The first fragrance from Dolce & Gabbana, launched in 1992 and composed by Jean-Pierre Mary, Pour Femme changed formula in 2012. The eau de parfum sold today, which the house describes as floral and amber, brings together neroli, raspberry, and green mandarin, jasmine and orange blossom, over a base of marshmallow, vanilla, heliotrope, and sandalwood.
Critics gave the 2012 formula a cool reception: Angela finds it inoffensive and misses the boldness of the original, Victoria Frolova judges it banal and too sweet, and Thomas Dunckley saves only its opening. Elena Vosnaki praises the exuberance of the 1992 fragrance.
Olfastory’s review
The new formula, 2012-2013
In October 2012, Angela of Now Smell This, who wore the original in the 1990s, searched in vain for her memory of it. She describes a raspberry and a neroli, lightly aldehydic and dusted with sugar, a jasmine on syrup, and judges the result pretty but inoffensive; the naughtiness of the old Pour Femme is gone.
In November 2012, Thomas Dunckley of The Candy Perfume Boy finds the opening interesting: a tart, fuzzy raspberry against a sunny neroli. The orange blossom heart strikes him as conventional, and the sweet, milky base evokes a big pink teddy bear, easy to like but without surprise.
In January 2013, Victoria Frolova of Bois de Jasmin, who had never much liked the original, granted it character. The new version strikes her as banal: a pink fruit cocktail, shrill florals, bubblegum vanilla, and caramel, creamy and sharp at once.
She notes a pretty floral motif beneath the layers of cotton candy and sugared berries, with no chance against the woods and vanilla. She also observes that the formula ranked among the year’s big launches and already served as a benchmark for new releases.
The 1992 original
In 2021, Elena Vosnaki of Perfume Shrine revisited the original with the red cap. She finds it exuberant, round, and sensual, hardly made for the timid, with a touch of apple-scented marigold and a creamy base of sandalwood and musks.