Viktor+Rolf Flowerbomb was launched in 2006. It's a very of-the-time fruitchouli sugar rush. It now qualifies as a proven classic. Sales are as good as they ever were, it's still a Sephora staple, and it's going to be old enough to vote in time for the 2024 presidential election.
The regular size Flowerbomb bottle is shaped like an abstract Mk 2 grenade. It's made of clear glass that shows the light pink liquid inside. It has a little black faux wax seal with the Viktor+Rolf logo on it sticking out of the neck, where the pull ring would be on a grenade. I don't have a regular size bottle. Mine is a 7ml mini. It doesn't have anything sticking out. The juice is also much darker, probably from age. I don't know how old it is for sure. It's probably not original issue, but definitely at least five years old.
Flowerbomb believes in having dessert first. It opens as a gourmand. Its osmanthus and rose come across fruity - apricot and berry, respectively - and there's a thick smear of vanilla cream all over everything. There's jasmine in the heart, but that's also pretty edible. It's like the jasmine tea you get with your osmanthus jam and sponge with chantilly cream at sit-down Chinese restaurants.
At its heart, Flowerbomb's flowers become more floral. Not all the way, though. They're still really fruity and really, really sweet. Creamy, too - buttery like tropical flowers can be, but without being tropical. This doesn't go away until the entire perfume does, but it softens enough that the promised -chouli part of fruitchouli can peek through. This is an uncontroversial and pleasant mix of synthetic musk and patchouli accords that I like pretty well. It's very close to the skin, though, and not especially long-lasting.
I didn't pick Flowerbomb back up randomly. A week or two ago, Greta Gerwig's Barbie film was released. Its tie-in perfume, however, was delayed until August. I was only one of many perfume autists who started thinking about good unofficial modern* Barbie perfumes. Flowerbomb is a good choice for this. It's good, it smells pink, and it has respectable tenacity. If you're going and didn't know what to wear, now you do. If you're reading this in, like, 2027, now you know what to wear for the sequel. Or one of the CGI fairytales. Or you could just wear it because it's lovable. I enjoyed revisiting it and would buy more when I run out.
*Emphasis on modern, because the idea that Barbie's perfumes need to match her colorway is recent. Multiple Barbies have been released that include perfume, and they weren't all cotton candy sledgehammers. But I'll save an extended rant about this for a review of an official Barbie perfume, rather than an unofficial one.
7/29/23