Reviews of Happy (1997)
by Clinique

I like it a lot. I wore it on my wedding day, (it was brand new back then, so no one was sick of it yet). Happy is energetic, sparkling, fresh, and pleasant. Often I find myself complimenting others on their fragrance, which I find out is Happy. It smells quite different on others. My skin brings out the wood notes, but I smell the citrus notes on lots of other wearers. As long as it's not overapplied, Happy is perfect for any environment.

One of the few perfumes that actually smells like its name, I first came across Happy as a college student but rebelled against it during its prime. Everyone was wearing either this scent or Elizabeth Arden's Sunflowers, and I hated the idea of adding to already pungent cloud of happiness that floated above our classroom every day.

Thankfully I gave this scent another try a year ago. A saleswoman managed to get me to browse as I was purchasing some Clinique makeup, and I was at once impressed and uplifted by the cheerful boquet of white florals that make up this perfume. On me there's barely a hint of peachy-citrus as most of the florals predominate in both the intial spritz and dry down period. Lovely everyday scent. I only wish it was longer lasting, as I have to refresh the scent twice or more throughout the day.

Wow! This is some strong stuff! It smells fun and sparkly in the bottle, hence the name Happy. I get it, until I put it on! Whew! It stinks of cheap and sharp chemicals! Too brash and way too strong! This isn't shy at all! In fact, it's loud and in your face. It screams, "Notice me!" And we all do, believe me, we do! It's also sour smelling at the end and so, I just was not happy at all. Not at all.

I loved this when it was first launched, but now can take it or leave it. Yes it is very frivolous and flirty, but seems slightly shallow to me. No depth whatsoever, maybe because there are sooo many notes piled into one bottle, I feel it somehow lost its way. I wear this only occasionally but do not really enjoy the experience. Will not repurchase.

So i won’t care that it’s for women, i won’t care about wether this is marketed for “young” people, if it makes me that happy as the name implies it just cannot be that bad. And thankfully, it’s not bad at all.
The thing that I like about happy is that despite the strange naming on the notes, you can get and smell all of them in a orderly fashion, the bergamot and other citrus-infused fresh top, the smoother, flowery midnotes, and the more interesting heavy flowers in the basenotes, wich seem to forget about the woods and musks, but were not maketed in here I guess not to scare off some women that might be afraid to get some dark, woody, masculine base. Of course, with happy that’s not the case, as the base is more about fruity-florals but the good kind, the kind that is more about pleasure and comfort than the kind that says: I’m tired of all the fruits and flowers , we’ve had enough, you and I need our separate ways, I need to wash up.
It has a perfectly neat sillage that’s femenine enough but so light sometimes that it seems that the winds will take it away soon if you don’t pay attention. In general, I don’t think it’s a very unusual fragrance, or that it will be forever revered in the “Fragrance Olympus” of classic scents, but it’s just very attractive.
The longevity here is the worst part of all. Thank to the Clinique powers-that-be, that issue was resolved (in what a way!) when Happy Holiday (wich is an intense verison of the regular Happy) was released. If you can’t manage to get the amazing, creamy-dreamy-sensual-but still fresh Happy Holiday, just keep spraying some more Happy. That way, you’re happy,I’m happy and we’re all happy.

Happy for women is a better structured fragrance than Happy for men. It opens with a burst of citrus notes - grapefruit is the most noticeable, and some bergamot can be detected too. The opening is bright, fresh, and quite enjoyable. The heart and basenotes are basically well blended flower notes. Theres no musk or sandalwood to be found here - this is an all out fruity-floral to put you in a good mood. Neither the fruits nor the flowers dominate the proceedings - the notes are well balanced.

Happy for women is a decent fruity floral which is quite appropriate for all seasons and occasions - its not terribly complex, and lacks the wow factor of something like Spring Flower, but it will put you in a good mood and perhaps even make you smile!

I avoided this fragrance at all costs when it was first introduced, only because everyone else was wearing it and I want to be unique. It wasn't until a few years later that I was at a co-workers house that I finally spritzed some on myself and fell in love...For a minute! Its very nice, but a little too fruity for me.

