Bonbon, an eau de parfum launched by Viktor&Rolf in spring 2014, is a gourmand by Cécile Matton and Serge Majoullier. Caramel runs through it from start to finish, crunchy at the top, milky in the middle, darker at the base, around mandarin, orange blossom and jasmine. Its pink bow bottle, molded by the glassmakers of Pochet du Courval, echoes the house’s dresses.
A guarded reception in 2014: Victoria Frolova (Bois de Jasmin) sees a textbook gourmand, heir to Angel, Robin (Now Smell This) an unsurprising caramel, Michelyn Camen (CaFleureBon) a sweet little sister to Flowerbomb, deeper than it looks.
Olfastory’s review
Bois de Jasmin, 2014
Victoria Frolova ranks Bonbon among the children of Angel: a textbook gourmand, strictly for lovers of sugar, cotton candy doused in peach syrup, and a headache for everyone else. The overdose of caramel and vanilla that shocked when Angel came out is nothing new anymore: here it makes a commercial, easy-to-like fragrance.
Now Smell This, June 2014
On June 19, 2014, Robin notes that Bonbon could have been a Flowerbomb flanker aimed at younger consumers. It is candy, caramel to be exact, from start to finish; the other notes barely matter, apart from a peach at the start, a few petals and a woody amber at the base.
She does not like it: not much fun, not distinctive, not sophisticated. Smelled blind, she thinks, it would pass for a celebrity or department-store fragrance aimed at teenagers, with nothing to set it apart from cheaper rivals; she will stick with Prada Candy.
CaFleureBon, 2014
At the London launch, working from samples provided by the house, Michelyn Camen sees Bonbon as Flowerbomb’s precocious little sister. Caramel bursts out at once, creamy; the peach, orange blossom and jasmine recall Flowerbomb, a sharp cedar surfaces, and the woody, sugary base reveals an unexpected depth.