Perfume Review: L’Artisan Ananas Fizz

Lately I have been having a strange craving for pineapples, pineapple-scented bath and body items and fragrances with pineapple notes. The scent I am longing for has to be sweet but not syrupy-sweet, effervescent but not too bubbly, tropical and exotic but without being reminiscent of pina colada…Fussy, moi? Ananas Fizz by L’Artisan does fulfill most of these requirements, its sweetness is moderate, its sparkly quality is certainly present but is restrained enough not to give the wearer the hiccups, and, despite the presence of both rum and cocoa milk among the notes, there is barely a hint of an umbrella drink in the summery freshness of Ananas Fizz. The problem? It does not really smell of pineapples. The pineapple is there, I know it, I can almost smell it …and then it is gone. It is a teaser of a note. Now you smell it, now you don’t…And really, for the most part, you don’t. On my skin, Ananas Fizz is all about lovely citruses, bitter oranges in particular. Thanks to the presence of cedar, the potential sweetness of the citrus fruits is kept in check. There is not enough cedar here to actually call the scent woody, but Ananas Fizz does have a certain dry quality, especially at the later stages, which I find really enjoyable. As a citrus scent, Ananas Fizz is fabulous. As a pineapple scent…well, it really is not a pineapple scent. I am not complaining however. This is an uplifting, "thirst-quenching" fragrance that, due to its lack of sweetness, is wonderful in summer, and I really like it. As an aside note, the only product that comes very close to fulfilling my criteria for a perfect pineapple scent is Les Plaisirs Nature Pineapple Shower Gel by Yves Rocher. It smells sweet, a little tart and tropical, but most importantly it actually smells like a real, fresh, juicy pineapple. I would also highly recommend other Les Plaisir Nature shower gels, especially Peach and Pear; the fragrances of these gels are very true to those of the fruits they are meant to represent. Ananas Fizz can be found at Luckyscent, $75.00 for 50ml. Pineapple Shower Gel is available at Yvesrocherusa.com, $5.50 (right now, actually $3.00) for 13.5oz. *The images are from Luckyscent.com and Yvesrocherusa.com.