave myself a liberal squirt of Naughty Alice, but the next morning my coat smelled so foul I had to take it to be cleaned. I am not the only one to have noticed this. Would love to know what causes such a disappointing dry down.