We will get right to the point:
Dear LB,
Do you have a favorite scent?
Thanks!A.
Scents are tricky devils, we think. We used to wear perfume all the time – starting when we were young. We would totally spray ourselves liberally – and that’s being conservative – with Malibu Musk, or secretly steal some of our sister’s Exclamation! perfume. Then we graduated to lifting some of the Chanel No. 5 our mom kept in the kitchen cupboard that was at least double our age. Then, we loved Elizabeth Arden’s Sunflowers.
We stopped for a few years, and then acquired most of Fresh’s perfumes. Sugar is our favorite – it smells like Lemon Pledge and brown sugar combined. Lemon Sugar is good for warmer months, it smells really crisp. Kind of like how we would imagine a vodka with lemon to smell. And the Sake is good, but it’s very musk-y and kind of…cloudy smelling. It’s good for winter, but it’s heavy.
At $75, Sugar is not cheap – but we don’t know anyone who doesn’t like it.
Now, we are currently contemplating a new scent. We’re having a bit of trouble justifying it. We strongly, strongly believe that there is a time and a place for scent. We do not believe the workplace is it. We once worked with a woman who we absolutely adored and respected – but we could smell her 10 seconds before we could see her. We had another coworker who constantly smelled like dirt – and it was never pleasant. We are also of the same mind that fish should never be cooked in the office microwave, and that the air in our office should be as clean as possible. We are scent purists – or prudes, even. Time and a place, unless you are one of the very few people who knows how much perfume to apply. We remember watching the Rosie O’Donnell show one morning, and she was re-enacting her morning routine. She sprayed herself with CK1 something like 19 times. Literally. We liked her up until then, and at that point, we could not imagine being in the same time zone.
Combine that, and our lack of going out (and a lack of available space), and you can understand our reluctance to buying new perfume. We still have our Fresh lineup, but we’re thinking we may ask for Marc Jacobs Cucumber splash for Christmas. Actually, a quick internet search shows that it’s widely unavailable. Maybe we’ll just have to buy it ourselves.
Marc Jacobs Cucumber Splash, $49.99
We love really clean scents, like laundry and whatnot. We’re open to suggestions!
-LB
My favourite perfumes are quite boring, I’m afraid.
My top two, of all time (on me, that is):
Sicily by Dolce & Gabbana (this stuff smells amazing on hot summer nights)
Jean Paul Gaultier Classique (I know, so obvious)
One spray is well and truly enough and they warm to my skin beautifully.
Chanel No. 5 I’ll always love because it instantly reminds me of my mother. (She had one of those ancient bottles too, which apparently she had in hospital with her when I was born, and she gave the bottle to me a few years ago).
i totally second the sicily by d&g – i love it so much i sometimes get distracted by myself when i’m wearing it. (as in i’ll rest my head on my hand and be overcome by how great it smells and then forget what i was doing.)
I had to give it up years ago. Like Rebecca, above, I loved my mother’s scent, Shalimar (which is considered very old lady, but I loved it — scents are like that), but eventually it drove my nose crazy. So I tried the then-popular Calyx, but soon enough the same thing happened, and I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with myself. Sometimes I have to change subway seats because someone’s perfume makes my head feel like it’s going to explode. But every once in a while I get a whiff of something really clean and fresh, and I think maybe my hyper-sensitive self could tolerate that. I’ll have to get to Sephora to check out Fresh.
If you like like light and clean, you might also like “light blue” by dolce and gabbana – it’s just light, clean and fresh…website says it smells of sicillian citron, granny smith apples and bluebells. It’s what I wear when I just want a hint of scent.
