Sorry to be posting this so late today, but I promised to tell you what I thought of this sample, so here I am! Once again, let me thank Autumn at La Creme Beauty for passing this sample to me. This perfume oil has a base of gardenia infused with jasmine, tuberose and plumeria. Because this is an oil and the notes consist of particularly "heady" white flowers (and because I had already experienced After Hours) I expected Embrace the Day to come on quite strong. To my surprise, it didn't.Where After Hours feels hot and steamy, Embrace the Day feels ladylike and fresh, like clean, pressed, white sateen cotton. Although the gardenia oil is infused with the other floral notes, it comes across more like a soliflore, pure gardenia, but actually softer in scent on the skin than the scent of a "real" gardenia. Truly, the perfume oils live up to their names. You wear Embrace the Day to work; you wear After Hours--well, after hours. Embrace the Day is sunshine and air conditioning, where After Hours is sweltering heat just before the storm. I think Embrace the Day is lovely, but I have to say that I prefer After Hours. It suits my personality (make of that what you will!), and so I have to take back what I said--maybe Mercury wasn't working against me after all. I remain happy with my happy accident!
One more thing about Embrace the Day, though: I know many of us work in offices and must be sensitive to the amount of perfume we wear, especially when we interact with others. White florals in particular can sometimes be overwhelming, even for the wearer. The good news is that Embrace the Day is very light and stays close to the skin, so you can wear this without being afraid you'll offend someone with your perfume. I have several--well, I won't call them white floral haters, but people sensitive to white florals (i.e., they get splitting headaches) at my office. I had a meeting with one of them today, and she did not comment on my scent. And when I wore this for the first time, last Friday, I was sure I'd put too much on (let's just say I felt like a walking gardenia), but when I asked a co-worker if it was overpowering she said absolutely not. Be be warned...After Hours is much more potent!
*photo from Majenty
