Basenote Bitch
Fetish by Dana

Fetish by Dana

This bottle looks like a prop piece that would be found on any Nickelodeon game show in the mid to late 90s. I also feel like Alex of The Secret World of Alex Mack would have worn this post chemical spill because of the wacky science experiment aesthetic of the bottle. Looks aside, like anything marketed towards teen girls in the 20th century—this beauty product has a dark past.

Picture a room full of men desperately trying to come up with catnip for the “young consumer,” and finally landing on this design along with the accompanying controversial advertising. In the original magazine print ad, an adolescent woman wearing an orange bikini top and heavy, pink eye make-up has a vial of Fetish hanging from the center of said top, and text written across her chest that read “Fetish #16: Apply generously to your neck so he can smell the scent as you shake your head ‘no.’”

I like when perfumes evoke mystery, but not when the message behind them is to actually ignore what a woman is saying. So not cute. No does not mean yes, and perfume doesn’t change that. Let me remind you Dana also owns and distributes Love’s Baby Soft if you want to refer to another disastrous sexy baby marketing campaign. QUITE CURIOUS. At the end of the day, this was meant to be another fresh and “carefree” reach for the ordinary teenage girl who’s not quite ready for Tommy Girl.

The top notes of this scent are grapefruit, lemon leaf, peach, and pineapple, with jasmine, violet, iris, ylang-ylang, rose, lily-of-the-valley, and tuberose blending together as the middle notes. Base notes of sandalwood, musk, and amber. In real life you will smell like Clarissa Explains it All’s training bra.