by Cheryl Johnson, FutureDerm Fragrance Expert

Today I am pleased to review a fragrance set that was sent to me to sample. It is the Hawaiian Shores collection from Avon.

A fruity floral launched in 2011, the Avon Hawaiian Shores Collection can be purchased for approximately $35.00- a great deal!

I have personally never been to Hawaii; it’s on my bucket list though. I have a friend who went and shared her photos and stories and that was definitely what cemented my desire to visit the islands. I have another friend who talked about the black sand beaches there- how cool of an experience would that be?

Notes:

Top note:

• Carambola or star fruit

Carambola, or Starfruit, is the fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a species of tree native to the Philippines (where they are called balimbing or saranate depending on their sourness), Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. The tree and its fruit are popular throughout Southeast Asia, the South Pacific and parts of East Asia. The tree is also cultivated throughout the tropics, such as in Peru, Colombia, Trinidad, Ecuador, Guyana, Dominican Republic and Brazil, and, in the United States, in south Florida and Hawaii. (Wikipedia)

Middle:

• Orchard
• White hibiscus

I think my nose and I were expecting something more tropical, vanilla and sweet and this fragrance is neither one of those but still tropical but in a different sort of a way. The bottle design and colors are very tropical and when you first spray it the top note of star fruit is really pronounced- it’s a tart sharp note, on the edge of sour.

The mid notes provide the highly feminine and floral components of this scent. Hibiscus and orchids are two very powerfully scented flowers individually and combined really amp up the flower power to this perfume.  Orchids provide an oriental floral and the hibiscus is a sweeter floral.

Base:

• Musk
• White amber

Musk and white amber anchor the finish of this likeable scent with an earthy note.

Personal Use and Opinions

I layered the body moisturizing gel and the eau de toilette spray when I sampled them. I kept the gel in my fridge and it was soooo cooling and that feeling lasted through a hot day of working and helped to make scent of the eau de toilette last longer- a benefit to layering! The scent lasted approximately 3 hours, with the body gel- but there is a body mist spray that would work to keep the scent going as the eau de toilette faded.

A different twist to the traditional tropical coconut and vanilla that I was expecting with a name like Hawaiian Shores; but a pleasant tropical scent nonetheless. This is a very wearable feminine scent, great for warm weather, light- no need to worry about overdoing it, and in my thinking best suited to casual events.

Did You Know?

When you are testing new perfumes, don’t try more than three at once – your nose can’t differentiate the aromas. You’d better wait for a while till your nose is in a proper condition to evaluate accurate smells after applying on your skin.