Magnify your sexy – that’s the tagline that accompanies Sexy Ruby, the brand new fragrance from Michael Kors. The idea is that you can illuminate and emphasise your natural sexiness with just a few spritzes of this brand new fragrance. Michael Kors says that a woman’s natural confidence is the very thing that makes her sexy, not what she wears, and Sexy Ruby most certainly feels like a confident fragrance, with its eye-catching gemstone bottle and it’s bold and brassy scent. It’s the perfect thing to magnify that sexy of yours.
Michael Kors classifies the fragrance as a floral chypre – one that is dazzling, radiant and fiery, much like the stone from which it takes its name. Now, when I think of chypre, I think of the mossy, standoffish classics such as Guerlain’s Mitsouko, but Sexy Ruby is not like this at all and it would be fair to say that it falls firmly into the category of a modern chypre, which is more about the contrast of light florals and darker materials such as musk, or patchouli. Sexy Ruby captures this style and illuminates it with a bright red light.
The Notes
Top: Raspberry, Apricot, Davana and Pepper
Heart: Orange Blossom Absolute, Indian Jasmine
Base: Moss Crystal, Cashmere Woods and Vanilla Bean
How Does it Smell?
Sexy Ruby starts out fresh, fruity and fun. Fruity notes have a tendency to be too sweet and sticky, but the balance is perfect here. I imagine bright neon lights in shades of violet and apricot, evoking the idea of expensive cocktails and luxurious lip gloss. There’s a floral aspect that plays nicely with the fruitiness – a heady jasmine that is used with a subtle hand, almost as if just a petal or two have been used to adorn this luxurious cocktail in a ruby-coloured glass.
The base is soft and plush, with a dry velvet-like texture. Cashmere wood rounds the fragrance off with the feel of luxurious satin. The development isn’t particularly dramatic and Sexy Ruby shifts from a vibrant opening to a casual air of woods and patchouli that is surprisingly subtle. Think of Narciso Rodriguez For Her but less symphonic – Sexy Ruby is the catchy, pop-song alternative and it’s a tune you’re going to want to hum often.
Sexy Ruby does fruity very well, presenting vibrant, neon fruits without any of the sticky sickliness that so often ruins fragrances of this style. It also has a lovely, contrasting base of smooth cashmere woods that soften things rather nicely. To me, it feels more of a casual, everyday fragrance than one that is overtly daring or sexy, but it has a maturity that feels far removed from the twinkling fruity tween scents on the market. Sexy Ruby is the kind of fragrance to with a plain t-shirt, a pair of jeans and a killer red lip. You can’t forget the killer red lip.
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