Dreaming is the latest fragrance from Tommy Hilfiger, and is meant to appeal to “the Tommy girl grown up”* (but not too grown up: the target market is 18-30). According to Tommy Hilfiger himself…
Tommy Girl is a declaration of independence and Tommy Girl 10, a journey on the open road. Dreaming, on the other hand, captures the sophistication of a woman. It's sensuous, seductive, yet playful and unexpected.**
Dreaming was developed by perfumer Stephen Nilsen, and features peach, tuberose, freesia, white hibiscus, white woods and orris. It smells pretty much like it sounds — this is a fruity floral, sweet and sparkling in the opening, peppery white floral-ish in the heart, cool musky woods with a velvet finish at the end. It is pale and clean throughout, and I would call it “romantic and feminine” more than “sensuous and seductive”, making it a good fit with its name and with the white-sheets-and-innocence ad imagery featuring model Mona Johannesson.
Dreaming is perfectly nice, and if there is nothing unexpected about yet another pale fruity floral, well, there you are. One of the hardest things about blogging your way through 800 new fragrance releases a year is finding something new to say about fragrances that don't smell new, and here I'll just give up and quote myself:
So: a very wearable, perfectly pleasant scent, and a good match with its relatively tame moniker. It is nicer, to be sure, than much of what I've smelled on the fragrance counters this spring, so it seems almost churlish to point out that it is neither exciting nor innovative, but there it is. It doesn't exactly ooze personality.
That's from last year's review of Miss Boucheron, and now I feel doubly churlish because worn side by side, Miss Boucheron handily wins over Dreaming in the “personality” department, and I'd call it way sexier to boot. Miss Boucheron actually turned out to be much nicer than lots of the fragrances that came after it in 2007.
The Dreaming bottle is fine but surprisingly basic. A little charm hangs off the neck of the Parfum and the largest Eau de Parfum (100 ml, shown); if you get one of the smaller sized Eaux de Parfum, you don't get the charm.
Tommy Hilfiger Dreaming can be found at Macys or Boscovs in the United States. It is available in 15 ml Parfum, 30, 50 and 100 ml Eau de Parfum, in a rollerball/lip gloss duo, a limited edition solid perfume pendant, and matching body lotion and body wash. The lasting power of the Eau de Parfum is fine; I did not try the Parfum.
You can learn more at the dedicated website, dreamingaboutyou, where they've also got an “automated dream interpreter”, should you be in need of one. I tried entering the word perfume, but perfume is apparently not in the dream database, nor is chocolate. If you've been dreaming about rabbits, they “usually symbolize vulnerability”.
* Via Women's Wear Daily, 12/11/2007.
** Via The Malay Mail, 1/15/2008.
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Rob, I KNEW you'd come around to Miss B!! It IS a distinct cut above, for what it is. I'm 50 and it's a great fit stylistically: fresh but with real presence. Glad you gave it another chance.
Did see Dreaming at Marionnauds and tomorrow will give it a try.
Miss Boucheron also, since it is mentioned.
There are lots of days that I feel like twentyfive or thirty so why bother about the agegroup
?
R, too funny — after snarling at an SA at Bloomies last week who was waving Miss B at me (too young and too fruity!) I did go back and re-try it, and you are right — ain't half bad. I love the bottle. I wouldn't pay retail, but …
And I think the ads for Dreaming are the best part. I know, they're ripping off Marilyn, and I don't care — that girl is lovely. I like the one where she's holding the veil up.
You know, I liked it when I tried it, just thought it was no big deal. Sometimes you can't tell how distinctive something is until you've smelled a bunch of other junk, LOL — I'd say the same of Flowerbomb, which I found dull when I first tried it but which also turned out to be lots better than its “way sweet & fruity” competition — although I still think it's a major let down given that it's from Viktor & Rolf. Miss Boucheron's dry down, with the “sort of animalic” suede stuff, is just more interesting than your average.
Dreaming has no such chance, it smells too much like too many other pale fruity floral things. I wore it next to J Lo's Deseo and even Deseo has more “oomph”, despite the fact that I hate Deseo's big fresh opening.
You're quite right, why bother about the target age — wear what you like.
I'm not *dying* to own Miss Boucheron, but I'd wear it if I had it, whereas Dreaming might go unnoticed in the back of the cabinet. Agree on the ads for Dreaming, they're really well done, and as for ripping off Marilyn, well, at least they did a better job of it than say, Christina Aguilera. But it seems TH put all the $$ into the advertising — that packaging is pretty darned dull.
I love this ad, I have to go smell this. The finish sounds wonderful.
I have yet to buy a Tommy H. perfume. (and I am ashamed to say I have samples of some and have yet to try those.)
I really think this ad is romantic and sexy. Lovely idea.
Hope you will love it then!
Robin, thanks for sniffing your way through all these perfumes. I can understand your frustration facing hundreds of new releases every year, knowing that most of them are unsurprising and boring.
Personally I don't even like the ad of Dreaming. Why is everyone trying to copy Marilyn Monroe these days?
But I will give Miss Boucheron a try.
