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"I don't understand why Calvin Klein christened this one Euphoria."

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Woody Oriental

Oriental scents are spicy. They get their richness, texture, and depth from things like vanilla or cream, woods, cinammon, cardamom, amber, and other exotic ingredients. Left unfettered, an Oriental scent can get downright sultry. These are highly complext ingredients that tend to be powerful. In fact, when people tell me they don't care for Oriental scents, generally they mean they don't like "strong" perfumes.

A woody Oriental tempers some of that textured complexity with botanical notes that lend a lightness to the scent. In fact, many woody Orientals (like their almost indistinguishable twin scents, the green Orientals) can be charmingly light, even airy, while still bringing the delightful complexity and maturity of an Oriental blend.

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Euphoria

Even if you've got a pretty astute nose, you're going to ponder over this one for a while. Of course, not everyone analyzes what they smell and if you are the decidedly unanalytical type you are going to find Euphoria a pleasant, likable, engaging scent and you'll never ponder: what is that note?

The first time I smelled Euphoria I thought it was a floral, and it's not. There are floral notes, but the flowers in Euphoria are sensual, mysterious, and have names that start with "black" (black orchid, black violet).

The top notes are pomegranate and persimmon, clearly fruity notes but not the usual ones. There are also notes called mahogany wood, cream accord, and liquid amber.

This scent sounds wildly exotic, but it's refreshingly familiar. It's lighter and more girly-girl than you might imagine it, and has that sort of fresh Calvin Klein polish to it.

As fragrances go, this is categorized as a woody Oriental. It's light for an Oriental and the floral and fruit notes take some of the mystery away. It falls in the same broad fragrance family as Thierry Mugler's Angel, although in tone and weight and mood, it's worlds apart. (Angel is rich, deep, and can be the sort of perfume that provokes an immediate response; Euphoria is light, pleasing, and charms rather than provokes.)

I have never understood perfume names and I certainly don't understand why Calvin Klein christened this one "Euphoria." Euphoria strikes me as an over-the-top emotion, a boundless almost out-of-control exuberance, and this fragrance is (thankfully) far more contained and even reserved.

The bottle was designed to look like an orchid about to open.

One thing about Calvin Klein scents: they generally appeal to a broad range of people. I suspect that most women will like Euphoria. It's a great scent to buy if you want to get a fragrance gift for someone of something new and different (assuming they don't already know this scent--it's pretty popular).

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Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein was not an ordinary little boy. As a kid, he taught himself to sew. He was always interested in fashion and attended school in New York, where he opened his Calvin Klein line. Most Americans around in the 1980s remember Calvin Klein as a pioneer in jeans and underwear.

But Calvin Klein entered the world of perfume in a big way. He is credited with CK (the first "unisex" scent) and has met with wild critical acclaim for Euphoria and enormous popularity for Eternity.

Klein credits his success in the fragrance world by designing scents in keeping with the tastes of his daughter, that is, one generation down.

Other Scents by Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein is one of the main names in perfumery in the U.S. His scents Eternity (and spinoff Eternity Moment), Euphoria, and CK have won awards as well as high sales figures. And who can forget Obsession?