The very last step in my ritual of getting ready to go out is arguably my favourite, that is spritzing on the last piece of the jigsaw- fragrance. I’ve had love affairs with all sorts over the years, I used to douse myself in Burberry Brit when I was 14, CHANEL Chance takes me back to Friday nights with a fake ID aged 16 (the Friday nights in question were always spent on the district line and then furtively ‘getting in’ to the Troubadour in Earls Court aah memories!) and Thiery Mugler’s Alien reminds me of the early few months of my relationship with my boyfriend (seriously, if I get a whiff of someone else wearing it my stomach somersaults). Perfume is so personal, so subjective and yet so much fun. I can’t say I’m a one scent kind of girl, I never really have been and I’m still young so maybe one day I’ll be one of those types to have a signature scent, but for now I’m having too much of a good time rotating a few favourites and throwing a newbie into the mix every now and then!
My favourites over the years have been YSL Cinema, Dior Pure Poison, Chanel No 5, Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb and Frederick Malle’s Carnal Flower (literally divine). When I was 18 and working at Stephen Webster on my gap year a very generous sales assistant at the Chanel accessories department in Selfridges gave me a 10ml sample of ‘Beige’ from their Les Exclusifs range and I fell in love (again…one inhalation of Beige and I’m back on my gap year racing around London after priceless emeralds- I’ll save that story for another post) aanywaaays back to the actual point of this post. That little sample of Beige had me totally hooked on the Les Exclusifs range and since then every time I’ve ever been admiring Chanel handbags I always douse myself in one of the gorgeous fragrances. My boyfriend has been well aware of my weird Chanel spritzing habits and is also aware that my absolute favourite flowers are white gardenias (with pink peonies a close second) so I was overjoyed when on Valentines Day instead of receiving the obligatory bunch of red roses I opened a bottle of Chanel Les Exclusifs Gardenia! On my birthday a very generous friend bought me my old favourite Flowerbomb so recently I’ve been layering them (I layer ALL my makeup- concealer, foundations, lipsticks, eyeshadows. I just love a bit of layering to get a unique and perfect finish) and the mix of the floral light and deep notes is intoxicating. Next up on my to buy list is Eccentric Molecules no.1…have any of you tried it? It’s addictive, but again I’ll save that for another post. So next time you want to mix things up a bit try layering a few perfumes on top of each other (providing they have similar notes and undertones) and you’ll have a truly unique blend of perfume.
Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb 50ml and CHANEL Gardenia 75ml
For more information on the Les Exclusifs range of perfumes click here