LOL — ignore my “frustration”, please, there are way worse ways to pass the time than trying to come up with something new to say about perfume, no? I count myself lucky.
I can't dislike that ad — she is too lovely!
But a little bit of pity and encouragement is never wrong, right? At least we do all want you to go on with your sniffing and reviewing.
Perhaps I don't like the ad because it makes me think of Lindsay Lohan imitating MM's “last sitting”?
You're kind, thanks!
And wow, I had not seen those shots of Lohan. For anyone else who wants to, here is a link:
http://tinyurl.com/yvkfox
Those pictures strike me as sad. Whatever you want to call what Marilyn Monroe had, Lindsay Lohan hasn't got it. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I find her entirely unsexy despite the great bod.
You're not alone, I agree with you completely. Bert Stern and Lindsay haven't done themselves any favour with this remake.
The model looks alot like scarlett johansson…maybe that was on purpose.?
No she hasn't furthered her career with this shoot. And her body has none of the volutuousness of MM's, either.
Back to Tommy Hilfiger – are they hurting, sales wise? Their clothes used to be front and center, now I find them rarely. I would think they have taken a beating from Abercrombie.
I've no idea if TH is hurting in terms of clothing sales, but given how they're positioning this one, was wondering if they're trying to “upgrade” the clothing as well.
So she does!
I smelt this perfume recently but it didnt move anything in me! i felt it too pale like pretty fabric softner kind of smell and it failed to last as well. its also similar to something else i have smelt but cant think of what! lacks punch perfume should inspire comment no?
It didn't really remind me of fabric softener so much as a shampoo or other body product. Agree, it should be more distinctive.
the advertismenet of the scent did not attract me at all, now i know hwy, i am not longer target group (beacoming 30 and reading your blog/writing own perfume reviews). sexiness ist not TH's business, the label ist far too sportive in my opinion. i bet i would lie it, and i bet i would immediately forget it
excuse me fot the tpo, i mean i would LIKE it and forget it
It is a sporty label, but wondering if this is a sign they're going to try to “sex” up their image. We'll see what they do next.
I bought Dreaming for my Dad's very good friend and I went to Macy's 6 days later and they had the set for the SAME PRICE! Thankfully, I hadn't given it to her yet
. I exchanged it 
Good for you!
Strangely enough, I tried this fragrance and found that the velvet finish at the end that you describe smelled rather sweaty. Both my daughter and I tossed back the card on Macy's counter because we didn't like the end. I was disappointed but then I've never been into any of the Tommy fragrances. Anyone else have this experience?
Gosh, no, I found it very clean. Maybe somebody else will chime in, although this is an older article so don't know if anyone else is around
I didn't get that feel at all either. I really liked it.
I have a sample of this that I was given last time I harrassed the sales assistant at my local perfume counter, but have yet to try it. It's in one of those stupid bubble samples. Ugh- I HATE those. Just seeing one is enough to make me angry. I had one for DK Delicious that I tried to save by keeping it upright, but either it spilled and I didn't notice or it evaporated! I suppose I'll crack it open today, because I do kind of adore that ad in spite of myself, but urgh…not being able to come back to a sample makes me seriously peeved.
Okay, so I got a sample when I bought my last fragrance (along with one for Gold by DK, which I already sort of own [it's quite a story, actually], and something by Paris Hilton, I believe). I tried it and it wasn't impressive. It seemed flat.
So just now I applied it again (to my leg; my wrists are currently otherwise occupied) and maybe it's the interaction with my other perfume, but I'm getting this weird buttered-popcorn jellybean accord. Which, when you put that on some huge, white flower, seems terribly odd.
I whole-heartedly agree, though; Dreaming is quite basic. It's progression is so slight it seems rather dull. However, I do rather like the bottle and the campaign is quite lovely.
I'm gonna try this once more after my shower tomorrow and see if I get this strange note again. If it didn't have such an artificial smell and having to rest upon this nauseating flower, I think I could like butter. Ever seen butter in a fragrance? That would be very interesting. =o
Oh, I just HATE bubble samples too! I used one once, now I just toss them in the trash.
I can think of buttery scents (sometimes tuberose smells buttery) but not butter! Don't think it would improve Dreaming for me
for me, the situation you describe in the Dreaming review, is pretty much the case with all the Hilfiger stuff – clean, well done, but nothing special (apart from T Girl that has an interesting undertone but i have seen it pretty rarely). i do not think i would buy a Hilfiger perfume (or blouse), but might buy a body wash because the scents do manage to smell nicely clean
Yes, that's pretty much true. I kind of thought Dreaming was going to be a bit different, but I'd actually rather have Tommy Girl.
So I (finally) smelled this today… and I was surprised at how much I disliked it. Normally, I'm all for this whole fresh floral stuff that saturates the market today, but this was just bad. It has no personality and no depth, and it feels (I hate to say this) like very little thought or effort was put into creating this one.
Either very little thought, or they just wanted to be very sure that it had so little personality that it would qualify as a “one size fits all”. Sometimes that approach works, but I'd be very surprised if this was a big seller.