Do you remember back in 2010 when actress Kate Walsh made a splash with her perfume Boyfriend? She was a regular on the very popular show, Grey's Anatomy, then got her own spin-off called Private Practice. The story goes that the idea for the perfume was born after a breakup, when she missed waking up in the morning having absorbed lingering traces of her ex's scent. Walsh was one of the few celebrities who really took her perfume debut seriously, going so far as to launch it herself, first on HSN, then Sephora. It was quite popular but eventually disappeared, more due to poor business decisions than lack of popularity. Then in 2018 Walsh decided to revive Boyfriend.
I was curious if it was the exact same perfume because I've never read a definite answer. The perfumer is the same, Marypierre Julien. The notes look virtually the same. The original had plum, jasmine, lily of the valley, musk, woody notes, amber, and myrrh. The new version adds vanilla woods and benzoin, and takes away the musk. The biggest change is the marketing angle. The original played off the idea of wearing your boyfriend's perfume because you miss him, or it makes you think of him, and featured the tag line "wear him". The newer Boyfriend takes on a more modern attitude, with the line, "I'm the only one I need", and makes it her perfume. Personally I find the original concept a lot more appealing and certainly more romantic, but to each his own.
The original Boyfriend opens with rich opulence, which is interesting considering the original intent was to smell as if you had slept in your boyfriend's shirt, or absorbed some of his scent karma through touch, not directly spraying it on the body. But that first burst subsides from a roar to a steady hum. To me it smells like a man of successful appearance, and I picture him holding a glass of amber bourbon in a cut crystal highball glass, sitting on a plush easy chair of well worn grandeur, framed from behind by shelves laden with books from floor to ceiling. In other words, my idea of a cozy scene. Boyfriend emits a smell of comfort and seems especially fitting for cooler weather.
The new Boyfriend goes on with a similar tone, but some of the richness is missing in the initial burst of scent. It is still very cozy with its amber, vanilla, and benzoin notes, but it doesn't have the boozy swagger of the original. Perhaps this is an attempt to make it more hers, and not his. I would recommend the original to men as well as women, but the newer version lacks that masculine touch. This makes me picture a woman, or man, wrapped in a plush blanket, watching a movie on television or perhaps reading a book, cuddled down for the night. Still a cozy scene, but slightly less glamorous.
When I went to bed I thought the original was definitely the winner of the contest. But then when I got up the next morning I still had delicious lingering traces of vanilla and amber wafting up from the right wrist, but the left wrist with the original Boyfriend was silent. This could be to the fact that it's an older perfume, but in perfume years ten years shouldn't matter that much. I think if I rebought, and the only place I know to find the original is on Ebay, I would go for the newer version, just because it lingers longer. There are other perfumes that do what this does, wrapping the wearer in a warm vanilla/amber hug, but this is a good one to try if you are lacking that in your collection. Boyfriend is available at BoyfriendPerfume.com.
Top photo Google image. Perfume samples are my own.
1 comment :
Even though I've read a lot of good things about this perfume back when it was released, I've never got to try it. I mean, I would have if I had seen it somewhere at a store. But I haven't, and since celebuscent isn't something I would try to hunt, it had never happened. I wonder if this time around it would be more accessible. Google says it's available at Macy's. I'll check it out the next time I'm at the mall.
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