She's a hurricane in all kinds of weather

S by Shakira
Fragrance Review by Cavewoman

Lately I have been feeling a bit sorry for my postman. He's had to lug my September fashion magazines down the street and up the driveway, to my front door where the mail slot is located. Some of them are so large that he can't fold them and put them in the slot,so he just rings the doorbell and leaves them on the front step. With his load lightened a few pounds, off he goes to the neighbor's house,and I run to the front door to gather my goodies.I have to say that the September issues have not wow'd me much. Most of them have the same advertising pages that span nearly two-thirds of the way through the front of the magazines. The first thing I do is to flip through them to discover any scent strips that might be tucked inside.Surprisingly, there are not so many this month. But one of them captivated me not just with the beautiful photograph, but with the scent itself.It's not often that I peel away the entire fold of the scent strip and rub it on my wrists, most of the time I just take a little sniff, and think to myself, yeah, ok, another generic fruity floral, nothing exciting or unusual. But this one, it was different, special, surprising, and lovely.

I'm trying to remember when the disdain for "celebrity scents" started to appear in blogs and internet perfume chat clubs. I belonged to one of those groups for many years. I remember people snickering about offerings from Paris Hilton (whose Can-Can fragrance I really like) to Jessica Simpson (whose fragrances are quite nice and wearable, and in such pretty bottles, too.) Every time a new celebrity scent was launched, I'd see the comments and wonder why anyone would dismiss a fragrance simply because of its name or the name behind it. Is a fragrance less worthy of consideration if it's found at the drugstore and has a pop-singer name on it? Are fragrances at fine department store and boutique counters more beautiful because they're more costly, carrying a chic brand name and all the cachet that goes with it?

Maybe the very first important celebrity scent would be White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor. I can imagine some Blogdorf readers saying "ewwww" as I am writing this! But wait! Created for Ms. Taylor by the venerable perfumer Sophia Grojsman, White Diamonds is a complex and womanly fragrance that deserves attention and accolades. Grojsman has created some of the most beautiful fragrances in perfume history, and it makes me wonder if people would give White Diamonds a try if it weren't a celebrity scent. I've worn it since its launch. My Mom wears it too, and no other fragrance she wears is as perfect on her as White Diamonds is.


This is not to say that there are some real celebrity scent duds out there. And my own personal feelings come into play when I see a bottle of "Unforgivable Woman" - what in the world does this even mean! I don't even want to sample it! (But I did.) I admit I am as curious as a cat about a fragrance called "Cat Deluxe With Kisses" by Naomi Campbell! (Immediately I am remembering her famous fall on the catwalk. I've used the word "cat" three times in the last two sentences.)

It's almost like my closet. There's a fabulous Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress that makes me feel like a million bucks whenever I wear it. Next to it hangs a $7 black knit dress that I found on a markdown rack at Target. I feel like a million bucks when I wear that dress, too. Costume jewelry from Forever21 sits next to hand carved Italian cameo earrings in my jewelry box. On my perfume tray, rare Guerlains and treasured Bond No. 9 fragrances stand in equal presence with Coty Vanilla Fields and Avon's Timeless. I'm equal-opportunity in all categories. But I digress.

My scent strip moment in my September magazine (I don't even remember which one right now) was S by Shakira. Can I say that I hardly knew a thing about Shakira until my Zumba teacher had us dancing to "Hips Don't Lie" and recently taught us a fun dance to Shakira's "Waka Waka - This Time For Africa." I saw the photo of Shakira in the ad, I don't think I even knew what she looked like. She's stunning. I peeled back the scent strip fold and found the stunning treasure it held. And it made perfect sense that this scent would be Shakira's scent. S by Shakira is sold at national chain drugstores, so on my way to Zumba practice, I purchased a one ounce bottle (and sprayed myself nicely with the tester!) for $27.

Exotic, sensuous, serious, and sexy, S by Shakira contains none of the girly-fruity attitude of many modern perfumes. With no citrusy-fruity top notes to bore or annoy, S gets right down to business with an opening of resinous woods and soft, feminine jasmine. Don't think of the nose-pinching jasmine that you don't like. The floral notes here are comfortable, harmonious, and well-balanced. There is depth, substance, and drama here. The sandalwood base note blends easily with some warming amber notes, and vanilla adds the perfect touch of gourmand.
Mysterious, a little bit dark, and very exciting, S by Shakira is the dress-up-and-go-out-dancing-all-night type of scent that holds nothing back and makes no apologies for being totally devastating and womanly. It is a tango in a red dress slit up to there, controlled and stylized, full of confidence and attitude. Wearing it makes me want to dance.

To me, a true lover of fragrance would want to try out anything and everything. Some may please, others won't. Price, name, bottle design, advertising style, in the end those things matter way less than what's actually in the bottle and how it makes us feel when it is on the skin. I'm delighted that I discovered S by Shakira in that big fat September issue of whatever magazine it was. Thanks to my postman, who dropped the heavy magazine at my doorstep, he will probably never know his part in my new fragrance love.

Disclosure: This fragrance was purchased by the reviewer.
Credits: Harry Belafonte(Jump in the Line) and Cavewoman