Signature Scents
[ 31 January 2007 ]
Coco Chanel said that you should wear perfume wherever you want to be kissed, & when Marilyn Monroe was asked what she wore to bed, she replied “two drops of Chanel No.5”. Of course, both statements were excellent P.R. for Chanel’s perfumes. I, personally, have never understood the appeal of Chanel No. 5. It’s lacking something.
These, however, are perfect — which is why I own them.
Lolita Lempicka MidnightThis is the grown-up version of the original Lolita Lempicka. Midnight is romantic & a more than a little dirty. Lolita is the perfect name for it — it smacks of adventures & forbidden love. Definitely the fragrance of a nymphet. I was about to buy the original Lolita Lempicka when I discovered that Midnight had just been released. I tried one on each wrist — initially I found it hard to pick the difference, but the more I smelt them, the more obvious their differences became. Midnight is longer-lasting, stronger & poutier, while I would say the original is lighter & more of a daytime fragrance. (Reviews.)
Demeter’s Birthday Cake & Violet & Champagne Brut.I am a fan of combining Birthday Cake with Champagne Brut — totally the birthday party you wish you were having. I personally think Champagne Brut smells more like Nerds candy than anything alcoholic, but I think of that as a positive thing. Violet is a bit old-lady, & I threw it out one day when I was moving house. I regret it though, since sometimes I want to smell like an old woman. I am weird, I know. (Reviews for Birthday Cake, Champagne Brut & Violet.)
M.A.C.‘s MV2I think this is pretty much the sexiest fragrance in existence. In fact, I was reading some reviews of it just now & had to run from my desk to put some on. God, I smell good. MV2 is a deep, spicy, delicious vanilla. It’s difficult to describe, though — I think maybe if a beautiful pink cupcake was wearing Louboutin heels & lying in an all-white bed, it would smell like this. Bizarre imagery, I know, but it’s the best I could do! (Reviews.)
Miss Dior CherieTo me, Miss Dior Cherie smells like strawberry sorbet & youth. It smells like your first little black dress, a glamorous romance, boy bait. I received this at Christmas in 2005, & given the way my life was at that time, whenever I wear it these days, I feel sexy, desired, powerful & totally free. It is quite incredible. When I first smelt it, I wasn’t sure I liked it, but it grew on me very quickly. It’s not the sort of thing I normally go for, since it’s so fruity, but I absolutely love it now. It transforms me. (Reviews
.)
I am pretty keen on the idea of these, too:
Demeter’s Cotton Candy, Riding Crop & Chocolate Covered Cherries. I think Cotton Candy & Riding Crop together would be an amazing combination. It would certainly surprise people… & it could definitely lead to mischief.
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Lolita sounds good, too. Humbert Humbert’s heart just skipped a beat. This is the quintesscential American nymphet scent: sweet and girly and innocent, with a bit off crass, bratty impertinance thrown in. Bubble gum sweetness (with built-in petulancy — you can just hear Lolita smacking her gum impatiently and rolling her eyes), heliotrope, lemon and a bit of seductive cherry.
As you can probably tell, I have a definite affection for anything that smells sweet but has a sexy twist. When I worked at Lush, I smelt like a walking Lush shop (& would often have people at bus stops ask me if I had been there recently). I was delighted when I quit, since it meant I could actually wear perfume & not have it overpowered by a menagerie of soap! Ebay is an absolute godsend, in that it enables me to buy small samples of perfume before committing to a huge bottle of anything (& to give you some indication, I have never finished a bottle of anything except Hypnotic Poison, my signature scent when I was about 15). On sad days I like to wear Thierry Mugler’s Angel — it smells like my mother (& my lovely friend Jo).
Do you wear perfume, body spray, scented lotion? What do you smell like on a daily basis? Vanilla pomade & earl grey & Marlboro lights? Your boyfriend’s deodorant & spearmint chewing gum? What do you like your lovers to wear? Tell me! I want male opinions too!
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
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I love a good perfume.
The first one I used was Yves Saint Laurent’s Rive Gauche. I picked it in a duty free shop, aged 13, returning on holiday from Australia. It seemed dead sophisticated.
Then I moved on to Colors by Benetton. It was a nice spicy one, and I’m sure if I smelt it today, it would transport me back to being 17.
Then I moved on to Revlon Fire and Ice, which is like a secretary who is trying to seduce her boss.
When I was 22 I used CKOne. I liked the cleanness of it, but it started to evoke too many weird memories, so I had to give it up.
I dallied with Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers, which is a really cheerful scent, but I don’t always want to be cheerful.
I bought Calvin Klein Contradiction in Sephora in Paris, but I think my nose was confused by the smells of the shop, because when I got home I found it overpowering.
At the moment I’m using Eau d’Issey, which I’m sort of using because an old, dead friend of mine used to wear the men’s version. But I like it because it’s light and yet deep and very cool.
My high school French teacher said she always sprayed perfume in her hair because the movement helped distribute the fragrance and it didn’t damage the skin. I believe she learned his from a French lady when she was teaching England in France, so it seems like good advice.
