Rimmel missed a 'Beat' with this little baby... sadly (Rimmel: Beat, Eau de Toilette)

Member Name: xxfoxyredxx

Product:	Rimmel: Beat, Eau de Toilette
Date:	03/10/08 (471 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unusual fragrance and very well blended it doesn't smell cheap at all

Disadvantages: Rubbish looking bottle and the smell don't stay around for long

I do love a good perfume, I really do! I own lots and lots of them and use them daily. I tend to use rather expensive fragrances as I like a touch of class in my life and it makes me feel good about myself! I try if I'm buying a fragrance to steer away from so called celebrity perfumes (other people buy me them though grrr!) and I like the classic brands as a rule and have firm favourites in my possession and I know what I like at almost 34 years of age!

However what happens when your in town at the crack of dawn and decide to mooch around town knowing you have hours you can spend perusing the shops for bargains but have very little money on your person? Well you tend to look at the cheaper stuff and buy loads as I did on the particular day I came across this!

Now as I have pointed out already I own nothing fragrance wise that has cost me what I consider to be cheap. Rimmel is not a brand that I particularly like ever since I used a mascara way back that made my eyes feel like they were going to explode and I got a really bad infection in said eye balls. Ok it was due to the fact that when I removed it that night I never quite got the clumps out from within my eyelash's (even though I tried!) but even so I steer right clear of Rimmel but as I said I had limited funds and this was on sale in T.J Hughes for £2.00 a bottle and even I knew that was cheap even for this cheaper fragrance so I bagged a bargain. I liked the smell and thought well I can use this for daytime use as I even wear perfume just in the house and home alone and I can save my more expensive stuff for more special occasions and if it really isn't great on my skin, well my usual body spray costs more than this so, so I just thought what have I got to lose!

The Bottle....

Well this never came in a box when I purchased it. Looking on line researching this product it can be purchased in a box of course and it appears to be a pink metallic box with lips on them and some other pictures and it looks fairly modern although the fragrance was launched in 2003 (Rimmels first fragrance in their range). However the most important thing for us girls is of course the bottle and this won't over excite you and get your knickers wagging I'm sure! Its all rather boring really.

Designed by Laurent Bruyere (no idea who that is) the bottle is made of thick, clear glass and is round in shape with a bit of a flat base at the bottom so it stands upright without falling over all the time. Although round, to the front and the back of the bottle it's flat. On the front in bright cerise pink lettering I'm told its 'Beat' and then told it's by Rimmel, London. It has a silver spray button you push as many times as you like to get the fragrance out and finally a lid which is silver and made of wire wrapped around plastic of which the top is flat and pink. On the bottom where it's flat I'm then told it's a Coty product, that its Eau De Toilette and that its 30ml in size (50ml available). It's an ok bottle but just rather bulky and quite young looking though to be fair the bottle fits in with the name and the fragrance in my mind. Through the bottle the fragrance itself can be seen and that is a light pink in colour.

The Fragrance....

Well I bought it cos I liked it of course and to my nasal passages on first whiff out of the bottle it's really strong. As I mentioned earlier I wanted it for day time usage but that's because I really do like very, very strong fragrances indeed. Think Jean Paul Gaultier and Obsession and that's me down to the ground so alot of people would think this on first impressions may be an evening fragrance I'm sure.

It's very oriental with a very rich woody undertone given by musk, sandalwood and black pepper and when you first spray it onto the skin it is at first a bit breathtaking and made me feel a bit sick due to the richness of it all. However that settles down in a few minutes and gives way to the floral, fruity fragrance that sits on the top of that woody, musky fragrance.

It's incredibly sweet but not in an overpowering fake way. The sweetness is given by passion fruit, lychee and rhubarb, plum and nectarine, vanilla and raspberry. Personally I can really smell the raspberry and vanilla but not really any of the other ingredients I've mentioned however like all good fragrances (and this is good initially) this is very well blended and not one bit one dimensional.

The more you sniff at it the more you can identify the other ingredients. My mum moans at the smell of the vanilla and my step-dad doesn't like the rose perfume he insists I'm wearing but it's only when you get close to it you realise all the different dimensions this possesses truly. Although over the top of the musky fragrance there is a distinct fruit theme going on which isn't harsh or overpowering or too sharp over that and what I guess you would call top notes and are more apparent fragrance wise at first sniff once applied on to the skin there is a rich blend of rose, jasmine, gardenia, cassis and vanilla. These fragrances are all blended together really well and it's a warm, rich and rather interesting little perfume.

However although I do rather like this grown up fragrance after about an hour or so it vanishes from my skin. I mean really it does just wander off to nowhere. There is no hint left on my skin and I asked my bf to sniff me up close other day and he couldn't smell a thing so sadly that initial burst of fragrance can't be relied on and sadly due to that fact I ended up using my bottle as a body spray as I wasn't happy with it simply on those grounds.

Conclusion....

You get what you pay for in my view. You can pick this up so cheaply when you come across it and for the money I paid it's value if your willing to keep topping it up however I wouldn't personally like to be seen out with this bottle and it's far too big for my handbags! When the fragrance was launched this had the recommended price tag of £14.95 for the 30ml and £19.95 for the 50ml (Eau De Toilette) and personally I believe it's worth nowhere near them prices and can see why it's not readily on sale nowadays!

Suitable for any woman really of any age and more so due to the fact it doesn't hang around which is actually a real pity as it's unusual in it's fragrance and I can't actually compare it to anything else that's on the market! So it's all a bit of a let down in my view! Also one word to wise don't spray too much on the skin. None irritating it is but if you apply too much skin feels a little sticky where it's been!

This fragrance is getting really hard to get hold of but can be spotted in independent chemists and the likes (try bargain bins lol).

I've located it on line at £3.99 for the 30ml and £10.99 for the 50ml(at theperumeboutique.co.uk) but its worth looking on EBay and the likes as well and if you look really hard there is a matching body lotion knocking about.

Summary: Worth a shot if you can find it cheap!