Sex and the City 2 is getting a tie-in perfume.

The new fragrance, SJP NYC, will fly the Sarah Jessica Parker flag, like Lovely and Covet, but it has Carrie Bradshaw written all over it. Says Parker, "A large part of the inspiration was what I now understand to be people’s impressions of seeing Carrie Bradshaw walk down the street and what feelings that evokes for her and for them — a real sense of freedom and possibilities, a love for the city around her and, of course, fashion."

This all makes me a little ill.

Why? Well, if you look at the list of notes and read the description, the new SJP NYC seems like a total cop-out. There were rumors that Sarah Jessica Parker's third major fragrance launch was going to be a sophisticated and genderless mix of incense and musk. I was really looking forward to that one. But instead, we get yet another fruity floral to crowd the shelves, and one that's banking on the guaranteed success of the SATC sequel.

Notes include top notes of Italian mandarin, white osmanthus and wild red strawberries; a heart of gardenia, honeysuckle, mimosa and red rose damascenia, and a drydown of sandalwood, vanilla absolute, rum flavor and creamy musks.

Surprised by the inclusion of strawberry, especially after the creamy warmth of Lovely and the somewhat edgy chocolate-and-geranium Covet? So was SJP. "I have this idea in my head that strawberry is very youthful and juvenile, but this fragrance doesn’t smell candy sweet. It amazes me that this essence of strawberry mixes so beautifully with the more sophisticated floral notes and the musks that I love and will always have as part of my fragrances. In a million years I would never think, ‘Let’s work around strawberry.’”

I hope she's right, because candy sweet definitely doesn't say Carrie Bradshaw to me. Neither does anything about this fragrance, or its packaging. In fact, SJP herself was quoted last year as saying, "I always think that Carrie actually wouldn’t wear a fragrance." So it all feels a little bit forced. I understand the huge commercial potential for this fragrance, but I'm already a bit turned off by it - it seems inauthentic for both the character and the creator.

And the bottle doesn't help, either. I think it's absolutely hideous, and looks like a bad Betsey Johnson knockoff. Taking a bunch of prints that look like Carrie Bradshaw's dresses and slapping them all on a hot pink background does not a beautiful bottle make.

SJP NYC launches in February and the planned promotional tie-ins include cosmetics bags, bangles and a reversible tote bag.

Honestly, I'm still looking forward to sampling it, just because I've enjoyed SJP's previous offerings. I'm hoping I'll be pleasantly surprised and prove myself wrong. How about you?

Source: WWD