Van Gils is a Dutch fashion house that dates back to the 1920s. Their clothes and accessories are clearly inspired by Italian sense of style but can readily be described as boring and unoriginal. Their fragrance line however has enjoyed considerable and not altogether undeserving success. Tendenza for Her, the first female fragrance in the line, was released in March 2005 and is widely available across Europe. I am not a fan of fruity florals, quite the contrary actually, but for some reason I really wanted to review a fragrance that is both fruity and not high-end lately. For this purpose I chose Tendenza and decided to sample it several times both on myself and on others. The experience has been very disappointing. Tendenza has top notes of Grapefruit and Green Apple, middle notes of Freesia, Peony, Rose and Jasmine and base notes of Amber and Vanilla. The opening is very sharp, but it is perhaps the most intelligent part of this perfume’s development. I rather enjoyed being able to clearly discern both the fresh green apple and the gentle, uplifting smell of Freesia. Unfortunately, both those notes fly off quite fast and what is left is a messy, generic, wildly synthetic girly mixture. The press releases attempted to brand Tendenza for Her as sexy and elegant. It is neither. Instead, it is a fragrance more suited to a misguided romantic teenager that tries to be alluring, ellegant and sexy. Unfortunately, said teenager has not yet developed a good sense of taste, for this is a perfume completely lacking in class and finesse, but one that is so stereotypical of feminine fragrances that will undoubtedly trick many such young girls into buying it.
Tendenza is every bit a run-of-the-mill drugstore female fragrance and its cheap packaging does not do it any favors either. The bland flacon was created by Fabrice Legros, the same man who designed the bottles of Caline and Libertine. Its austere, boring lines further conspire to add to its generic, conventional image. The lasting power is punishingly sustained, guaranteed to be there on your skin for much, much longer than would be desired. Hopefully by then, the main offenders will have subsided and you will be left with a much less cruel, sour vanilla. The only point of redemption I can think of, is that on male skin Tendenza manages to evolve a warm chocolate accord for the first few hours of wear. Yet surely, there are much more refined options out there that will provide the same effect. Lastly I want to say that I feel slightly guilty for painting such a caustically negative picture of this fragrance. I do not mean to offend anyone who finds delight in this perfume. And too, I do not know if you, the readers, find it more interesting to read positive reviews inspired by love, to negative ones. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. I find it hard to write about perfumes that do not create any stirring of emotion inside me, the review would be bland if the perfume itself left me completely cold. But I would really appreciate some input on whether blatantly negative reviews are welcome and read with interest. I hope that this review has provided you with at least a chuckle or a smirk!
Pictures courtesy of www.beautyweb.nl and www.fashionunited.co.uk respectively
