It knocked me right off my surfboard! Figuratively speaking. That’s how much I liked Capri, Michael Kors’ latest addition to Island, his line of tropical-inspired perfumes for women. The entire set, all three fragrances — Capri, Hawaii and Fiji — impressed me. How often can any of us say that about a full set of anything?
Capri, along with the two other scents in the set, surprised me because, honestly, when I think of Michael Kors, I don’t immediately equate the man with perfume. Instead, I think of accessories (his bags are all over Macy’s) and his very orange tanned face on Project Runway. But all that has changed for me now. The next time Kors releases a fragrance, I’ll pay close attention, because if his future fragrances are on par with Capri, Hawaii and Fiji, they’ll be great.
Hitting fragrance counters about a month ago, Capri looks and smells like tropical vacation in a bottle. The very sight of the bottle made me think of white, sandy beaches and blue, rolling surf.
White florals like Capri have a tendency to be overwhelmingly strong, but Capri’s blend of bitter Seville orange and bergamot (a small, pear-shaped citrus fruit grown in Italy) notes, mixed with violet, fig and white moss, hit just the right subtle intensity.
When I first spray it on my skin, I get a burst of violet that transitions to citrus over time. My favorite aspect of Capri (and the other scents in the set) is how natural and un-synthetic it smells. There’s nothing chemical or plastic about these fragrances. Picture vibrant flowers picked from a lush, tropical garden at the base of a secret waterfall. None of the scents smell synthetic to me, and my nose can usually detect things that smell plastic or lab-derived.
Whether they’re sets of lipsticks, eyeshadows or perfumes, I rarely like every item in a set of beauty products, but I like the Fiji and Hawaii scents just as much as Capri.
Hawaii, which I consider the boldest of the three fragrances, smells of clementine oranges, pineapple, orange flower, jasmine, ginger lily and white amber. Because El Hub’s family is from Hawaii, I’ve spent a lot of time in the islands, and I can honestly say that Michael Kors’ Hawaii is appropriately named.
Fiji, more of a floral scent than Hawaii, scores extra credit for the hot pink bottle (so cute!). The fragrance contains notes of Fijian tiare flower, and I believe it’s the lightest and most feminine of the three scents in the set.
I have yet to smell the original Island perfume by Kors, which won a Fragrance Foundation award in 2006. It’s available online at Sephora.com, so hopefully the next time I make it to Sephora I can give it a try. I’m pretty sure I’ll love it!
Another added plus: Capri, Hawaii and Fiji are boy friendly. I hauled El Hub along with me to the fragrance counter and forced him to give each one a good sniff. He usually hates most perfumes and cringes at the smell, describing most of them as “too perfume-y” or “too old lady,” but after smelling each Kors scent he surprised the heck out of me by saying he liked them all. I’ve made El Hub smell many a perfume, ya’ll. His reaction put me into temporary shock.
Capri, Hawaii and Fiji are available at Nordstrom stores or online at Nordstrom.com. Each one will set you back $60, a great deal considering the large 1.7 oz bottles and that they’re all eau de parfums (not watered down eau de toilettes). I can’t wait for summer because I’ll be wearing these every day!
What do you think of Michael Kors’ fragrances? Love ’em? Hate ’em?
Happy Monday, ya’ll! I woke up this morning totally confused. My internal clock hasn’t figured out why we (here in the U.S.) set our clocks ahead in spring for Daylight Savings, but I’m happy about the extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day. How’s your day been so far?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I tried Capri..or maybe it was Island? a blue bottle…at Sephora a while back, and didn’t particularly like it, but that could have been because my other wrist was spritzed with a very floral Givenchy, and I was in Sephora…sensory overload central. I may give Capri a try, since I love perfumes with bergamot and still searching for a decent replacement 🙂
diana’s last blog post..Circle Lenses
Hi Diana,
Sephora is sensory overload. They used to have little pots of coffee beans all over the place to clean your nose palette between sniffs but I can’t find ’em anymore when I visit their stores. Boo!
