Fragrance Review #12: Prada Candy

 

Prada Candy was launched by the fashion house in 2011 and was created to evoke feelings of joy and spontaneity. 

Prada Candy is the newest addition to my fragrance collection - it was given to me this Christmas as a gift. I’ve been familiar with this fragrance for several years, and I’m happy to finally own a full-sized bottle. 

Notes: 

• Top: Caramel 
• Middle: Musk; Powdery Notes
• Base: Benzoin, Vanilla 

Prada Candy is a light, soft, airy, powdery gourmand. If you’ve read any of my previous fragrance reviews, you’ll know how much I love my elegant gourmands. This is a clean and understated fragrance; it’s simple and not at all groundbreaking, but I mean this in the best way. There is an effortless elegance to this fragrance - there is nothing pretentious about it; it remains youthful without being immature. 

The overall way I would describe the actual scent is not one you would typically use to describe a gourmand, especially one with caramel at the top. This is a dry fragrance. One would expect the caramel to be gooey, sticky, extremely decadent, and almost too sickeningly sweet. This is sweet, but it’s light and the airy, powdery notes combined with the musk mellow out the caramel. This is not a little girl’s caramel, though I could see teenagers, as well as women in their 40s+ enjoying this scent. What I really enjoy in this fragrance are the base notes: I love resin notes and vanilla at the base of fragrances and when they are combined they often create sophisticated, depth and warmth in a perfume. Both the benzoin and vanilla are dry. This is not a resinous note that is reminiscent of the sticky sap that you actively see oozing from a tree - it’s harden resin. The vanilla is like that of a dried vanilla pod - softly sweet and lingering in the background. There is actually something about this fragrance that reminds me of Jo Malone’s Blue Agave & Cacao. In that fragrance, there is a cacao, vanilla and musk at the base and in Prada Candy we have the dry food note of the caramel also combined with musk and vanilla. They are not at all similar on the skin, but there is an essence about them that are related. 

Wear Time: Prada Candy has decent wear time - I would put it in the medium to long category depending on how much is applied. A few spritzes of this and I can smell it all day. It lingers on clothing softly and nicely.

Sillage: This is not an overpowering fragrance, though it’s a little stronger than a skin scent - the types of fragrances that are designed to cling closely to the skin. You can get some moderate sillage from this fragrance and people will be able to smell this when you walk past. But because this is such a dry fragrance and not overly sweet, as well as a bit clean, it’s not one of those scents that will make people mad at you if you wear it in the office. However, as with any gourmand, spray this one a little heavier and it’s perfect for date night or slightly more formal occasions. 

Season: I think Prada Candy can be worn all year round, and I don’t own many fragrances that can do that. It’s dry and not cloying so heat and humidity won’t make this sickening. Yet, it’s warm enough to be enjoyed in the colder months. 

Recommended For: This is definitely a feminine fragrance. If you are in the market for a simple, everyday scent that just makes you smell good, and you’re a fan of lighter gourmands, this could be a good option for you. Everyone should have a fragrance in their collection that is extremely versatile and can be worn casually or more formally. This is a “no fuss” scent that just gets the job done. 

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