I also started perfuming myself (VERY LIBERALLY) when i was pretty young and i would often steal my sisters exclamation as well haha. Or Jovan white musk which i still think smells nice. The I moved on to SOAKING myself with Tommy Girl (embarrassing)
I am now a Light Blue addict and it is my number one scent… but I also wear Miss Dior Cherie, With Love (by hilary duff but it seriously smells good, like grape juice) and Aquolina Pink Sugar in the winter when I want to smell like cookies or vanilla or something more pleasant than ice and snow.
i really love the bvlgari pour femme. it’s clean and sweet, but not too flowery.
i usually have a rotation of 3-4 scents, corresponding to weather. my regulars are coco mademoiselle and chance eau fraiche, both by chanel, kind of my default evening/day fragrance. (most of their fragrances work nicely with my skin chemistry, except for chanel no. 5, oddly enough.) the other 1-2 slots are sort of seasonal/curiosity-based. this past summer i tried hermes un jardin sur le nil, which has a fresh, green, slightly sharp quality, as well as l’occitane green tea with jasmine, which is exactly what it says — both of which are light and fresh but still have a little bit of a twist, esp. the hermes. (it’s also a super-pretty bottle! and it’s hermes!)
anyway this fall i think i’m going to add dior homme to the stable…spicy and warm and leather-y…yum…
kat’s response made me remember how wonderful angel for men is…it smells just like lemons and chocolates…it’s so great. it’s not at all like its patchouli-powdery, feminine counter-part.
Well, I have to say that I share your feelings about perfume. Many give me *seriously bad* headaches that can ruin an entire day. But yes, I love Fresh perfumes. They are some of the only that I can stand, actually. And I have Marc Jacobs Cucumber Splash. It is beyond fabulous. No headaches, really fresh smelling. Some might think it is more of a summer scent, but I am wearing it *right now*, and I smell gooooood. Also, it is really generously sized so you can feel free to use it for other purposes. Like sheets! It was limited edition, but maybe you find it on e-bay. I have not seen the cucumber, but TJMaxx and Marshalls had some MJ Splashes quite recently. Ivy, I think? If not, I’m sure a new similar scent will be released for next spring/summer. After liking the cucumber so much, I think I will be experimenting with his other scents. I hope this helps, and good luck with your fragrance search!
xxx
I love L’Occitaine perfumes, light and natural. They are way more expensive in the States though so it is often better to buy them abroad.
I LOVE Sugar — do not ruin it for me by telling others about it!! I also love Philosophy’s Pure Grace — smells like soap and water, seriously.
I recently went to Bath Junkie and made a lotion with sandalwood and brown sugar that makes me swoon with happiness for winter.
The next bottle I buy will be Chanel Chance. I just ran out of Burburry Brit, which I also really liked.
For summer, I love coconut scents- The coconut lime verbena from Bath and Body works is so nice to spray on when its hot outside…I also love to mix heather and sweet clover in the vitamin E spray from Bath Junkie.
Another perfume I got zillions of compliments for has been Voluspa Mingonette. Smells like raspberries, vanilla and white flowers, but somehow avoids being cloying.
As far as men’s scents go, I just smelled a magazine sample of Calvin Klein Men and I just loved it. I need a sample of this to spray on my boyfriend (although I haven’t entirely ruled out trying it for myself as well.)
um..actually I think it was Calvin Klein Man, not Men. My bad.
I love Dia de Los Muertos by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. It smells like Autumn in a bottle, and is only $15.
I am actually shocked no one has mentioned the Lab yet. Check out http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com
I just looked at the black phoenix website. I love that they have perfume’s inspired by Neil Gaimen novels. I’ll have to order some samples!
The Perfume Addict’s Top Ten (out of way too many):
10. Bvlgari Voile de Jasmin
9. Burberry Weekend
8. Philosopy Amazing Grace
7. Dior J’adore
6. Hermes Eau des Merveilles
5. Chanel Chance
4. Ralph Lauren Romance
3. Narciso Rodriguez For Her
2. D&G Light Blue
1. Robert Piquet Fracas
Happy Sniffing!!
I totally agree with the people who get raging headaches when someone bathes in their perfume (they must think one bottle is a “serving size!”), so I’m super-picky about the scents I wear–they can’t enter the room five minutes ahead of me. After ordering a dozen sample scents from Beauty Habit (catalog and online), I discovered the Carthusia perfumes. They smell so light, classy, and “rich.” I also feel like I won’t smell this scent on many other people, since it’s not available where I live except online.