Connect Her

Connect Her arrived in 2005, a year after the FCUK Her and Him pair that launched French Connection's fragrance line. The presentation is the most memorable part: a chrome-cased rectangular flacon with a bright red sliding panel down the front, styled like a piece of consumer electronics rather than a perfume bottle. The fragrance inside is a floral woody musk, and a deliberately easy one. Lotus leads the opening, giving that clean, slightly watery green quality that was everywhere in the mid-2000s, supported by bergamot for citrus lift and lily-of-the-valley for a dewy floral freshness. There is no sharpness to it at all. The heart is a straightforward white and powdery floral bouquet. Jasmine provides the fullness, peony adds a soft pink roundness, and violet brings a powdery, slightly sweet edge that stops the middle from being purely aquatic. It is pretty rather than complex, and it does not linger long before the base takes over. That base is where the fragrance settles for most of its wear: musk, sandalwood, Virginia cedar and amber, producing a smooth, clean, softly woody skin-scent with a light warmth. It is the same architecture as its predecessor but scaled down and simplified. Projection is modest and longevity moderate, so it functions as an everyday, throw-it-on fragrance. Worth flagging that retailer note listings for this one vary considerably, so the pyramid should be treated as the best-supported version rather than a brand-published fact.