Betsey Johnson Perfumes & Colognes

Pink, loud, and run by a woman who finished every runway show with a cartwheel into the splits.

A designer who never grew up on purpose

Betsey Johnson started in New York in the 1960s, dressed Edie Sedgwick at the Factory, survived the collapse of two businesses, and built a label on tulle, leopard print and an aesthetic that treated adulthood as optional. She is still the only major American designer whose brand personality is genuinely indistinguishable from her own.

The perfume matches

The signature fragrance arrived in 2008 in a bottle shaped like an ornate pink-capped flacon, and the juice inside is exactly as maximalist as the clothes: sugared fruit at the top, a big floral heart, vanilla and musk to finish. Nothing about it whispers.

There is a real skill in making something this unserious smell good rather than cheap, and this line generally manages it.

Worn well

Evening, cold weather, one spray. Fragrances built on sugar and musk carry further than their price suggests, and the failure mode is always over-application rather than the formula.

Bright, feminine and well made also describes Carolina Herrera and Moschino, both of which we carry.