Catch the Wave edp: part 2 [by Hollister]...

It's that time of the year; the sun's finally out of hiding, the temperature is rising, brighter colours are flooding clothes shops, so I'm on the hunt for a new fruity/floral fragrance to be my soundtrack for the new season. Like I said in my last post, I want to focus in on a fragrance that comes in bottles that are below the £30 mark, as I don't see any point in spending loads on a seasonal 'everyday' fragrance, that I'll be bored with by the end of summer.

I headed straight back to the seasonal shelf (what I call the stand next to a till in my head) in my local Boots to have a look and found the second addition to the Wave fragrance line by Hollister. Having loads of points on my card to spend, I'd thought that I'd take a closer look at it since I've reviewed the original Wave...

Ahh, coconut - for me this is the official scent of summer, as it instantly reminds me of suntanning lotion and I'm also getting a sea spray note of salty water too. I can pick up the mandarin & peach as well and usually love these notes, however the floral notes are very quick to develop and dilute them.

The floral notes are much more defined in Wave 2 in comparison to the original Wave, which will likely be the point that makes up your mind over if you like or disconnect from this fragrance as everyone's beach locales vary on where you live and everyone has different beach memories; I live in the north of England so don't have lush floral coastlines, and my strongest beach memories are of coconut lotion, fruity drinks and the 'watermelon' man (we went to the same resort in Greece when I was a child and a local man sold fresh fruit out of a small fishing boat on the beach). 

The base for Wave 2 is quite similar to the base in the original Wave; whilst Wave contains 'solar accords', Wave 2 has 'sand accords' which have the same heated fiber scent and warming feeling - at least to me, anyway. This weird note develops alongside the floral notes and lingers throughout Wave 2's five to six hour wear time. I'm not sure how best to describe the 'sand' accords; it's like when clothes come out of a dryer and the fibers are all warm, it's more of a feeling of mild heat than a distinguishable scent - yet there is something here which does make me think "sand". Another similarity to the original Wave are the woody notes and light musk that accompany the sand - I can't quite decide if the woody notes here are slightly salty, or if I'm tricking myself.

Scent notes; mandarin orange, coconut nectar, peach, water lily, pink freesia, tiare flower, driftwood, sand and orchid.

Going by the scent notes I thought that I'd really enjoy Wave 2, but I've found that the strong floral notes do separate me from the holiday memories that the fruity opening brings. I really enjoy the beachy feel of the base, but the lingering florals are quite jarring to me.

I'll continue to wear Wave 2 as it'a a nice easy-to-wear fragrance that I don't dislike, and it seems to be unoffensive to others. However i don't see myself ever bothering to replace my bottle once it's gone, as it doesn't have the overall vibe I'm looking for. I'd still say that it's well worth testing when you come across it, as like I said above, 'holiday' and 'beach' mean different things to us all - just because it only half-worked for me,doesn't mean that it won't be a success for you.

   

As you can probably tell by the photo of the half empty bottle, I've really started enjoying the first Wave; I'm probably going to rebuy it, as the milder floral notes are much more 'me'. 


30ml - £22

50ml - £29

100ml - £39

Most popular retailers of fragrances like Boots, Superdrug, The Perfume Shop and The Fragrance Store sell the women's and men's Wave fragrance lines both instore and online, although the Hollister site doesn't. The stock in the Hollister store near me comes and goes randomly.