Capri’s awesome though – it’s been out for about a month, so if you sniffed the blue bottle before then chances are it was Island. 🙂
Have you smelled Dolce & Gabanna light blue? It’s kinda citrusy/sweet. Elizabeth Arden’s Mediterraean is also a good one too if you like citrus notes.
Oooh I don’t think I’ve tried these yet. I’m gonna have to hit up the perfume counter and check them out. Did you get a chance to try out Chanels scent yet? I think it was the Chance eau fraiche scent. Sooooo yummy, loved it.
And my day sucks, I’m trying to write a huge paper, blah! Hope your day is better than mine!
Hey Breezy,
Yeah, Chance Eau Fraiche, right? (The green one.) It’s pretty darn great. I will probably end up falling for that one too (have to wait a few checks, ha).
My day’s been mellow so far. I’m here doing some work and sniffling here and there because my allergies are kicking in. What’s your paper about? Are you almost done?
I have Michael by Michael Kors and I love it! It smells of white flowers and was one of the first perfumes I bought a few years ago when I started to wear fragrances.
I haven’t tried any of these new ones, but anything that makes me feel like I’m in the tropics, I’m definitely up for! I wish I were in Hawaii right now…
Lilan’s last blog post..Bobbi Brown Nude Collection & FOTD
Hi Karen,
I have a Michael Kors perfume from a couple of years ago which i really like, its quite different from the other perfumes I would usually go for and is infact quite a unique scent in itself but I really like it as an evening scent.
I think it is called Kors by Michael Kors.
Thanks for reminding me of that one actually, it has been sitting in my bathroom negelcted for a while, I think im going to bring it back into regular rotation, I think Prada is going to have to move over to make space, I never really did like that scent anyway!!
OOoooo! I can’t wait to try them…I wore Hawaii last year on our honeymoon to, you guessed it HAWAII! So I am just in love with it! The scent takes me back to those amazing 10 days with my hubby!
I wish it would stop raining here in Austin so I could run out and shop…but this weather makes me just wanna drink wine and watch movies! lol!
KK
You and me both, Lilan. I love our nice spring weather but a trip to a beach with warm water would be so rad right now.
Seems like Mr. Kors loves those white florals! Rock it out, Michael…
How’s your day been? Anything exciting so far?
Hi Holly,
Yah, girl! Give that Michael Kors perfume some love! 🙂 What are you up to today?
Hi KK,
Awww, congrats on your wedding! Which island did you go to?
We were on Maui the whole time and it was the bomb!!!!!!!!!! We stayed at the Westin and I cried when we had to come home! (for real!!)
Hi KK,
I love Maui. I went with some girlfriends a few years ago for vacation and had so much fun. I wish I was there right now…CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!
If you ever plan on going to Oahu give me a holla – I’ve visited like 234,556,232 times and can give you a few fun things to do and places to eat!
Hi Karen,
I’ve not been up to much today really, I was supposed to go to University but we have had really bad storms and winds here today so the motorway I have to go on had lots of accidents so I used the excuse to stay at home! Then the rest of the day I went to look at some holiday homes in spain which my parents are looking to buy and now i am back to the grindstone with medical negligence!!
I heard a rumour today that we are not going to get Heatherette in MAC UK and im really hoping it is untrue!! Even if the range is poor the packaging alone is enough to seduce me!! Do you know if there is any truth in this??
I would do anything to be there too!! We are planning a trip to europe and I’m like….lets just go back to maui!
K off to the gym…enjoy your monday girl!!!
KK
I’m definitely happy about the weather we’ve been having too. I’m hoping to plan a nice vacation to Mexico later this year – we’ll see though because I really, really want to go to Costa Rica! Either way, it’s a vacation and it’s a beach!
I love the white florals too – gardenias, lilies, I can’t get enough..
My day’s been okay, another case of the Mondays I think. Just tired from the time change, I think. Hopefully I’ll be back to normal tomorrow 🙂
How’s your day goin’ so far? What are you going to do with the extra hour of sun?
Lilan’s last blog post..Bobbi Brown Nude Collection & FOTD
Hi Holly,
Oh no! Good thing you decided to stay home – be careful out there when you’re driving, please.
