Certain fragrances define certain summer seasons. Last year the voluptuous presence of ‘Carnal Flower’ was the ideal atmospheric sweetness for our Coquette summer, balanced by the refreshing Creed offering of ‘Silver Mountain Water’. The year prior provided a more poignant moment framed by Tom Ford’s ‘Azure Lime’. Summer fragrances are usually fresh and bright, often grounded in the fleeting nature of citrus, light and breezy enough to disappear when the sun gets too hot and the air too humid. The last thing you want on such days is a cloying, clinging or overpowering scent.
Enter ‘Pacific Chill’ by Louis Vuitton. Perfectly aligned with this year’s Island theme, ‘Pacific Chill’ is a fruity and fizzy fresh scent, with a playful staying aspect. For me, it rings mostly of apricot and orange, after an effervescent opening of citrus, mint and black currant. The fruitiness runs throughout, as the base reveals aspects of fig and dates, fueled by Ambrette.
‘Pacific Chill’ is often listed with ‘Imagination’ as one of Louis Vuitton’s most popular and celebrated fresh fragrances, and deservedly so, even if the performance slightly pales in comparison. For me, ‘Pacific Chill’ gets a good five to six hours of staying power, and it does so in a tricky way. On the skin, it slips away after a couple of hours, depending on how much you have applied – on clothing, it stays a bit longer. When the air is moving, it tends to act more ephemerally – sitting in a car with the AC blasting, I thought it had gone entirely, but it came back an hour later. I like that sort of playfulness in a fragrance, especially in the summer. Liberal spraying gets me through most of the day, but that may not be enough for some considering the price point, and I can’t argue with that. For me, the apricot, mint and orange sparkle of this is worthy enough of a second application half-way through the day.