Sour Fruit. A friend raved about it so I have tried to like it and get the smile she gets with it, but no, just sour fruit. I think some young women would like this for it is pleasant if you like sour fruit. I even thought that maybe it might make me a little happy, but no, got a sour attitude.

I had a bottle of Happy a few years ago, and it served me well as an occasional casual scent. It wouldn't have done for evening, but for errands or shopping, etc., it was nice enough. My husband liked it.

I didn't wear it very often, and it went bad in just under two years (properly stored, too!), with half the bottle left. The citrus deteriorated terribly and the scent just smelled 'off', it became a very chemical smelling mess. I wasn't very Happy, to say the least.

You can never put an age limit on any citrus or clean based perfume! They go well with everyone, and happy has been good for a ton of women.

I unabashedly love Happy, so I feel I have to defend it somewhat, although I haven't worn it in quite a while. I love the whole Clinique Happy range. My husband, unfortunately, does not care for it. He says it smells ok if you want to go around smelling like a glass of juice. He's not partial to fruity/citric scents anyway. But when I was wearing Happy several years ago I always received compliments on it, especially when layered with the body lotion, which I recall was emollient, so was good on the skin and not just perfumey. The fragrance just seems to work well on me. I found that it actually lasted, and it turned sweet and fresh on my skin. Yes, it's unsophisticated, uncomplicated and lacking mystery. I don't find it totally flat or uninteresting, however. And I don't get the connection to JPG Classique, which I own and wear, but I'd have to do a side-by-side comparison. That's an interesting point tho' and one I will try some day when I'm out gandering about the dept store perfume counters. Anyway, Happy's freshness and simplicity is exactly what I enjoy sometimes. It's sunny and uplifting and puts me in a good mood.

I have two friends who wear this fragrance exclusively ~ and they always smell fresh, clean and sweet. I put it on and it's 'instant headache.' The citrus top notes are juicy and bright as sunshine. The drydown is basically a non-event...but leaves a trail of light floral freshness. I've tried to enjoy this scent but I'm only happy when wearing something else!

It starts off with a brilliantly effervescent hit of citrus, but it quickly fades into a weird mix of greenish florals. It's not bad, but just not what I like to smell on women. The creamy basenotes are a redeeming factor, but not enough to pull Happy out of mediocrity. If the citrus lasted more than (literally) 30 seconds, it would be much better.

I liked it while I had it, but probably wouldn't buy it again. I didn't feel I was quite old/mature enough to pull it off, either.

I didn't know the actual notes to this one when I tried it. On my skin it smelled like black licorice & gardenia. Not a good combo in my opinion. It's funny the scents I hate are very long lasting it seems. I've yet to find a Clinique except for Happy Heart that works for me.

Weird - for some reason, I was perfectly okay with this fragrance until one day it crossed me mind that it was a simplified, less dark and complicated version of Jean Paul Gaultier Classique. And then I started resenting the heck out of it! Billed as a citrusy floral, Happy is, to me, a citrus-sandalwood-powder combo, sharp at the outset and settling into something clean, spicy, powdery, soft. I am not one hundred percent sure I get why this is so popular among younger fragrance wearers; in fact, I'm not even sure I get why it's called Happy. I don't get "happy" from this at all - more like witty, slightly dry, a smidge sarcastic. The concept of happy in a bottle to me is more along the lines of Creed Spring Flower, L'Artisan La Chasse Aux Papillons, flowery and spring-timey butterfly stuff. Anyway, in terms of the true personality traits of Happy, those things are fine by me and not a problem as I can certainly relate to them. But once I began comparing this to the JPG, it came clear to me how much depth Happy lacks, how relatively plain and unchallenging I found it and how it lacked that backdraft of mystery and drama I like with my wit. It has been considered by me to be "JPG Junior" ever since and I basically never wear it. Not a bad fragrance at all - just not my style, as it turns out.

The notes described here are almost funny in their creativity (high-altitude laurel, morning dew orchid?). The entry I made in my fragrance diary after sampling Happy mentions little more than carnation. Maybe I'm unsophisticated, but I found no range of experience here. From my notes: Simple, sweet, mild, clean, flat. Not very interesting.