Ahhh, Spain. Love it! Where are your parents’ thinking of buying? I’ve only been to San Sebastian and to the Rioja region (where El Hub asked me to marry him) but I can’t wait to go back … to EAT! Gimme those tapas.
Regarding Heatherette, I dunno about the rumors, but let me do some fishing. I’ll see what I can find. 🙂
Thanks KK,
Go and work on that fitness, girl! Have a good one. 🙂
Hi Lilan,
LOL, with the extra hour of light I’m gonna do some work. Apparently the two things I do are 1.) hang out at the makeup counter and 2.) work. Oh, and hang out with wayward cats. But that’s my life right now… How about you? Anything fun?
I am so thrown off from the time change! I couldn’t get my booty out of bed this morning.
Mexico, how fun! I’ve always wanted to go to Costa Rica, too. Do you ever watch travel shows on The Travel Channel? Samantha Brown has one where she explores South America, and Costa Rica as one of the countries she traveled too and it looked pretty amazing. I want to go there, as well as Argentina and Brazil. I got the travel itch, too!
Hi Karen,
There are a couple of places we have been looking at all in southern spain. We have been going to Puerto Banus on the costa del sol for years, it has a gorgeous marina where lots of billionaires have boats and which has loads of amazing fish restaurants and is only a short drive from lots of lovely little rustic spanish villages in the mountains where you can get the best tapas in the world!! But my dad is a big Golf nut so we have also been looking in Murcia which has lots of good golf courses and properties are much cheaper there so they could get something bigger! I am personally voting for Puerto Banus though because it has amazing bars restaurants and shops!
Haha thanks, any efforts on the Heatherette front would be greatly appreciated! One of the girls I work with may be able to find out too but I wont see her until thursday! I meant to ask while I was in MAC at the weekend!
Island by Michael Kors smells like MAC’s Turquatic IMHO. The Jude Law flick was “Alfie”. I also love him in “Love Actually”. BTW: I’m still addicted to FAFI Quad 1. My fav is Howzat the deep gray with silver sparkle. It’s fab over liner!
Hi Holly,
MMM, tapas! I’m so with you on the Puerto Banus vote. Sounds much more fun then the golf option! Speaking of tapas, I could do with that yummy potato egg pie dish (can’t remember the name). *stomach grumbles*
I gave my homegirl at MAC a holla so I’ll let you know once I find out anything! Keep your fingers crossed for some good news.
Hi Tania,
I’ve never smelled Turquatic. I’ll give it a sniff one of these days…I always seem to get distracted by the color collection when I’m at the MAC counter!
Oh yah, he was pretty cute in Alfie! He reminds me a ton of Hugh.
Howzat is so fantastic. I too am still very addicted to all of the Fafi loot! I’m wearing Cash Flow today!
Hi Karen, about 4 yrs ago someone gave me a sample size of Michael Kors and I couldn’t stand it. It’s one of the perfumes that make me feel nauseated. I hope these ones are better. Estee Lauder Paradise is also a nice summer scent, it has some orchid in there.
Hi Dao!
That sample was probably the original Michael Kors fragrance, not the Island one. If you like Paradise then you’ll like these too – they reminded me a lot of that specific Estee fragrance. 🙂
Not too much goin’ on today – it was very hard for me to adjust to the time change too. I snoozed my clock a few times and slept in an extra 45 mins (whoops!). I had to shower and get ready in a hurry – walked out of the house with only my brows, mascara and gloss. It definitely threw me off.
I’m ALWAYS watching the Travel Channel! Samantha Brown makes Mexican cruises look fun!
The Boyfriend and I were thinking of going to Buenos Aires, but it’s a little too expensive for us right now. Costa Rica or Mexico are definitely in our budget. Have you traveled to Mexico before? We were thinking about a quiet place around Cozumel or the Riviera Maya, spend a few days in lively Cancun and then go check out the Mayan ruins.
I wish I could travel all the time – that would be the life!
