sniff test: Reb’L Fleur by rihanna

Reb’l Fleur by Rihanna (EDP spray) 30ml

This is a crowd-pleasing fruity tropical spritz topped with succulent red berries. It is juicy, as they say in perfume-speak, insofar as it smells watery. Realize, I could just as easily be talking about perfume as the nightly cocktail special at a dance club. If it were a Rihanna single I’d say it’s got a beat, metaphorically, and you can dance to, it but it’s not very original and uses way too much Auto-tune. Generic. 2 out of 4

He Says:

If Reb’l Fleur was a Rihanna song I’m afraid it would be “SOS”. “This time, please someone come and rescue me. Cause you on my mind, it’s got me losing it. La la la la la la, la, la, oh.  Oh oh, la la la la la la, la la la, oh oh” And it isn’t Rihanna singing these lyrics, it’s the perfumers: Caroline Sabas and Marypierre Julien.

There was a tv show hosted by Stephen Young in Canada that ran from 1980 to 1985 called Just Like Mom where adorable tykes appeared with their mothers. On the bake-off challenge, the children had to finish off a given recipe in 60 seconds. They were presented with the basic ingredients along with some unorthodox ones. When the stopwatch started, they poured cup after cup of sugar into the bowl along with candies of all shapes and sizes, ice cream toppings and then more sugar. Mom would then return and try to guess which cake was baked by her son or daughter. I imagine this is the same creative process for this scent.

Reb’l Fleur is so sweet it could have easily come with Kool Aid sticker on the box. The red berries, plum and peach top notes smell like they’ve been rolled in granulated sugar then topped with copious amounts of vanilla. The tuberose is so aggressive it literally jumps out of the top of the bottle and starts gyrating on the cap. Unfortunately, the coconut water does little to calm the saccharine effect. This really is a scent SOS. Love Rihanna but not this fragrance. 1 out of 4

Please note Sniff Test reviews reflect the personal opinions of Nathalie Atkinson and Dave Lackie.