A Wren Says

When I first smelled it on paper, I smiled to the beauty advisor. Strawberry Letter by Phlur brought back memories of those grandma candies, those little hard candies wrapped in a wrapped designed to look like a strawberry. I decided then and there to buy a travel size so that I could continue playing with the scent throughout the week.

Strawberry Letter eau de parfum

$29 for 9.5 mL

Notes

Top: Cassis leaves, strawberry gariguette, plum nectar
Heart: Wild lily, red poppy, apple blossom
Base: Earthy woods, tonka bean, sugared amber

As I wore it on my skin, it still had that fruity essence on first spray, but it began to mellow. At first, I got nervous because it started to seem a bit bitter as it faded off the first day I wore it. Continuing to wear it throughout the week, that hasn’t been a problem. As it fades, that strong strawberry kick moves backwards to let the other notes shine through. It feels as though the inspiration was an actually full strawberry, with the greenness of the stem and patch coming through. What has been a problem, however, is its projection an longevity.

On my skin, it just doesn’t last. Even today, I sprayed this on at 1 PM and now at 4:30 it has fade significantly. I also did my best to get it to last and project. I resorted to spraying each area three times. Wrist, elbow, torso. That still didn’t lead to an overwhelming scent or boost its staying power. I will add that for some reason it seemed to wear off faster on my arm than it does if I spray it on my torso. It could be that it just last longer on the fabric of my shirt. In the fragrance’s defense, this lack longevity does seem to be my general experience when it comes to fruit forward fragrances.

The final thing I will tell you is that I was inspired by its fruity note and played with mixing scents. While still in store, I combined it with Commodity Milk. I wasn’t impressed. Back at home, it sprayed it over top of Vanilla Woods by 7 Virtues. That was safe and tolerable. Finally, I put down a spritz of Eau de Rose by Diptyque followed by Strawberry Letter. That was instant happiness and led to a result that was better than the sum of its parts.

I don’t see myself wearing this much on its own, but I like the idea of using this as a way to give a fruity essence to some of my other fragrances. I was excited by this release, but it just doesn’t have enough oomph for my liking. But if you have the kind of skin that holds on to fragrances well, or maybe you prefer to spray onto your clothing anyway, you might want to try this as your next fruity fragrance. Personally, I think I will Commodity Juice another try to give me that fruity burst I’ve been looking for.