The scent of summer? (Calvin Klein: Eternity Summer, Eau de Parfum)

Member Name: pink_glitter

Product:	Calvin Klein: Eternity Summer, Eau de Parfum
Date:	27/08/08 (169 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The smell is OK

Disadvantages: No wow factor, chunky bottle

I have been using Calvin Klein Eternity Summer perfume for around a year now. I needed a new perfume, and had a voucher for money off certain perfumes in Boots. This one was on special offer anyway, so I bought it because it was cheap, and it was the nicest smelling of the others in my price range!

I noticed that lots of popular perfumes are now making summer editions, and this is just one example. Although I have tried testers of the original Calvin Klein Eternity perfume, I must admit I cannot really remember what it smells like, so will not be able to offer comparisons between the two, but I would expect that there are some similarities at least.

One thing that I find quite important in a perfume is the bottle. OK, so I know I must sound shallow, but I like to have pretty bottles on my dressing table, and I think the bottle is half the fun of the perfume. This one however, is not the nicest looking bottle in the world. As I said I bought it because it was cheap, and therefore overlooked the bottle, but under normal circumstances I probably wouldn't have considered this.

It comes in a tall rectangular glass bottle, the same shape and design as the regular Eternity fragrance, the main difference being that this has a backdrop of blue sky and white clouds, as well as a green leaf design. The bottle is quite chunky and masculine looking, and like I said not my favourite perfume bottle ever.

Calvin Klein say that this perfume 'captures the essence of a perfect summer day by the sea.' So, from that I would expect a fresh, clean scent.

The top notes (what you can smell when the perfume is first sprayed) are apparently 'wet bamboo leaf', crushed basil and golden mandarin. Once the initial alcohol smell that you get with most perfumes has dispersed, I would say the fragrance is quite warm and also slightly 'green'. By that, I mean the smell of leaves and greenery which I expect is the wet bamboo leaf and basil. I guess that would mean that the warmness of the scent comes from the mandarin, although it doesn't have a particularly orangey smell, it's more a tangy sharpness than anything else.

I found the middle (or heart) notes of the perfume, again were quite warm - not particularly what I would expect from a summer perfume - I would expect it to have a lot cooler scent. The middle notes are quite floral, but I feel it is the jasmine the perfume contains which gives it that warm -almost spicy- smell.

Once the perfume has been on the skin a while, the base notes start to come through, and aren't too dissimilar from the middle notes. Still a warming fragrance, this time with a hint of ginger coming through, and this coupled with that 'green' smell, makes the perfume start to smell summery for the first time.

My overall opinion of the fragrance is that it's quite disappointing. Considering it is from such a well known brand, to be honest I was expecting much more. I used Calvin Klein's Euphoria perfume, which is gorgeous, so I was hoping for something to rival that, but unfortunately this doesn't even come close. The scent itself is nothing special - don't get me wrong, it's OK, and it's in no way horrible, but I feel it's quite generic, and could be any cheap perfume from the local chemist to be honest. There's just nothing to make this stand out.

In terms of staying power, I have, again, been quite disappointed with this fragrance. I find it to be quite light, which, technically, is great for summer as the last thing you want when it's hot is a heavy fragrance, but this is so light it seems to have virtually disappeared within the hour, so I am forever re-applying it.

This costs £29.50 for a 100ml bottle from Boots, and there's also a male version available.

As you can probably tell, I wouldn't really recommend this perfume. Like I said, it's OK, there's nothing about it that would make you go 'bleurgh' but I don't imagine it's the sort of fragrance you would fall in love with either. This is definitely one that's missing the wow factor.

Summary: CK Eternity Summer