Patty and March’s Top 10 for Summer

Summer´s got us by the bal- short hairs throat, and it´s time to weigh in with our seasonal list of scents that are proving to be summer-friendly.

March´s Top Five

1. Prada Infusion d´Iris – I don´t own this, and I don´t wear it. So why is it on my list? In our crowded, humid, sweaty city, can I tell you how insanely grateful I am that this seems to have been adopted by huge numbers of worker bees I encounter throughout the day on public transport in the wretched heat? As opposed to, oh, Angel. Or Euphoria. I don´t care if one in five women seems to be wearing it with her sensible suit, pearls and sneakers. It´s a pretty, sophisticated, ageless scent that manages the rare feat of being both subtle and pervasive. Women always seem startled I can smell it on them, but in fact it´s quite distinctive. Two lightly scented thumbs up.

2. Tea. (You knew I was going to cheat on the count, right?) Take Parfums de Nicolai Fig-Tea. Not so much figs or tea as a wonderful leafy, lightly floral summer staple. Or, there´s Bvlgari White Tea. I know I´m not inspiring you with that one. But I am trying to be honest. Every now and again I get an email that asks, so what do you really wear? White Tea is one of the very few scents I´ve had to buy a second bottle of, one of those scents I can throw on when everything else seems wrong and never regret it. Newbie lurkers: Bvlgari White Tea may not be that scent for you, but everyone needs one of those scents in his/her closet – the go-to fragrance that never turns out to be the wrong pair of shoes with the outfit. Because unlike shoes, fragrance can be harder to switch out of quickly. More tea: you can´t go wrong with L´Artisan´s The Pour Un Ete (although it lasts nine seconds), or, on the cheap side, Speziali Fiorentini´s Te Nero or Demeter´s wonderful Coriander Tea.

3. JAR Bolt of Lightning. The folks at JAR don´t discuss the notes in their fragrances, and you´d have to be a better nose detective than I am to suss them out, but I smell green leaves and forest, wet stones, distant storms, and something faintly sweet to offset the drama. A fragrance that makes me think of walking through a bamboo forest created by Louis Vuitton working with Michelangelo. Is that worth $800 a bottle or whatever this stuff costs? I don´t know, but it sure smells good. When I wear it to bed I have strange dreams. An on-the-cheap (relatively speaking) summer-greens alternative: I Am A Dandelion by CB I Hate Perfume.

4. Suntan smells – the new Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess, which is a close dupe of the old Tom Ford EL Azuree; NARS Monoi oil; the wildly overpriced but still tasty Creed Virgin Island Water; or (cheap treat!) Coty Sand & Sable from your local CVS, and one spray of that is plenty, trust me.

5. Jasmine. I love jasmine any old time, but it seems perfect in sultry summer, when it really blooms on my skin. Jo Malone White Jasmine & Mint is the civilized alternative. I also love skanky jasmines like Donna Karan´s jasmine essence, Armani Prive´s Eclat de Jasmine (which on me smells like it´s growing next to the horse stalls), and Montale´s gloriously ripe Jasmin Full. NSFW, particularly, but if you wear it to a party, men follow you around like they´re hypnotized. Not that I´m speaking from personal experience.

5. Ormonde Jayne Champaca. They put some addictive drug in this thing; I can’t stop wearing it. It’s sort of incense-y, but not really – it’s not heavy, but it lasts forever on me. And since I wore it almost the whole time I was in Thailand, it now conjures all that up for me, which makes it even more special. Notes are neroli, pink pepper, bamboo, champaca, freesia, basmati, myrrh, green tea, and musk. I don’t read many raves for the scent, I think it’s kind of under the radar? I can’t understand why. Heaven in a bottle.

Patty’s Top Ten of Summer:

1. Summer is when I love me some CBs. Dandelion, To See a Flower, Wild Hunt, Memory of Kindness, so many of them are just summer smells that have accompanied some of my happiest memories of summer. I love to wear them and wrap myself up in their comforting smells. Well, you should too!

2. I join March on the Tea bench and raise her a couple more. Osmanthe Yunnan will always hit my top summer scents list because it is always perfect.

3. Incenses rule during summer. Any of the CdGs work perfectly, as does Armani’s Bois d’Encens. The heat cools those incenses to where they just whisper across your skin and nose.

4. Hermes Orange d’Verte. Duh. It lasts like 1 hour, then you reapply. Keep going all during the day. They sell it in that mondo bottle for a reason.

5. L’Artisan Poivre Piquant. Peppers and heat, yes’m. Magic. Marina tossed me this idea when we were in NYC, and I’ve had Poivre Piquant in my truck all summer to spritz on me and the inside of the truck. It easily cools it by 10 degrees as soon as that smell hits my nose. Who knew?

Visit our other perfume blog friends who are also doing their Best of Summer:
Bois de Jasmin ::Now Smell This :: Perfume Posse :: Perfume-Smellin’ Things :: Scentzilla