Signature Scents?
Do you guys have a signature scent?
I’ve been really into perfume lately, though throughout my life I hadn’t been a fan at all.
My first perfume was Clinique Happy (who else had this??!). I remember when my mom bought this for me in my early teens, and I felt so grown up putting it on. The scent itself reminds me of adolescence, super citrusy at the beginning and throughout the day mellowed out to a warm floral. I recently smelled it again and all I got was Pinesol! After that, I never really dedicated myself to another perfume. I could never find one that I liked enough to commit to a WHOLE bottle, but had a ton of little samples that I’d use on and off.
There are 3 near and dear to my heart as of recent.
I got really into the CLEAN line of scents in my early 20s through a sample set from Sephora (which had White Woods, Skin, and Rain). My favorite was CLEAN White Woods, which will always remind me of the holidays. I wore it religiously during the winter months. It’s a spicy/sweet, bergamot-y, warm smell - which was perfect for Chicago winters. It’s definitely a unisex smell. Unfortunately it's been discontinued, so I've been SPARINGLY using what little left I have!
Glossier You (10% off via this link)
Late last year, I bought my first full sized perfume since my teens! I fell in love with a sample of Glossier You and sprung for a full size which I’m already half way through. I totally bought into the whole ‘skin smell enhancer’/'smells different on everyone' marketing, but it is true to its marketing. I love that it’s not a perfume that screams out ‘I’m wearing perfume.’ Officially, it’s a relatively straight forward perfume with only 4 notes (amber, musk, iris, pink pepper) and it comes off really comforting (?), warm, and slightly floral on me. It’s worn itself well into all my coat sleeves now and is my everyday scent. 100% will repurchase when I’m in New York City in July.
This was my second full sized bottle of perfume - ever! I picked this up on my recent trip to Paris with my family and the bottle on my dresser is a nice little memento of the trip. I had been eyeing a bottle of À La Nuit (Jasmine soliflore), but unfortunately they no longer carry it in brick and mortar stores. The shop assistant suggested Fleur D’Oranger to me instead (Orange Blossom). It’s a gorgeous, heady, white floral that reminds me of summer. It dries down to a spicy vanilla.
There’s a great documentary on perfumery from the BBC that I highly recommend on YouTube that I watched to learn more about perfume. It’s in 3 parts - the first part follows the development of a commercial perfume. The second part follows a perfumer that captures scents of places (think cities, bookstores, etc). And the third part looks into a group of students at one of the top programs that teach perfumery.
I rarely leave the house without spritzing on Glossier You or Fleur D’Oranger nowadays. Let me know of your go-to scents in the comments!
No real signature scent for me, alas, thanks to allergic reactions that quickly start to happen when I wear it too often. (And buying even a 1.7 fl oz bottle is definitely too much of a commitment because of that issue!) Of the samples and perfumes I've tried in the past, I seem to gravitate towards fairly simple, "straightforward" scents like Margiela Beach Walk (I'm nowhere near close to using up the whole rollerball in years of owning it!), and I really like Tea Escape too (which smells like a matcha latte), but they only really sell an expensive, large bottle...
ReplyDeleteOutside of that, if I were to splurge again, I feel like I'd be most likely to look to Jo Malone, I tried a sample of the Basil and Neroli that I thought was very nice. (From that and a sample of the Mimosa and Cardamom, it does seem like their perfumes are a little weak/don't have great lasting power though.)