Calvin Klein Eternity Purple Orchid
Calvin Klein Eternity Purple Orchid is one of five(!) women’s “sequel” scents to 1988’s Eternity. I was told by a sales associate that Purple Orchid was initially introduced as a limited edition item, but sales popularity led the company to start up distribution again. I have a sneaking suspicion it also had more than a little to do with the fact that CK had nothing original to offer for the spring/summer season. Well, nothing that wasn’t a serialized Eternity or CK One.
Apparently, summer movies and summer perfumes have a lot in common: there’s a few blockbusters, a few interesting niche creations, and a whole lot of sequels.
And of course, I shouldn’t forget the summer comedies. Calvin Klein erected a big two-story “bottle” in Times Square to celebrate CK One’s tenth anniversary. The bottle was then filled with models trying their best to artfully appear as though they were “having fun,” but were really just performing for our “amusement.” Dance, monkey, dance! To bland techpop music, at that. Actually, the entire thing rather did remind me of the monkey house at the zoo. Some were just lolling about disinterestedly, some in groups and socializing, some bouncing around excitedly for no discernable reason. And all kept behind glass for the public’s safety, I’m sure. I halfway expected them to place a “Do NOT Feed The Models!” sign up on the windows. To glibly wreck a perfectly good Nirvana song, “Here we are now, please stop entertaining us.” I’m forced to conclude that somehow, someone arranging this spectacle saw the arch hilarity of it. The mind reels at the thought we were supposed to be favorably impressed.
Have I lost you yet? I do seem to have wandered off on a silly tangent. Sorry about that.
So, uh, anyway… yeah, Eternity Purple Orchid. I think this can be quite pretty. Not that it’s a stunner, as it registers nothing more than a “huh, how nice” from me. It wears as a white freesia dominated scent on some folks, whispering out the rest of the notes. On others, it carries itself as a peppery and herbally green undertoned perfume, with trills of floral notes crowding at the edges. Which reads, I’m guessing, as rather interesting. But other perfumes pull this off also, and more engagingly. (For example, Estee Lauder’s Pleasures.) All is sweetened by a vanilla base. The vanilla is played nicely but lightly. There’s also some note in the middle that on my skin smells like the way an uncut melon does. It’s not unpleasant, and truth be told, I rather like it. Not enough for me to care, though. If you wish to know what all the advertised notes of Purple Orchid are, please click here to see Sephora’s list.
The staying power and sillage is poor for an eau de parfum. I suppose this could provide a convenient choice of fragrace for those who need a non-offensive office scent. In that sort of setting, it’d conceivably work well. Certainly there’s nothing wrong with that.
But alas, I know I’ll easily forget about the small decant a friend let me make from her bottle, and never revisit this scent. Hello, Eternity Purple Orchid, and goodbye.
The piece above is a paper sculpture entitled “Purple Orchid” by Ron Chespak. It is appearing in the current National Museum Tour until 2007. Please click on the image itself for more information.