POIFUME
You’re never fully dressed without perfume.
I love my perfumes. I LOVE my perfumes. Anointing myself with a few drops of fragrance is an instant energizer, and the necessary final touch to my toilette. I get unreasonably enormous satisfaction in choosing the perfect scent for my color and mood. {Almost as much as by a bright swipe of lipstick.}
While I find appealing the idea of a signature fragrance—a perfume that expresses you so perfectly that you wear it exclusively and it becomes part of your mystique—there's just too many lovely scents from which to choose! I have a signature for each disposition and occasion. :-)
A friend recently wrote to me about perfume, as she looks for her own first signature. I was more than happy to tell her about the bottles arranged next to my bed. Here’s what I have—so far.
{ETERNITY by CALVIN KLEIN}
After preteen ablutions in violet water, mango body mist, and Victoria Secret's Love Spell, I acquired and fell in love with my first 'real' perfume. Eternity by Calvin Klein still reminds me of Sundays; I wore it only to church and hoarded each drop.
{I ceremoniously carried out the first empty bottle with the declaration ‘I have run out of Eternity’; my father commented, ‘Didn’t think you could do that.’}
I’m a little more liberal now, and wear Eternity with my silver or cream palettes. It’s a classic and refreshing scent, perfect for rainy days sorting through books at the library sale.
Fresh notes of citrus and green are sweetened by violet and lily of the valley and warmed by carnation and pink sandalwood.
{WISH by LOLLIA}
Wearing Lollia's Wish always reminds me of working in kindergarten; one little boy hugged me and yelled to his classmates: ‘Miss Samantha smells like candy!’ This sugary scent is innocent, sweet, playful and definitely pink. Warm vanilla bean and rice flower is sweetened by jasmine, ylang-ylang and a hint of amber.
I have a ‘watercolor’ dress that I can wear with no perfume but Wish. The gold-leaf bumblebees on the bottle are as whimsical as I feel, wearing this scent and a pair of bright pink pumps.
{1945 by FOSSIL}
When I'm feeling retro chic, I reach for my cut-glass bottle of 1954 by Fossil. Bright mandarin blossom warms into pink pepper, ginger and cedar with a feminine hint of rose and freesia. The cut-glass bottle with its wood stopper is perfect.
I wear this to art festivals with a creamy lace blouse, bottle green jeans, and flat laced oxfords. Or I might be stepping out for salsa lessons in a gauzy polka-dot dress and red lipstick.
{WILD BLUEBELL by JO MALONE}
This perfume was love at first whiff. I still feel strangely drawn whenever I’m out walking and catch its distinctive notes.
Jo Malone's Wild Bluebell is an enchanting floral with delicate sweetness and surprising warmth. It combines the elusive fragrance of bluebell with lily of the valley, eglantine and persimmon. This delicate perfume is surprisingly long-lasting. I like to wear this on my ‘velvet steel days,’ the days I feel comfortably in control.
Wild Bluebell is a natural choice when wearing blue, but when the mood strikes I wear it with bold fuchsia.—Or with blue and fuchsia; why choose?
{PETIT FRACAS by ROBERT PIGUET}
Robert Piguet's Petit Fracas was a long anticipated purchase {that had to wait for the tax refund!}. Intense tuberose and chocolate make it a sweetly seductive experience. My brother insists I smell like jellybeans; he says that's a good thing.
Sometimes it feels right to wear it during the day, if I'm feeling überfeminine and coquettish. But this is my one perfume suitable for evening, so I'm more likely to be stepping out in a lace dress and heels that would make my chiropractor cry.
• my perfumes •
February 23, 2016