Product Review: Colonia Dulce
“Inspired by childhood memories of warm sand, sunshine and cool, fragrant tradewinds, Colonia Dulce is a joyful blend of sweet wild lime, juicy Ka’u Gold oranges, pink grapefruit, orange blossoms and hand-picked pikake. Balmy notes of vanilla, nuances of cacao, caramel and coconut milk never overwhelm but rather comfort with their delicate sweetness.”
Way back in the first Pride, Prejudice and Perfume column, I spoke about Luca Turin’s belief that the beauty of fragrance isn’t in it ability to evoke memory and emotion, rather in each perfume’s individuality. In the fact that no two notes can ever smell the same, much like two snowflakes can never look the same. This is what makes fragrance intellectual as well as emotional. It is what makes it beautiful.
But a part of me disagrees with Turin. The part of me that smells my Nana every time I smell heliotrope, or my Dad every time someone wearing Eau Sauvage walks past. Part of the beauty of fragrance is that it evokes memory and emotion – and that’s a universal thing. We all have scents we are attracted to or repelled by, based on what they poke and prod awake in the recesses of our memory and unconscious.
Colonia Dulce, the first fragrance from Maoli Perfumes, smells of childhood summers, and consequently of promise and happiness. It is the first perfume I have smelt in a long time that has made me downright giddy – it is so pure and ebullient, fresh and warm at the same time. It is sweet, but not brashly so, there are no notes of cupcakes and frosting and caramel (Britney, Vera Wang, Nina Ricci I’m looking at you). It is sweet in that young, clean way. In the same way jasmine and fresh lime is sweet – crisply sweet, freshly sweet. The natural creaminess of orange blossom, coconut and vanilla gives enough depth so as the scent develops on the skin, it deepens. It’s no one note wonder – this fragrance just keeps on giving.
I ordered a full sized bottle of Colonia Dulce the moment the first drop of the sample touched my skin. Sitting here with my legs wrapped around a heater, staring at photos of Santorini, I can already smell summer in the air; margaritas, white linen, the beach and Colonia Dulce.
RRP $28 USD – ships worldwide (thank God)
- Vegan
- Dermatologically tested
- Certified organic
- Made with essential oils, hypoallergenic grape alcohol and distilled water
Ohhhhhhhhh it sounds divine, I can’t wait to check it out! I have an annoying allergy to most perfumes which leaves my eyes watering and my nose sniffly, so I can only wear natural oils. I am going to try this, you have sold me on it! x
[...] I reviewed this charming scent earlier this year, after receiving a sample in the post and damaging my nostrils from inhaling it too often and perhaps too vigorously. This is the kind of perfume that makes you happy – call me crazy, but I’m am not the only one. When I proffered a wrist to a friend of mine, she smelt it, grabbed it, smelt it again and all but shrieked in the middle of a café, ‘oh my God, it’s so happy‘. [...]