I was looking for a scent with a discernible coconut note but didn't want to just settle for a coconut perfume oil so I was delighted when a friend recommended Avon's Tahitian Holiday, telling me that it was a floral based scent with coconut mid and base notes. In fact, I was so excited that I made an order immediately without having tried it first. At the time the perfume was on special offer so I wasn't too worried about wasting my money. I must admt that, being a perfume snob, I was a little dubious as the low price did not inspire confidence.

The bottle design of Tahitian Holiday is quite nice but it's let down by the rather cheap looking plastic lid which tends to get separated from the glass bottle when it's in my handbag. The actual bottle is a slightly tapering glass flask. I much prefer the turquoise and chocolate cardboard outer package to the bottle.

Intially I picked up a mainly fruity scent with an underlying coconut fragrance. But after a moment the fruitness abates and gives way to a more floral scent whih has a powdery whiff. Avon say that the top notes are cyclamen and ginger but I felt that there was quite distinct note of freesia, a scent I particularly love.

I really like this very fresh immediate fragrance but I do feel that it is lost too quickly, may be because I find the middle notes a little too sweet. Avon lists these as tiare flower, jasmine and coconut. I'm not at all familiar with tiare flower but jasmine is my favourite floral and I don't really get it at all. The sweetness of the coconut combined with the florals is however reminiscent of sugary candy. It's the coconut that dominates however and it's this note that friends and colleagues always remark on.

According to Avon the base notes are monoi, coconut and musk. A little digging tells me that monoi is a blend of extracts of coconut oil and gardenia flower but I'd never have picked that one out. There's just enough muskiness to give a bit of weight to the fragrance without it being too heavy. I like this because I think this is a very good holiday scent and it's exactly because it isn't too heavy that you can wear it as a day perfume even in quite warm weather.

As far as staying power is concerned Tahitian Holiday is a bit of a let down. I tend to reappaly after four hours and I think the base notes should hang around a bit longer.

In the UK a 50ml bottle costs £10.50 direct from Avon but there are usually promotions available to make it cheaper.

Overall this is a lovely fresh scent that reminds me very much of beach holidays. It may not have brilliant staying power but at this price you can afford to reapply quite liberally.