These days, mainstream and celebrity scents are starting to see their sales dropping, likely due to a critical mass issue – so many boring similar perfumes and simply not enough time or, in my case, inclination. CLEAN perfumes have been a mainstay in the discount market for years now, while still managing to keep a few on the shelves of Sephora. Their newer releases have been quite nice, and I really enjoyed the fall releases. CLEAN Cashmere and CLEAN Air are pretty and lovely – I layered them actually, for Airy Cashmere! They are a nice departure from the earlier original scents that were a bit too household cleanser for me.
CLEAN recently released their Reserve Line at Sephora and I have to say I quite like them! I couldn’t decide which one I liked the best and eventually settled on Reserve Warm Cotton and Reserve Skin. To start, the Reserve bottles are GORGEOUS! Big heavy glass, with wood caps and interesting lab-like labels make these perfumes perfect for humans of any sex. They are an elegant design, and miles away from the plain bottles of the original line. I’d say these are great scents for times when you don’t want a loud or complex scent, but simply want to smell nice. I have been wearing Reserve Warm Cotton to bed lately and simply love it.
CLEAN Reserve Warm Cotton is a more complex and delicate version of the original Warm Cotton, which was far too strong for me to actually wear, even if I did like the concept. I love the scent of fresh laundry, and I actually love folding warm fresh laundry right out of the dryer. Warm Cotton Reserve gives me that feeling! It has a warm and sweet base, and is more nuanced and complex than the original. It is fairly linear but does soften on the skin as it wears on. The notes include: Aldehydic Ginger, Watery Ozonic, Mint Green, Pepper Floral Accord, Musk, Incense, Vetiver. WC Reserve has a brisk and fresh watery note that runs through it, and I smell the ginger and mint right off the top. As it dries on the skin I smell soft vetiver and incense notes, along with the musks, which I love.On a man or woman, and I’ll add I would love to smell this on a man! CLEAN Reserve Warm Cotton will will read as warm, cuddly and sexy to the average nose. Nothing more, nothing less. And sometimes that is enough.
CLEAN Reserve Skin “depicts the tenderness and soft intimacy of a warm embrace—a blended combination of comforting salty sweetness”. That is a fairly accurate description of this lovely and soft perfume. I’m a skin scent lover, and Reserve Skin is what I would categorize as a skin musk type of perfume. A perfume for non-perfume lovers, if you will, Reserve Skin smells to me like warm skin fresh out of a delicately fragrant bath combined with sun-kissed warm skin after a hot summer day. The notes include fresh musks, warm skin accord (this one has me a bit confused I admit), tonka bean, and salted praline. Something like a “warm skin accord” is likely CLEAN’s own description of a note in this perfume that gives that fresh out of the bath scent, combined with the musks. The salted praline adds a sweetness with an ever so delicate salty twist that would be present on skin. As with Reserve Warm Cotton, Reserve Skin is soft and more nuanced than the original line, and just smells to me like there is more going on while being gentle at the same time. Reserve Skin would also be delicious on a man, just sayin…
Bravo, CLEAN! Your reserve line is a great move and I look forward to trying the rest of the collection!
Bonus: vintage Jovan Musk ad with the gorgeous Morgan Fairchild. You’re welcome.