I really like Smut and Unicorn from BPAL, though I don’t wear either too often. I’m usually too lazy to put on perfume.
i never wore perfume when i was younger…but recently i’ve bought several.
i’m a fan of the ‘fresh’ line. i own lemon sugar, sugar lychee, and sake, i think i wear sake the most.
I like demeter a lot, i have ‘grapefruit tea’, it’s nearly out!
also, my french exchange brought me perfume as a gift. i think it’s called amor amor by cacharel. i love it.
I love buying perfume, but places like sephora really overwhelm me with choices. i like heading into the perfume section of anthropologie because their scents are always great.
i can’t wait to head to sephora to test the perfumes youve recomended.
I can’t remember if it was Vogue or Elle i saw it in a while back but Play-doh made a special perfume to celebrate 50 years or something….i used to love that smell as a kid :)
Emma x
Emma — Demeter does a Playdoh scent! That might be the one you’re thinking of…
I scour the globe for bottles of the original version of dior addict…it’s so perfect for me, striong enough to elict reaction, but not any of the obvious suspects.
For my 21st birthday(last Dec) I was given Dior J’Adore Eau de Toilette which I love.
Before that I wore Elizabeth Arden ‘Green Tea’ as it was relatively ‘fresh’ and youthful.
I absolutely love ‘Dior Addict’, and think it fits me perfectly. I wear the original version in autumn and winter, and at night – year round. But for spring and summer days I like to wear the Dior Addict Fraiche, which is a little lighter and fruitier.
I also like to wear Calvin Klein Contradiction on hot summer days sometimes, as it reminds me of Christmas.
I feel terribly provincial, having not traveled much outside of NZ and I haven’t heard of most of the fragrances you’ve recommended… but I’m heading over to ebay now to see what I can find!
Hey..just de-lurking here to put in my 2 cents worth on fragrance, one of my very very favourite things. I’m a scent whore!
My new favourite is Gaultier 2, a unisex scent that’s sweet and spicy and yummm…I can’t stop sniffing my wrists when I wear it. Same goes for the original Joop! for men, sweet and spicy.
Others that would fall into the same kind of category I love would be Angel, Emporio Armani Night, and Burberry Brit Red.
I could go on and on, I have dozens of scents(it comes with my job, oh and that as I said I’m a total whore for the stuff).
Oh, and PS, I totally pimped out your site on my blog.
Ooooh! Frangrance for men:
I absolutely Joop! for men. It always puts me in the mood. Occasionally a stranger on the street will walk past me wearing it, and I have been known to stop, turn around, and gaze lustfully at men’s backs as I try to guess who is wearing it.
I also like Pi by Givenchy.
Ritalin — Yes, it’s amazing how a smell can make you want to jump someone! Just goes to show how important it is to wear something you like. My favourite men’s fragrance is MAC’s MV3 — like MV2 but deeper & more masculine. “A deep dark velvety blend of bergamot, jasmine, vetiver, vanilla, whipped with leather, sparked up by amber crystals and tolu balsam wood. Exotically earthy, rich and ritualistic, totally addictive.” I should buy some for myself.
Raindog71 — Thank you! & I’ve now heard two positive comments about Joop! for men, I might have to go & hunt it out!
oh i love the orignal lolita, i need a new bottle i might get a smaller one than planned and get midnight aswell
I think it might be-the bottle is what reminded me of it…i have a terrible memory!
ah! i love perfume. i always wanted to develop a signature scent but i can never seem to settle on one. sigh.
i love miss. dior’s cherie, but in the winter i have mainly been wearing hermes, eau de merveilles (musky and warm but not old lady) and in the summer moschino’s i love love (fresh but a bit bitter/ sour) or ralph lauren blue when i’m being super girly.
i want to find one what is lilacs and lily of the valley, i think demeter might be my best bet.
when my bf wears acqua di gio for men (by armani) it makes me want to take his clothes off.
Any girl who wears Alien by Thiery Mugler or CK Euphoria will have me spellbound…everytime!
I have a massive amount of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfumes and will swap through a bunch of them on my days off. I especially adore Somnus – it’s my sleeping perfume :)
On my work days, I wear Nanette Lepore, which is very nice, but too green/fresh and sharp.
I want to work for LUSH so bad, you can’t even understand my desire.
Savannah — Have you taken your CV in to a Lush shop? Or emailed it to them? They often have openings (& especially over Christmas etc.). The best thing you could do is have an interesting (as in, show your personality) CV & be as outgoing as possible when you deliver it. They really want people who are fearless & enthusiastic. You should go for it!
I’m a ‘fraidy cat, but I can fake being bold and fearless really well. I haven’t had a chance to re-write my CV, but now I have 1 1/2 yrs retail and a year managing experience, so maybe I can get my toe in the door just long enough to charm them with my wit!
