Ok so this isn’t exactly a question about movies or music or tv but since it does deal with a Mary-Kate and Ashley product, hopefully this is an okay place to ask the question.
Are the Mary-Kate and Ashley perfumes too ‘young’ for a 12 year old/grade 7 girl? She’s not a very ‘sophisticated’ 12 year old (ie not going on 19) but she’s not a dweeb either. So would this perfume be totally uncool or okay? (And does anyone know the difference between the two scents?)
Thanks!
Actually, I’ve never been fond of perfume as pre-selected gifts in the first place. There’s far too much variation in people’s scent preferences for it to end well very often. If you really want to get her a perfume, I would suggest taking her out to find one she likes. That way she gets to spend time with you as well as get a gift she’s guaranteed to like.
Well…according to their website:
Does that help?
My own opinion is that 12 year olds shouldn’t be wearing perfume.
I concur.
Depends on what the perfume’s being used for. I don’t think it’s as overt as makeup or high heels or skanky dresswear–a light scent can be completely innocent. But this is IMHO, YMMV.
Wow, really? My parents were pretty strict, at 12 I wasn’t allowed to have pierced ears or wear make-up, but I was always allowed to play with perfume. Mostly flower scents, like rose, jasmine, or honeysuckle.
Are scented shampoos, sachets, and dryer sheets verboten, too?
Do you know if she wants perfume? I would have been pretty disappointed with a gift of perfume if I was 12, but I was a fairly young 12. Of course, I still don’t wear perfume.
I’m certainly not philosophically opposed to perfume for 12 year olds. At that age, it’s natural for girls to experiment with the trappings of adulthood. Perfume seems like a pretty innocent way to experiment. When would be an appropriate age for girls to start wearing perfume?
If you think her parents might object to perfume, what about scented bubblebath? That’s a fun treat with a little bit of sophistication. (Assuming you don’t buy SpongeBob Squarepants watermelon scent or something.)
I don’t know a thing about perfumes or the tastes of 12 year old girls with regard to perfumes, so I’m not qualified to answer the question. I am just boggled by the notion that perfumes can have an … age. Unless you know what the scent is, how can you know it’s “too old” or “too young”? About the only smell I associate with age is that weird combination of lavender, moth balls and old tobacco that a lot of senior women apparently use as a scent.
It’s my understanding that when people reference “age” of perfumes they’re talking about how heavy a scent (or actually mixture of scents) it is. There’s also degrees of heaviness in the scents themselves that make up the fragrance that add to it. Musk, for example, is heavy and so is considered mature. Depending on how heavily it was mixed into a perfume, it could age it considerably.
I hope I’m making sense here.
I’ve always preferred light scents myself, so something like Elizabeth Taylor’s perfumes (very heavy) is way too old for me, even though I’m an adult. And I knew it would be too old for me before I even smelled it because in the interview she did about it she talked about how she loves to layer on several different perfumes and that was her inspiration for it. I can’t imagine wearing several different perfumes at once. Way, way too heavy for me!
Well if I’m understanding the question correctly…
I think 12 is probably the very upper end of the Mary Kate and Ashley demographic, with 8 being the lower end. IMHO, it’s probably a little risky; even if she thinks it’s cool, there’s a good chance she’s going to be too embarassed to use it in front of her friends.
This is all MHO, of course, and as always, YMMV.
Had to chuckle at this. I use lavender-scented hand cream. To mask the smell of smoke, of course. 
Thanks for the answers …
I thought that 12 was a little old for the Mary-Kate and Ashley demographic but I was not 100% sure … so thank you TellMeI’mNotCrazy for confimring it.
I saw some small bottles of said perfumes and wondered if it would be a good stocking stuffer for my 12 year old stepdaugher but I think it might be a little uncool.
As for the age for wearing perfume, I remember being in grade 5 and 6 in the mid 1970’s (ie 10 or 11 years old) and having some friends who had this little Avon brooches that contained a perfume and really wanting one. So I certainly remember little girls wearing perfume without there being any skanky overtones. I also remember that in grades 7 and 8, girls at my school starting to experiment with makeup. Since my combined grade 7/8 class was only a total of 26 students, it was very important to keep up (to some extent) with the makeup and fashion of the rest of the girls lest you be a totally geek. (It was bad enough to be the smartest kid in the class, not wearing jeans and makeup would have mademe a complete social outcast. I started wearing a little makeup then and I don’t think it had a negative impact on my life nor did it make me totally ‘addicted’ to makeup as I wear very little these days. (I shudder at the memory of that awful blue eyeshadowsmeared all over the eyelids)
Wow, that brings back memories. Anyone remember the perfume making kit for little girls? I made some real nasty concoctions with mine, and I wore enough of it to put a $2 hooker to shame. When I ran out of liquid stink and asked for more refills, suddenly my parents couldn’t find them. Good times.
Ooh! I had one of those. It only came with floral scents, though, and it was impossible to really get a bad smell out of the mixtures. The only oil that really smelled awful was the jasmine. It practically crawled up your nose whenever you opened the phial. I think I lost interest in making perfumes long before I ran out of stank.
There was this one line of cosmetics/scents geared towards little girls that I loved though. There was scented body powder and these little gift basket dealies that came with bubble bath and those types of things. Fizzy balls for the bath. There was a fairy on the packaging and maybe glitter. God, I wish I could remember what it was called. I want some now.
I don’t think 12-year-old girls are too young for perfume. I don’t know if a 12-year-old would appreciate it, though. Amethyst, if I were you, I’d go for lip gloss. Bonne Bell, M-K&A – it doesn’t matter. It’s like makeup, but not quite as threatening as blue eyeshadow. 
I also suggest buying her a paperback you’d think she’d like for her stocking. Because books are the gift that keep on giving. 
Thanks again … I’ve decided against the perfume in general and found a cool lipsgloss set that in a heartshaped container which also contains a calculator and world clock (appealling to the geek in me).
Yes, I do plan to get her a book as well … but I find that buying for a book for a 12 year old girl can be challenging - too old for some of the series like M-K and A and possibly even the Sabrina series and not necessarily into the classics I liked at that age like the Lucy Maud Montgomery or Louisa May Alcott books. And I suppose that Judy Blume isn’t as cool as she was in the 70’s. Oh well, I’m sure I can get some help at Chapters.
When the Terrible Teen was 12 (just three short years ago, sigh) the books she got into were a couple historical fiction series. One was, I think, called the “Dear America” series, and there was another that was childhood “diaries” of queens - Cleopatra was one in that series, IIRC.
(Even though the perfume issue is settled, I’d like to point out that as an adult, I find most fragrances designed for youngsters to be overpoweringly sweet, and that includes bath products designed for that age group. Why does everything have to smell like raspberries?? To this day I’m a fan of Love’s Baby Soft.)
I really loved Catherine Called Birdy around that age. The Midwife’s Apprentice is good, too, but not quite as spunky.
I just read Ella Enchanted last semester, but it would have been right up my alley at 12. Gail Carson Levine’s other books are supposed to be good, too, but I haven’t read any of them.
The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander are excellent, as I remember.
Of course, I was 12 eight years ago and I was a weird kid. I have no idea what’s really hip and happening with the tweenie set. Waht kind of books does your stepdaughter read?