Badgley Mischka Couture
Badgley Mischka (2009)

Okay, so I really liked the original Badgley Mischka with its bold, syrupy fruits. I thought, a couture version of Badgley Mischka should surely be just as rich, perhaps more elegant and ten times better, right? Hmm, not so.

Badgely Mischka Couture is a much blander fruity composition, with berries and watery pear leading in the opening. It's not as unique and rich as the original Badgley Mischka which comes as the first disappointment.

The floral heart comes across to my nose as being rather soapy. After sometime it develops into a sugary gardenia and an earthy and musky patchouli blend which was a little difficult for me to stomach.

As long as you apply this fragrance sparingly and don't smell up too close, Badgley Mischka Couture is passable. Unfortunately it smells sour on my skin, causing me to dislike this fragrance even more.

Towards the drydown it starts to turn, resembling something like a can of pears in syrup, complete with the alluminium can smell. Can't say I'm particularly rapt with anything in the composition itself. It all seems a jumbled, fruity mess.

I love the bottle design, I think it so very elegant and upscale. It's rather unfortunate that the scent doesn't match its outer packaging.

I find this much more pleasant than the previous Badgley Mischka. If I concentrate, I can still pick out the slightly syrupy almost sour note that I dislike so much in Badgley Mischka, but in Couture it is weighted with a little smoke; probably the vetiver and maybe the plum?

Although still a sweet fragrance, it is at least slightly cleaner (my review of Badgley Mischka mentions sweat and hairspray...) and more subdued.

I don't know if I really like this fragrance, but I don't wildly dislike it as I do with Badgley Mischka. The white wine is still there, but it's (thankfully) blended with other, softer notes. The pear seems to life the fragrance slightly, freshens it.

In my opinion, more grown-up than the original.

What happens when you remove the peach from BADGLEY MISCHKA? You get the base, which appears to have been bottled straight up, with the addition only of a dash of pear, as BADGLEY MISCHKA COUTURE. This composition reminds me a bit of Grès CABARET, which showcases a somewhat sweaty muskiness, in complete consistency with its name. I myself have never really understood what people mean when they use the locution “transparent rose,” to be perfectly frank. But perhaps there is “transparent” gardenia, violet, and jasmine in BADGLEY MISCHKA COUTURE as well–in precisely the sense in which the Emperor's New Clothes are “transparent”.

My overall impression is that BM COUTURE was a quick and cheap flanker. Same bottle (dipped in a low-quality gold paint with poor adhesion), same composition minus the top notes plus a touch of pear. As one who never managed to comprehend the effusive outpouring of admiration and even gratitude for what appears in some select cases to have been an eschatological delivery of sorts occasioned by the sniffing of BADGLEY MISCHKA, I cannot muster up much enthusiasm for this flanker either. I don't really think that BM COUTURE is any worse than its namesake, but it's also not really any better.

[Editorial note: should any easily roiled readers feel a welling-up of offense in response to what may seem, judging by phonetics alone, to be my possibly scurrilous use of the word 'eschatological', I humbly exhort them to avail themselves of one of the many free online dictionaries of the English language only a few keystrokes away *before* succumbing to the temptation to press that pesky report button. Thank you for your consideration.]

I love the original Badgley Mischka & after reading the great 2 reviews on about couture I was so eager
to try this. No where - no where on line could I find it except eBay so I bought it
with a no return policy & the fragrance I am wearing smells like a mans aftershave. Not a nice one either. The bottle came without a lid & it is not in a gold colored glass bottle either, as the photos show.
So I don't know what the real fragrance smells like or if this is the Couture. I hope not. I am new to buying fragrances from odd places & I never thought there could be fake representations of perfume.
The reviews of BMC really created a fragrance world I wanted to live in - but this bottle is not it.
Sorry.

I just purchased this perfume and I love it. I am very fussy about fragrance. It has to last and not be overpowering and this is it. Love, Love, Love. Basenotes is a good place to visit! Thanks

Delicious, a wonderful scent that is feminine and beautiful. I love the way it dries down. Sophisticated. Not overwhelming or loud. Well done