S-Perfume 100 % Love (2003, 05, & 07), 100 % Love (More) {Perfume Review} {Smell-The-Roses-Till-Valentine's Day Challenge - Day 18}
If there is a rose perfume that embodies the spirit of Valentine's Day in a typical Hallmark-card way that screams "It's Love Day!", that would be 100 % Love by S-Perfume.The style of this rose perfume evokes the glaring obviousness of pop art after the fact; it is like a representation of love made accessible to all - almost cartoonish - and made iconic at the same time by selecting characteristic images of mass culture: the rose, the chocolate, and the good feelings....
Imagine a beribboned box of dark chocolates filled with raspberry cream, berry liquor and accompanied by a bouquet of red and pink roses and you would have what 100 % Love smells like. A nearby glass of red Chianti is casting its glow on the lovers' cheeks (wine-y rose). Only subtle green nuances calls the mind away from the poster image of a lovers' flirtatious candlelit dinner in an Italian restaurant with tables covered with red-checkered tablecloths and reminds one of the fresh outdoors. The rose mingles with the dry cacao note, which is noticeably animalic, pungent, almost stinky - in a good way - playing with some perverse pleasure with the frontier that divides a pleasant smell from an unpleasant one.
Lady in Lady and the Tramp by Walt Disney could have worn 100 % Love, or it could have scented the air while the romantic comedy Down With Love with Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor was showing in a movie theater.
100 % Love (More), which does not seem to be available anymore, has a stronger note of cacao with a more cheese-like indolic facet to it, reminiscent of the one found in Black Orchid by Tom Ford. Its structure seems more basic than that of 100 % Love.
Longevity seems to be better with 100 % Love than with (More), but it not an overly long-lasting scent. It is billed as an Eau de Toilette and respects the criteria for that appellation. We have to rescind our comment about the longevity of (More); it seems little lasting because it is very linear and monochord, but the ultimate trace of cacao that is left is long-lasting.
100 % Love dries down a bit like in Mûre and Musc by L'Artisan Parfumeur, with dominant notes of tart berries and musk. A lovely, pink incense note surfaces after a while, which makes one wonder if it might not be the only "pink" incense perfume on the market. Actually, Etat Libre d'Orange did a pinkish incense perfume more recently, Encens et Bubblegum. Making incense feel youthful and innocent is an interesting casting against type while it harmonizes with chocolate.
The rose here is humoristic, gadget-y, edgy, and young-and-foolish. The latter part might actually be the definition of love, come to think of it.
The perfume was created by perfumer Sophia Grojsman and originally developed for an olfactory art installation called 100 % Love by sculptor Nobi Shioya (2003). According to the S-Perfume site, there were several versions of this perfume over the years, with the latest having been marketed in October of 2007 at Barney's ($120 for 2 oz.). This review is for a pre-2007 version, that is all we can say. You can also watch a behind-the-scenes documentary about this perfume below.
Notes are: secret berry from flavors, sappy green from the roses thorns, raspberry vodka, deep and velvety Rose Absolue L.M.R., black cacao, coconut, incense.
