I'm "delight"-ed

When I got pregnant last year, one of the first things to go was my sense of smell. Within a few weeks, my sniffer went from enjoying various scents and perfumes to rejecting any and all fragrance. Seriously, at some point I was reduced to using only my philosophy Cinnamon Buns 3-in-1 (I could tolerate some food scents) and Curel lotion. I had to be very picky about which hair (Paul Mitchell) and body (Product Body - Joanna's unscented products truly are unscented and very luxurious!) products I used. I will say that it is definitely a challenge to find unscented products, but that is another post for another time, perhaps.

Once Squiggles was born, my nose gradually came back online, but most of the perfumes that I wore before he came along still made me a bit queasy (our emotions are very strongly tied to scent, after all). So my new mission was to find a perfume.

I spritzed and sprayed and sampled, but nothing really struck my fancy. Then one day, while out at the mall, I spied a new Pleasures fragrance from Estee Lauder: Pleasures Delight. Now, I loved Pleasures back in the day, and I eventually came back to love Pleasures Exotic (a great summer fragrance), so I thought I'd give this new incarnation of the classic a shot.



Simply put, I enjoy this fragrance. It makes me feel warm and cozy and sophisticated, like wearing a comfy cashmere sweater, if I owned a comfy cashmere sweater (I don't know how well spit-up would come out of cashmere, so I'll stick with cotton for now). According to Estee Lauder's official website, Pleasure Delight's notes are:

Top Notes: Juicy Pomegranate, fresh Greens and dewy Freesia combine with the fruity taste of whipped Strawberry Meringue to delight the senses.

Middle Notes: A heavenly bouquet of flowers enriches the heart. Soft petals of White Peony and Lily blend with fresh Muguet and tender Heliotrope to create a delectable floral confection.

Base Notes: Warm, delicately sweetened notes of Sugared Rose Petals, tempting Caramel, fluffy Marshmallow and Vanilla meld together, forming the delicious dry down. Touches of Patchouli balance the creamy gourmand feeling.

I don't know that I get the greens and freesia on top, or even the flowers in the middle (for which Pleasures is so well known). On me, this almost instantly jumps to a vanilla/caramel/marshmallow extravaganza, with a (surprisingly) nice hint of the patchouli on the drydown. I say surprisingly because I am almost never ever a fan of patchouli. Chef likes this on me, too, except at the end of the day he's not a huge fan of the patchouli; he keeps asking what smells like Patches Atchison, an old boss of his.

All in all, I definitely think I've found a winner. I purchased a holiday set that included a 1.7 oz EDP and a small purse-sized spray that I've relegated to my travel bag so I won't ever forget to bring it with me. Be sure to check it out next time you're at the Estee Lauder counter!