Victoria's Secret — Scandalous
Essence
Scandalous is a 2014 floral-fruity-gourmand from Victoria’s Secret built on a deceptively simple three-note skeleton: raspberry liqueur, peony, and praline. In practice it reads as a sweet, slightly boozy berry drizzled over creamy caramelized nuts, with the floral middle acting more as a softener than a star. It is the archetypal “sweet/sexy” mall-fragrance done competently - pretty, easy, soft-projecting, and quietly more “grown-up” than its candy peers. Discontinued, it now survives mostly as a nostalgia buy hunted on the secondary market.
Scent Profile
The opening is all raspberry, and specifically the “raspberry liqueur” framing matters - it lands sweet and fruity with a faint tart, boozy edge rather than a bright, acidic fresh-berry snap. Several Wearers compare the first spray to fruity cough-syrup before it settles, which is the tell of a concentrated, jammy synthetic raspberry. Within the first 10 - 20 minutes the fruit is loud and the praline is already lurking underneath, lending a brown-sugar warmth that keeps the top from feeling thin.
Performance
This is a soft performer by design, and that’s the most consistent thread across wearers feedback. Projection is light to moderate - a close, intimate bubble rather than a room-filler, generally projecting around arm’s length early then hugging the skin. Sillage is modest; people tend to notice it when near you, not across a room. Longevity on skin clusters around 3 - 6 hours for most wearers, with the praline base being the most tenacious element; on clothing and hair it lasts considerably longer and is the better application surface. Layering with the matching body lotion is the standard trick to push both longevity and intensity, and it works because the gourmand base anchors well over a moisturized or lotioned base. Heat amplifies the sweetness and can tip it toward cloying; in cooler weather it stays prettier and more balanced. The original-formula bottles (the carved-glass flacon with the black satin bow) are widely reported to be richer and stronger than the later plainer-bottle versions.
Wearing Context
Scandalous is a casual, everyday “feel pretty” scent rather than a statement or formal fragrance. Reception splits on seasonality: the berry-praline profile is cozy enough for fall and winter nightwear, but plenty of wearers associate it with sunny late-spring and early-summer days because of the fruity brightness up top. The soft projection makes it genuinely office-appropriate and low-risk in close quarters - it won’t overwhelm a room. It shines for dates, casual outings, and as a comfort/nostalgia scent. Where it falls flat is anywhere you want presence or sophistication: it lacks the projection for a big night out and the complexity for formal or “elegant” contexts. Social perception skews young and feminine; it reads as a flirty, approachable, sweet-girl scent, which is exactly its lane.
Comparisons & DNA
Within the Victoria’s Secret lineup, the most relevant relative is Eau So Sexy (also 2014), the brand’s other beloved sweet-fruity discontinued favorite, though Eau So Sexy leans apple-and-whipped-cream rather than berry-praline. The most frequently cited near-dupe outside the brand is Lanvin Modern Princess, which several wearers call a spicier, slightly less sweet-and-fruity cousin that captures the same fresh-sexy-sweet territory (though with notably weaker longevity). Vera Wang Princess comes up constantly as a comparison: it’s similar in the sweet-fruity-pink lane but more powdery, less juicy, and reads younger/more daytime-preppy; Scandalous is the deeper, sexier, more praline-driven option. Dolce & Gabbana Peony smells strikingly similar on initial spray but diverges within half an hour into something much heavier. Because the fragrance is discontinued, a small clone/“inspired-by” ecosystem has popped up (e.g., DUA-style and indie “Scandalous” dupes), but these are imitations of a designer-priced original rather than evidence of any lineage. Scandalous didn’t start a trend so much as competently execute the mid-2010s sweet-gourmand-floral mall template.
Reception
Wearer consensus on is warmly positive but realistic: the scent is widely loved as a “delicious,” “sexy-but-not-juvenile” comfort fragrance, with the raspberry-praline combo earning the most praise and the “raspberry liqueur” boozy nuance singled out as what elevates it above pure candy. The most common criticism is performance - soft projection and short-to-moderate longevity - and the recurring complaint that later/reformulated bottles smell weaker, thinner, and less rich than the original carved-glass-bottle version. There’s mild polarization on the florals: some find a genuine clean peony, many find none. The other consistent thread is frustration that it was discontinued at all, since it had a devoted following. Blind-buy verdict: reasonable but caveated - it’s an inexpensive, crowd-pleasing, inoffensive sweet fruity-floral, so the risk is low, but buyers should seek out an original-formula bottle for the best experience and not expect strong performance.
Versions & Reformulation
There are meaningful batch differences. The original 2014 release came in an ornate carved-glass bottle with a black satin bow and an old-fashioned atomizer; later production moved to plainer bottles. Wearers consistently report the older juice is darker, richer, stronger, and longer-lasting, while newer bottles smell lighter and fade faster - widely attributed to cost-cutting reformulation. It was sold as Eau de Parfum (commonly 1.7 oz / 50 ml and 3.4 oz / 100 ml) alongside a fragrance mist, body lotion, and scented candle in the same scent. Because it’s discontinued, “current” effectively means whatever sealed stock remains. If sourcing, the carved-glass black-bow presentation is the one to chase.
Acquisition Notes
Pricing sits in Victoria’s Secret’s accessible designer tier. Scandalous was sold through Victoria’s Secret in fine-fragrance and body-care formats depending on the release, typically EDP, mist, lotion, rollerball, or travel spray. For discontinued, limited, or renamed versions, verify the exact year, concentration, name, note set, and bottle before buying.
Notable Facts & Lore
- The fragrance was unveiled in late October 2014 (a Miami launch event) with Victoria’s Secret Angel Jasmine Tookes as the campaign face, and the marketing leaned on the (unsubstantiated) claim that the scent “accelerates your pulse” - as Sanja Pekic recorded it, “Scandalous allegedly causes the acceleration of pulse; its floral-fruity aromas make the heart beat faster and call you to ‘lose yourself in our new sexy scent.’”
- The perfumer of record is Gil Clavien of Firmenich; there’s no documented statement from him about this specific composition, so nothing biographical belongs here.
- The fragrance has a notable second life on TikTok and in / nostalgia threads, where its discontinuation is regularly lamented and “where can I still find Scandalous” is a recurring question - the discontinuation itself is arguably its biggest piece of lore.
- It’s frequently held up as a case study in VS’s pattern of killing off well-liked fragrances, and in the “old formula vs new formula” debate that dominates discussion of the brand’s perfumes.