Top Ten Scents of Spring

(FOLKS —  Let’s try again, with comments working this time.)

It’s hard to believe, particularly after the winter some of us had, but it’s time (almost past time!) for the Top Ten Scents of Spring.   As usual, our peerless pals in the Perfume Posse (say that three times fast) were each asked to contribute their two (s)cents, we are pretty sure that adds up to ten….

Anita:  (taking the contrarian point of view … What Not to Wear in Spring)

These are scents I lovelovelove love ….but Not Right Now.  (and I cheated.  I have THREE!   ow!)

Rose.  Oh, rose.  You are thorny weasels in the cold, wet chilly winds of Spring.  Blooming like, well…a rose, during the heat of summer, you turn all waxy and plastic and skeery in April.  Rose d´Ete, Une Folie du Rose…I´m talkin´ to you!  Une Rose, I fear we may never be friends.  Maybe we can share a lemonade in July.

Cuir Ottoman. In August, this is a thing of sensuous beauty, with that leathery, almost-oudhish vibe….in Spring it makes me want to chew my arm off and throw it out the window.

Vintage Coty(s):  I know.  That tugging sound you hear is a million perfumistas trying to yank my card!  But vintage L´Origan gives me hives of anxiety this time of year and vintage L´Aimant smells like rotting beef.

Nava: My first official Canadian winter wasn’t as bad as I’d feared (no comment from the rest of youse), but things have a way of evening out in the end. I’m sure I’ll be buried up to my eyeballs next year, while the cherry blossoms in DC will start blooming in January. For spring this year, my picks are the new Balenciaga Paris, because all of a sudden, I’m in love with the non-chypre chypreish-ness of it, Tom Ford Private Blend Neroli Portofino; it’s one of the only orange blossom scents that lasts longer than 5 minutes on my skin, and because Anita/Musette got a third, I’m going to go with Kenzo Amour Florale, even though the lasting power stinks, it’s another gorgeous orange blossom with some aromatic cardamom thrown in, that doesn’t get all skanky in the heat. Who cares if we can’t count!

March:  Nava, thanks for all the snow!  We got, what, five feet or more?   Anyhow, putting that behind me, spring to me (or at least this spring) is the perfect time for peculiar scents — scents that match the moody changeable weather, cold and rainy one second, warm and blustery the next.    My first nominee: Niki de Saint Phalle, which I wore in college more for the sophisticated image (in my mind) of what it represented than the smell.   Niki on the wrong day will frown and kick you in the shins before burning a hole in your sofa with her cigarette ash.  On the right day, though, her bracingly strange brew of mint, marigold, vetiver, oakmoss and patchouli (with a sprinkling of florals) seems just the ticket.   Another recent delightfully oddball discovery (let’s Blame Louise, who gave it to me) is Parfums de Nicolai’s Eau Turquoise, which — gag me with a fruity apricot floral.  It sounds like a candied nightmare on paper, but I am head over heels in love with that admittedly pissy/green note of mango dancing around drunkenly in there alongside that tasteful jasmine and rose.  Add some zing (cardamom, pepper, lime) and a woodsy base and watch the sun come out right over my head, with unicorns and rainbows and other goofy stuff busting out.  I can’t stop grinning at this.

Patty: There’s only one thing that’s working for me this spring, and that’s Byredo Tulipe.  I am wearing that pretty much every day now.  It’s matching thing is my Oribe hair care products, which all have the same scent.  It’s a lovely one, too, and I can’t quite place it.  Between the two, I smell amazing and fresh.  And the scent I’ve surrounded myself with that’s natural is my gardenia plant. It’s in bloom and rich and lush and makes me think the hot days of summer are almost here.

Lee: Good to hear March wearing the heck out of that Eau Turquoise – it is a lovely fruity floral! Strange times, to utter such words. As for me, the world of men’s scents seems to have a limited palate in spring, if you’re going for the spring vibe that is. I know most folk here wear whatever they like whenever they like, however. Good on you all. I’ll go with l’homme de coeur by Divine, which I’ve had to reorder as my bottle is down to its last dregs (great CS by the way – I plan to call in if I ever go to Dinard. The Parisian store is also lovely). It’s subtle, pretty evanescent, and quiet. All the things spring isn’t really – at least round these parts. Yet it fits so well. Whilst all that lime green explosion is shouting out in the hedgerows,, l’homme de coeur is a quiet, refined presence. And sticking with the quiet and refined, Dia Homme by Amouage. It might be a little powdery some days, and I don’t generally do that, but it’s  similarly understated, though maybe more buttoned up than the crisp white shirt casual sigh of the Divine number. It’s a  whisper of suited elegance. Or something. I’m into quiet, it seems. If I want loud, I can go and stand amongst the tulips and chat with Ballerina, Queen of Sheba, and Princess Irene. They’ve all got their gladrags on.

For more Top Ten Scents, please visit:

Bois de Jasmin

Grain de Musc

Now Smell This

Perfume-Smellin’ Things