PRADA Paradoxe Virtual Flower & REPLICA Afternoon Delight Reviews
Beauty community is constantly buzzing about the latest launches, but these two newly-released perfumes are all over my feed lately. One of them is PRADA Paradoxe Virtual Flower, and the other is REPLICA Afternoon Delight by Maison Martin Margiela. You’ve probably seen ads for both on your Instagram feed and at Sephora, too – they’re literally everywhere! I had the opportunity to try both of these when they launched, and I definitely have some thoughts.
PRADA Paradoxe Virtual Flower ($98) was hyped particularly hard prior to its release, and rightfully so. It’s the first major designer house that collaborated with AI to create a spin-off to one of their best-selling scents. The original Paradoxe is popular for a reason – it has balanced floral and gourmand notes and smells irresistibly delicious and feminine. Virtual Flower edition is a spin on the original with AI-designed Jasmin Accord that is unique to PRADA.
- Top notes: bergamot
- Heart notes: AI-designed jasmine accord, neroli
- Base notes: white musk, ambrette
I can attest, this one definitely has more of that white floral sweetness, but it’s somehow different? Usually, you can instantly recognize jasmine notes in perfumery, but it’s somehow both familiar and different here. In a nutshell, if you like the original Paradoxe but wish you had a less gourmand and lighter white floral version of it, Virtual Flower is where it’s at. The longevity is about the same as the OG, about a day’s worth of wear on clothes that slowly disappears, about 6-8 hours on skin (my skin, at least,) and maybe 10-12 on hair.
REPLICA Afternoon Delight by Maison Martin Margiela ($85) sold out at Sephora within hours of the initial launch, and remained out of stock for weeks. In fact, they finally restocked it last week, I believe? This Eau de Toilette joins the long lineup of Martin Margiela’s REPLICA fragrances inspired by little moments in time, and Afternoon Delight is meant to capture a cozy afternoon at a small Parisian cafe that smells like freshly-baked madeleines.
- Top notes: almond essence, angelica root
- Heart notes: madeleine accord, carrot, ambrette
- Base notes: real Madagascar vanilla, sandalwood, musk
Honestly, the reviews on REPLICA Afternoon Delight are very polarizing. Several of my friends smelled this perfume and it was either a ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ reaction. So, the fragrance is supposed to be this warm, welcoming, sweet gourmand that makes you smell like flowers and cupcakes, except that’s not how it came across to everyone. To some, it smelled like straight up soap? Meanwhile, others insisted that it smells exactly like soft, buttery vanilla madeleines. And it’s all reactions to the same bottle, so it’s not like one was from a potentially bad batch. To me, it smells like an inexpensive vanilla candle, with that artificial vanilla accord that slightly stings the nose. Here’s the problem though, Martin Margiela used real vanilla extract in this fragrance, so it must be some other note giving it that artificial aftertaste. Either way, I don’t think Afternoon Delight is a good fit for my body chemistry, but those who loved it, really loved it. I guess, it’s like cilantro, some love it and some say it tastes like soap? So if you had this one on your wishlist, I highly recommend smelling it in person – do not blind buy!
The longevity is not too bad for an EDP: about 15 hrs on clothes and hair, 4-6 on bare skin.
Did you have either of these fragrances on your wishlist?
