RARE GOLD (Avon: Rare Gold, Eau de Parfum)

Member Name: Butterfly-Wings

Product:	Avon: Rare Gold, Eau de Parfum
Date:	21/03/08 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: smells lovely, long lasting, flexible scent

Disadvantages: only available from avon

Avon ~ Rare Gold ~ Eau De Parfum

Rare Gold is a perfume which I have purchased from Avon on several occasions. I really like most of the Avon perfumes because they are reasonably priced and they smell great. When I am choosing a new perfume from the Avon catalogue I either buy the ones which are on special offer or the ones which have nice looking bottles. I bought my first bottle of Rare Gold because it was on special offer and you got three matching bath and beauty products free, which when used compliment and layer the scent of the perfume. A 50 ml bottle of Rare Gold usually costs about £10 although sometimes you might be able to purchase it for less. The cheapest I have paid for a bottle of Rare Gold was £5 because Avon were selling all of the fragrances in the Rare range for £5.

Rare Gold is just one of the fragrances in the Rare range; You can also purchase Rare Pearls, Rare Rubies, Rare Sapphires and Rare Emeralds. I have tried all of the perfumes in the Rare range and Rare Gold and Rare Pearls are my favourite fragrances.

Fragrance Notes

Rare Gold Eau De Parfum is described as having ~

Top Notes of Bergamot, Mandarin and Ylang-Ylang
The top notes are the first phase of the perfume; they are usually the most volatile and evaporate from the skin very quickly. The top notes are usually very light and refreshing and their scent usually lasts for anything between five and ninety minutes.

Middle (Heart) Notes of Jasmine, Orange Flower and Lilly Of The Valley
The middle notes of a scent are therapeutic and balancing oils, sometimes the middle notes are often referred to as the heart notes of a scent. The middle notes are not always evident and can take between thirty and sixty minutes to develop on your skin, and they last for anything between two to four hours

Base Notes of Musk, Vanilla and Amber
The base notes are the longest lasting notes in a fragrance, most perfumes use the same base notes. This is because they give the perfume more staying power and stop the top and middle notes from evaporating from your skin as quickly.

The Scent

As soon as you spray the perfume onto your wrist you can detect a lovely warm inviting scent which is quite strong but not at all overpowering or cloying. The initial strong aroma doesn't seem to last for ling and the fragrance does die down a little after 30 seconds or so. When the scent has died down the fragrance has a somewhat sweeter aroma which is accompanied by slightly floral undertones. The sweet floral aroma which I could detect was Mandarin and Ylang-Ylang, both of these fragrance notes compliment each other perfectly because they both have a sweet warm aroma.

The top notes of Rare Gold seem to last for about 30 minutes before they start to fade and blend in with the middle notes of the fragrance. I would say that the Mandarin and Ylang-Ylang seemed to linger a lot longer than the Bergamot did. The Mandarin and Ylang-Ylang give this perfume a lovely sweet aroma without making it smell overly floral or overpowering.

The middle notes of the fragrance seem to last for approximately three hours before they gradually fade and blend in with the base notes. The middle notes are a lot more floral and less sweet than the top notes of the fragrance, but this doesn't ruin the scent, it gives the perfume a more sophisticated aroma. The most prominent middle notes are Jasmine and Lilly of The Valley, both of which smell really floral. Most of the time I don't like any fragrances which have Jasmine in them because the Jasmine can often smell really strong and cloying; which I think can ruin a fragrance. But in this instance the Jasmine is really subtle and has a slightly sweet aroma which is lovely.

When you are wearing Rare Gold you will notice that it has a slightly warm/floral aroma which is slightly sweet, this lasts for about 4 hours before the scent begins to change and smell a lot different and lighter. The scent only changes and becomes a lot lighter because the base notes are becoming more apparent, the base notes of Rare Gold gave the fragrance a deeper, muskier scent which is complimented by a gorgeous sweet undertone. The musky scent which is evident in the last stages of the scent is a sweet musk which has a slight vanilla undertone to it. The sweet musk and vanilla are accompanied by a Amber undertone which I think gives the perfume its lovely warm inviting aroma which makes it smell like a really sophisticated and expensive perfume.

