Victoria's Secret — Scandalous Dare
Essence
Victoria’s Secret Scandalous Dare is a 2016 fruity-floral flanker of Scandalous, now discontinued. It keeps the approachable mall-fragrance feel of the house but shifts the original’s raspberry-praline sweetness toward tart iced plum and a surprisingly grown-up white-floral heart of pink tuberose and pink jasmine. The result is not a deep white floral, but it is more interesting than a simple sweet body-spray profile.
Scent Profile
The opening is iced plum: tart, frosted and a little sour before it warms. It is not the thick, dark, stewed-plum style of classic heavy orientals. Instead, the fruit gives the scent a bright purple-pink bite, then gradually softens. The heart is where Scandalous Dare tries to distinguish itself. Pink tuberose and pink jasmine create a white-floral center that some wearers find genuinely pretty and unusual for Victoria’s Secret. Others find the tuberose faint, tucked into a generic sweet floral haze, or dominated by a pink jasmine effect that can feel candy-like. The drydown is a sweet, powdery, musky skin scent with the plum and white florals fading into familiar Victoria’s Secret softness. The fragrance is fairly linear, and its signature tension is tart plum against a soft tuberose-jasmine idea. Compared with the original Scandalous, it is less sweet and more floral.
Performance
Performance is typical for the house. The EDP lasts better than the body mist, but projection remains intimate-to-moderate and the overall effect is not powerful. Some wearers get good hold on clothing, while others find it weak. Apply generously, and use fabric or hair for more persistence.
Wearing Context
Scandalous Dare suits spring and summer, casual daytime wear and relaxed evening plans. Despite the name and lingerie-brand campaign, it reads pretty, youthful and easy rather than overtly provocative. It works for low-stakes social settings, warm-weather outings and fans of soft fruity florals, but it is not the best fit for formal, mature or cold-weather drama.
Comparisons & DNA
The key comparison is Victoria’s Secret Scandalous from 2014. Scandalous is sweeter, softer and more gourmand, with raspberry, black peony and praline. Scandalous Dare removes much of that candy-praline mood and adds tart plum plus white florals, making it less sugary and a little more floral. For tuberose context, Madonna Truth or Dare, Robert Piguet Fracas, Kim Kardashian’s debut fragrance and Paris Hilton Tease all make the white-floral idea more central and more forceful. Scandalous Dare gestures toward that family without competing at that level. It remains a mainstream plum-and-white-floral fruity floral, not a tuberose landmark.
Reception
Wearer sentiment is mixed to mildly positive. Praise centers on the tart plum, the lower sweetness compared with Scandalous, and the fact that Victoria’s Secret attempted a tuberose-jasmine heart. Criticism centers on weak performance, a mist-like feel, and a drydown some people read as generic, cheap or laundry-sweet. The split is simple: if the tuberose and jasmine register, Scandalous Dare feels like an unusually pretty Victoria’s Secret flanker; if they vanish, it becomes another light sweet floral. Value is strongest when bottles are cheap, but old stock requires realistic expectations.
Versions & Reformulation
Scandalous Dare launched in 2016 as a flanker of the 2014 Scandalous. It was sold as 50 ml and 100 ml EDP, a 7 ml rollerball and a 250 ml fragrance mist. The mist is a lighter concentration variant. The scent is discontinued, and no reformulation is documented beyond the format differences.
Acquisition Notes
This is a budget mall-fragrance release. Since first-party availability has ended, buyers are looking for leftover or secondary-market stock. Sealed bottles are preferable because fruity top notes can fade with age. Counterfeiting is not a major documented concern; age, storage and correct concentration matter more.
Notable Facts & Lore
- Scandalous Dare launched in October 2016 as a brighter twist on Scandalous.
- The campaign faces were Victoria’s Secret Angels Jasmine Tookes and Sara Sampaio.
- The bottle repeats the carved Scandalous silhouette in bright pink with a black satin bow.
- Its notable creative move is putting plum beside tuberose and jasmine in a house better known for sweet mall fragrances.
- No viral moment, owner lore or controversy is documented.