Cocktail Liquid Perfume

When it comes to perfumes, I think it is incredible that a mere six years ago, I had not tried a single perfume, and I was faced with the decision of which one to start with first every time I entered a shop. My young, naive mind saw no reason to dowse myself with wonderfully exotic smells, as I always felt clean enough just having a simple shower and rolling on some deodorant. 

However, it was on the fateful day that I made the decision to invest in a bottle of Karma Perfume that my life changed forever, and my bank account began to waver at the sheer thought of how much money I would journey through to try every single Lush fragrance that has ever been made available to the public...and then some. Luckily, I've never had the ambition to collect perfumes outside of Lush, as I'd probably be living on the streets right about now; sleeping on a bed of empty bottles, but at least I would smell good.

Lush describe Cocktail as a 'perfumed portrait of a Hollywood star's dressing table' - a strangely non-telling but equally descriptive review. Initially, I imagined this fragrance to be quite a crisp and almost clinical smell; in some ways similar to one of my favourite perfumes, Ponche. However, the more I thought about the above comment, the more I began imagining the Hollywood scene in the 20's and 30's, and I began to conjure up a scent that wasn't too far off of what this product actually smells like.

Described as a homage to fresh perfumery, this fragrance gets it's smell from a combination of ingredients, of which have changed over the years. While the modern perfume has jasmine, rose, ylang ylang and ho wood oil as the key components, the original perfume boasted orange blossom, cananga and sandalwood as well, and I think that the older version gives a better indication of the smell you are getting here. 

Whenever Lush release a product featuring rose, I always expect it to dominate it's overall scent. However in Cocktail, it is the fruity elements that carry the main note on the skin, along with a gentle twang of the ylang ylang for good measure.

When I first smelled this perfume, it reminded me a little of 1000 Kisses Perfume, with both it's fresh floral and sweet aroma. Except, unlike the above perfume, this one matures on your skin throughout the day and moulds into a delicate, feminine scent. It is the ylang ylang and orange blossom that dominate this smell, both inside the bottle and on your skin, and it shares its scent with Wash That Man Right Out Of Your Hair Shower Gel.

Cocktail is a bright and very fruity offering - one that reminds me a little of Beautiful but much heavier, with more depth and with a slight hint of woodiness, with floral undertones. While this might sound a little off-putting, this perfume, much like the aforementioned shower gel, reminds me of a rather bitter orange that has been left to 'turn' a little in the sun - giving off a sweet but rather pungent bitter element. 

On first sniff, I could also smell the aroma of the ylang ylang, with just a hint of lavender sitting underneath. While this ingredient does not appear to feature in the ingredients list, I can still detect a hint of its herbal-ness on my skin as the perfume begins to settle. Alongside this, the sultry sweetness of the jasmine and the powdery rose fragrance coming through on my skin as a duo - padding out the overall smell and giving it multiple layers that take it in turns to offer themselves throughout the day.

Cocktail definitely doesn't have the staying power of some of the other Lush perfumes I have tried over the years, but it is definitely one of the strongest ones on offer from the Lush Labs release this month. In fact, I think a lot of fans will quite appreciate the fact that this perfume settles within about 10 minutes, and seems to disperse a little across the skin - so you're able to appreciate the delicate beauty of this fragrance in a much more rounded state.

Despite the nature of the ingredients here, there is nothing to suggest that this is any what of a feminine fragrance. In fact, out of the many smells that I've spoke about above, this one would compliment anyone of any statue: it's ageless and beautiful.

Overall, it's not my favourite perfume by a long shot but it's definitely better than a lot of perfumes I've had the displeasure of trying over the last couple of years. What is great about Cocktail, as with most of Lush's other perfumes, is that it smells similar to a lot of commercially available perfumes, yet it doesn't possess that acidic and rather domineering alcoholic tone that weighs down these sorts of perfumes. 

I definitely won't be rushing out to buy another bottle of this but I'm not opposed to picking up a small sampler to wear every so often when I'm looking for a change. I can see this one proving very popular, especially now with the cold weather looking to make an appearance. This is definitely sunshine in a bottle, and with the English weather being so unpredictable, it may be worth holding onto that sunshine until it next makes an appearance.

Quantative Ingredients: DRF Alcohol, Water (Aqua), Perfume, *Linalool, Glycerine, Ho Wood Oil, Ghanaian, Ylang Ylang Oil, Coumarin, Jasmine Absolute, Rose Absolute, *Benzyl Alcohol, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Benzyl Salicylate, *Cinnamal, *Citronellol, *Eugenol, Oakmoss Extract, *Farnesol, *Geraniol, *Isoeugenol, *Limonene.

Vegan?: Yes.

2018 Price: £25 for 30ml.

Year Of Original Release: ?

Scent Family:

Cocktail Liquid Perfume

Cocktail Solid Perfume

Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair Shower Gel

Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair Shower Sheet

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