Lilan’s last blog post..Bobbi Brown Nude Collection & FOTD
I managed to totally miss Fiji (not sure how) but I’ve gotta try it! I adore Hawaii! My sweetie got me a bottle for mothers’ day last year, and every time I wear it I just sniff my wrists all day long and daydream about tropical beaches! I tried Capri today and enjoyed it, although I’ll have to wear it for a couple of days to get a good sense of it. It seems a little more subtle than Hawaii. I also do really like Island, it’s a wonderful summer scent without being the least bit cloying! Very fresh, but too much and I can get sick of it really fast! 🙂
Hi Lilan,
LOL, yah, I had to minimal makeup today too. You know what’s really screwed up? My stomach. It’s growling at pre-daylight savings meal times.
I’ve never taken a cruise before (I have really bad motion sickness) but I agree; Samantha does make cruisin’ seem pretty cool.
I’ve been to Mexico once, to Puerto Vallarta and then to Punta de Mita to do some surfing. I really want to go back to the country and do a fun surf trip. Coasta Rica would def. be a stop on the way. 🙂
You’ve inspired me to start planning vacay…Calgon, please take us all away.
Hi Glosslizard,
I had Capri on my wrists today and I couldn’t stop sniffing myself. I hope you’ll like Fiji. It’s very pretty, plus the bottle is so darn cute (and will conveniently match your upcoming Heatherette stash, lol).
I hope you had a good day 🙂 Mine was busy, but fun.
Hi Karen,
I know what you mean its usually called a Tortilla Espanola I love all the potato things especialy patatas bravas which has rosted peppers and onions and things in with the potatoes! We have a great chain of restaurants over here called La Tasca which does really good tapas, you have to try it when you are next in the UK!
Thankyou for the Heatherette search!! If we dont get it over here I see another trip to NY in my future haha!!
Ooh… that’s cool…because Fiji wasn’t around last year…so I figured that Hawaii would disappear too…but that’s cool that he’s making the whole line available, and not doing them as limited editions anymore. I love MK’s fragrances too. My favorite it actually the original island…which when I put it on has a strong note of honeysuckle…
Hi Holly,
La Tasca sounds yummy. I’ll write that down in my “things to do when I finally get my bum to Europe again” list! Seriously! I have a list with that title.
I just got word from my MAC friend and she says the UK on-counter date for Heatherette is April 10th! Woo hoo!
Hi Megan,
I like honeysuckle scents when they aren’t too overwhelmingly sweet. Bath and Body Works did one a few years ago and it was too sugary. But in tasteful mixes I like it too.
The Island line is cool because it’s tropical without having excessive coconut. My nose gets tired of coconut very quickly.
Glad your day went well, I had a pretty good day too!
I’m definitely going to sniff Fiji, perhaps on Friday the 28th when I’ll be going to SF to pick up my Heatherette! 🙂 I’m really excited to hear what everyone else thinks of the line too!
Hi Karen!
Wooooo you have just officially made my day!! 10th April is officially going in my diary as we type!!
Ive just got home from work, been looking at all the new stuff coming up in the next few months which is going to include:
New Rougue Allure lipstick colours including an AMAZING red!
New Lipglosses which have a fantastic brush applicator
New Bronzing powder which look to have some gorgeous colours
3 entire new skincare ranges including a great looking cleanser for combination/oily skin
Im excited 🙂
Uh oh, allergies suck. Yeah so I finished the darn paper….only to find out its not due till tomorrow!!! ARGH! I’m a spanish major and its a critical kind of essay on a novel called The Tunnel. It’s really good actually. Never realized how many great spanish writers there were.
I hear you on having to wait for some checks to get that…I got the bf to like it so now I think he’s gonna get it for me hehe yaay!
Hi Holly,
That skincare sounds great! Anything for combo skin is totally my thing.
I am curious about the new red and the lipglosses, woo hoo! Can’t wait to hear more.
Hope you’re having a good weekend. 🙂
Hi Breezy,
Oh, that’s cool! I always wondered how the Spanish novels I’ve read that have been translated English “sound” in their original language. I’m sure a bunch of the good stuff gets lost in translation. Can you recommend some Spanish authors you like? I’m always looking for stuff to read.
Tagalog, the language my parents speak and I understand, has a lot of Spanish words in it. Periodically I’ll hear somebody speaking Spanish and pick up phrases and words here and there, LOL. At dinner tonight I overheard somebody asking about getting ice for the drinks.