Perfume Information

All perfumes smell slightly different on different people, and this is due to us having different oils in our skin. The staying power of a scent also differs from person to person because we have different types of skin oils too. I said in the review that this perfume lasts for about three or four hours on me, but it could last a longer or shorter amount of time on you.

People who have dry skin types will notice that perfumes don't last long on their skin. If you have dry skin and have this problem you should try layering the scent of a perfume by using the matching body lotion or shower gel before applying the perfume. By doing this you are layering the scent and applying a base for the perfume to layer itself upon, so you should notice that the fragrance will last a lot longer on your skin.

If you like the sound of this perfume then I advise that you go into your local perfume store and test it before you buy it. When testing the scent spray it onto your wrist and wear it for a few hours before you decide whether you like it or not, because the scent changes the longer you wear it due to the different notes which make up the fragrance.

When testing a perfume don't smell the scent on a perfume card because it might smell lovely on the card and when you buy it and wear it at home it might smell totally different and you might not like the scent you are wearing. I made this mistake a few times in the past and wasted £30 on a fragrance which I didn't wear again and put in the bin.


Staying Power

I am really pleased with the staying power of Rare Gold because I can apply the perfume first thing in the morning before I go to work and I can still smell it late in the evening when I get home. Rare Gold is an Eau De Parfum fragrance which means that it has better staying power than an Eau De Toilette perfume, this is because it contains more perfume oils and the scent lasts between 6-12 hours on your skin depending on your skin type.

Eau De Parfum contain between 10-20% perfume oils. An Eau De Parfum is more expensive to buy than an Eau De Toilette because there's more perfume oils in it. Rare Gold has better staying power than Rare Pearls does, and both of them are Eau De Parfum.


Price And Availability

You can purchase Rare Gold from Avon and it costs about £10 for a 50ml bottle, although Avon seem to have it on special offer quite a lot, so it is a good idea to keep your eyes peeled for a bargain. Avon also sell the matching bath and beauty products which compliment and layer the scent of the perfume. You can purchase Rare Gold shower gel, talc, body lotion and body spray which will give the fragrance of the perfume more staying power if you layer the scent.

My Opinion

I love the fragrance of Rare Gold because it smells really expensive and sophisticated. The best thing about the perfume is the fact that it is a flexible scent and is suitable to wear for any occasion, it just depends on your own personal opinion of the scent. I prefer to use Rare Gold as a casual perfume because I have a lot of other perfumes which I prefer to use as evening time ones. However if I did happen to run out of my favourite evening perfume I would certainly use Rare Gold as a substitute.

I think that Rare Gold smells slightly similar to Jean Paul Gaultier Classique perfume, because it has the same musky, sweet vanilla aroma. If you like Jean Paul Gaultier Classique then you will love Rare Gold, (Rare Gold is a lot cheaper than Jean Paul Gaultier too)

When I have been wearing Rare Gold I have received lots of compliments. A lot of my work colleagues ask me what perfume it is and others tell me I smell nice. I received the same compliments when I was wearing Rare Pearls, so both fragrances must be really nice if people are commenting on them.

Rare Gold Shimmering Body Powder ~ £3-4
Rare Gold Body Lotion ~ £3-4
Rare Gold 50ml Eau De Parfum ~ £8-12
Rare Gold Purse Spray ~ £3
Rare Gold Shower Gel ~ £3-4

For more information on Avon or any of their products you can find them at www.avonshop.co.uk

Thanks for reading
:o) Lisa xx

© Butterfly-Wings
2008

~~~~Review written by me and also posted on Ciao~~~~

Summary: Smells like an expensive sophistocated perfume