Yay! Go for it. (Also, love for & a little knowledge of their products will go a long way…)
ahhh, perfumes.
i’m no expert – AND i’m allergic to the damn things! i think it’s the alcohol? (i have very sensitive skin)
i normally put 2 or 3 sprays on my clothing in the morning
i started out with calvin klein in my teens. have used up two bottles of ckOne in my lifetime, and onto my 3rd, so i guess you could call that my ‘signature scent’.
was also a fan of ckBe at one stage, still have the bottle, but only use it on occasion now.
am onto my second bottle of britney spears ‘curious’, which i still love
have been through 2 bottles of hugo boss’ ‘intense’ over the past couple of years too… mmm…
and now have got a bottle of JLo ‘live’ which is so so so yummy.
i really like ‘youthful’ smelling perfumes.
i have a body shop voucher at the moment and am going to go in and buy some white musk as it reminds me of someone who passed away recently. i’m not sure how much i’ll actually use it but it will be nice to sniff the bottle and evoke memories!
as for boys… i like a few of hugo boss’ fragrances. some of the ck guys ones are ok.
but even some deodorants are nice on guys – i think there’s a lynx one out there that makes me weak at the knees!
:D
in reference to sometimes wanting to smell like an old lady, i, too, find something charming in an old-fashioned perfume flavor. my choice would be ‘powder puff’, a perfume oil we sell at bella blue, of course…it’s charmingly powdery and lady-like…reminds me of playing with my grandmother’s makeup when i was little. and some people either like it or hate it…i love it, love putting a drop on and puffing some powder with a big pink pouf and donning lipstick and pearls. la!
Hi. I just found your journal and I’m reading through it. Re ‘Old Lady Scents’ I totally get that. I’ve got a bottle (or 3) of 4711 which is the ultimate ‘old woman’ cologne and yet I love it. It’s been my ‘old standby’ from age 13 onwards, no matter what other fragrances I’ve bought, that one is always somewhere on the dressing table.
On a daily basis, I smell like lollypops (My body wash) Basic Light 100’s (I don’t smoke- my room mate does. All the time. Everywhere. No matter how often I ask her to stop. So It gets into my clothes.) Tomatoes (My breakfast) and a tiny hint of nail polish (I change my nail color daily.) (In that order, it’s Eau Du Lexie)
I don’t wear purfume a lot, because I have the tendency to glomp people and if I put on enough to over power my many smells, They complain about it being to strong. But I really want to go all out and not smell like lollies/ciggies/tomatoes/nailpolish, I dress at my friend’s (smoke free) house and use Falling Stars from Pixie Potions. It’s sugary, but on a lesser level.
My signature scent for the past 2 years have been Chanel’s Chance. But i think after readig your article…i just might go out on a limb and try Miss Dior Cherie! After all….boy bait! ;)
Coco Chanel Mademoiselle! Always! I cant break this delicious habit and it goes with everything and makes me feel gorgeous!
Gala, you should try Vivienne Westwood’s Boudoir, if you haven’t yet, it’s hard to describe, but I think you’d love it.
Thank you for being such an inspiration!
I’m a sucker for the Body Shop’s White Musk and Chanel no.5 . My mum wears Issey Miyaki and it smells sooo good on her
i have 7 imps from bpal, and they’re all decent. i think something that’s in most of them reacts with me to make a kind of powdery scent… they’re probably not the best scents i could ever find, and i’d definitely love to try more (but again, money doesn’t grow in trees, hah). one thing that i put on every day though, except for the occasion that i wear bpal, is pure lavender essential oil. i put in in my hair too, cos i heard a few times before that the oils in hair help disperse the scent? or something. everyone always tells me that i smell awesome. sometimes it smells like froot loops.
I am a definite fan of any Anna Sui perfume – the bottles are beautiful, cute, and ultimately very sweet. The perfume is as good as the bottle too – I’m a real fan of Dolly Girl, Sui Love, and Secret Wish – I always feel special and sweet wearing them. Beautiful perfumes.
My nana actually got me hooked on my favourite perfume: Narcisse by Chloe. I’m a sucker for patchouli oil which is what it mostly smells like, so it’s unsuprising there.
I also love Black XS for her because it smells like strawberries and boy do I love strawberries!
I also love something you can’t seem to get here anymore which is Ice Musk from Boot’s Own Natural Collection, which is gorgeous. Thank god for stocking up!
I’m wading my way through this treasure trove of a blog after discovering it days ago and this was just one of those topics I couldn’t not comment on.
In summer I’m a big fan of Demeter’s Fig Leaf since it’s not too flowery and I’m not a flowery kind of girl. The one that I finish to the very last squirt and then panic till I get more is Guerlain Vetvier. It’s a men’s fragrance but just smells so clean and crisp and most importantly different to everything else out there. Then for sexing it up a bit I turn to yet another men’s fragrance Guerlain L’instant – I’ve had people ask me on the bus what I’m wearing and it’s the one that is always commented on.
Another one that should any of you ever see smell the tester because it’s almost too good to be true (but almost impossible to find now for whatever reason – possibly discontinued) is Helmut Lang (has a white label) – smells like soapy skin with a touch of vanilla. Another one that used to get comments galore – but you had to get really up close to smell that one ;)
Nothing beats Missoni perfume. It is to die for! Fresh, sweet, sophisticated and sexy… what more could a girl want?