On the road again: Good scents for travel

Ann 10 Comments

travelHello, dear Posse folks. I am on the road and in and out of town for a few days to get a little beach time with my boys. I don’t know about you, but when I travel, I’m always a little wishy-washy about what to bring scent-wise.

Now if you’re going to a fabulous perfume destination, such as London, Paris, New York, L.A., etc., I think it might be cool to go commando and get your sniff on at one of the many wonderful perfume stops there, trying lots of new fragrances, and maybe, just maybe, finding something new to love that would make a great souvenir to scent your travel scrapbook. I’ve never done this but sure would like to one day, say, in London or Paris.

However, if you happen to be going to a perfume Deadsville, well, it might be a good idea to take along some favorites to keep you company.

At my destination, I think there’s an Ulta and Dillard’s – nothing wrong with those, of course, but I’m not likely to find anything new there to explore (although I will have a ball in Ulta looking at the shelves and shelves of nail polish). So I’m packing some summer standbys like Kai and Chanel Eau de Cologne: Those are pleasant, fresh and feel like summer to me. Also, I’m further testing a sample I just got and am quite liking after round one: Penhaligon’s Ostara. I’ll try it to my heart’s content as I travel, and will report back later. I can’t sample much during a regular workweek at my fragrance-free office, so vacation days are prime time for playing and experimenting.

What about you? What are your favorite travel, road trip or vacation scents? Do you try to match your fragrance to your destination and/or the weather or do you tend to take mainly comfort/favorite scents?

This is interesting too!

10 Comments

  1. I like to bring at least one thing that is easy to wear in crowded conditions like on an airplane. For me, Mure et Musc fits the bill–it basically makes me smell just-out-of-the-shower fresh all day, without being cloying or overpowering.

  2. I like variety but I want to travel lightly, so I take samples and decants. This year I went to Netherlands, and the only fragrance matching the destination was Scent of Departure Amsterdam. I also took a decant of 4711 Original Eau de Cologne because it is light and refreshing. Then I took three small nearly finished sample-sized decants to finish them. And finally I visited a perfume shop in the Hague, made a purchase and got several free samples to test (one of them, by the way, was Ostara).

  3. Last year, I took a wonderful trip to Europe–mostly in the Normandy region, but with 2 nights in London and 2 in Paris. Didn’t take fragrance along, thinking I’d pick up something special. Imagine my dismay upon walking into every perfume store, only to find the same old things sold here in the U.S.! The only time I spotted something intriguing was in Auvers-sur-Oise: vintage perfume in an antique store, and it was closed! Now I know to bring decants with me.

  4. This is a hard question, I always take samples and decants as they are lighter to carry and leave room for purchases!
    But sometimes I come home empty handed 🙁
    And then there’s always the issue of not having the Exact fragrance you actually feel like wearing that day!

  5. When I go on vacation it is mostly the seaside, so I take a bottle of a light citrus scent and a scented body lotion which is a great solution for the evenings – the skin is moisturized and it smells beautifully. On the other hand, when I go on a business trip, I take some perfume samples with me. In the morning I choose one of them and test it throughout the day. I also observe how the people I meet react on my scent.
    I’d never take the risk of going on a trip without carrying a perfume along.

  6. Heya Ann,
    I find packing my scents up for a holiday intense.
    I have some Hermes 15ml and a couple of other small bottles up to 30ml that I like to travel with. There is also usually a little Surrender To Chance box of decants as well. Just in case.
    Portia xx

  7. Have a great time, Ann! We are visiting dear friends on the Gulf Coast later this summer, not my favorite time to go because of the heat but that’s when all the schedules line up. Usually when I travel I take an assortment of samples and decants including some close favorites but this trip I’m going to keep it really simple with just a couple summer staples in sample form, maybe for evening, like Seville l’Aube and Un Jardin Sur le Nil.

  8. When I travel I usually take decants of things I like – but that I’m not afraid to lose in case they were confiscated by the TSA folks, or if they were lost or damaged. Ya know?….

    I take perfumes that are softly lingering – but not usually of the “Big Guns” type. My plan is to always take the opportunity to go sniffing wherever I might be … and so I try to wear lightly so I have some “open real estate” for testing.

    The last few trips have included: Eau de Gaga, Bulgari Au The Vert, Calvin Klein Reveal, Hermes Vetiver Tonka, Gabriele Strehle Strenesse or Toni Gard EDP, and several Jo Malones (Wild Fig & Cassis, Nectarine Blossom & Honey, White Jasmine & Mint).

  9. I tend towards going commando on vacation, but I always take decants of a few favorites.

    Usually Joy EdT, the Bvlgari green tea, AG Rose Absolue and Femme/Jub25/Mitsy, depending on weather and any evening occasion that might be scheduled.

    Enjoy your trip!

  10. While I am a minimalistic and efficient packer when it comes to clothing and beauty supplies (hint: pixie cut), I take decant a of everything I’ve worn in at least the last month, and more likely two. This is not because I’m throwing caution to the wind, but because I’m being very cautious indeed. I pay more attention to getting scent right on a daily basis than I do jewelry-jewelry’s easy. I freak out if I don’t smell right to myself.

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