My Fragrance Wardrobe
Growing up I would use one fragrance and stick with it. I had my phase of Bath & Body Works / Victoria's Secret body sprays (hello, 90's kid), and I still remember being younger and alternating through a few clearly sweeter noted fragrances: Britney Spears Curious (which I wanted to keep the bottle forever for nostalgia purposes), Clinique Happy, and Ralph Cool by Ralph Lauren - which was my favorite for a few years there in middle school and high school. My friend had the Marc by Marc Jacobs fragrance and after a few spritzes I was hooked. It became my only bottle and I went through a handful of bottles throughout high school and college. I love how it wears on my skin and my mom still loves when I wear this one on occasion. By the time I graduated college, a new fragrance came into my life and that was Chloe EDP. This is a firm favorite in my book and will forever be my signature scent. It just smells so soft and delicate on me and I love how it lingers on me and my clothes. The one thing I’m not a fan of is how much the metal on the bottle tarnishes. Luckily I just finished up a bottle recently and had a new one that looks and photographs much better.
Come 2016, partially thanks to the blogosphere, I ventured out of my MJ and Chloe bubble to take on some new fragrances. I’ve added quite a handful of new fragrances which all hit different points of nostalgia for me. I picked up two from Diptyque: Philosykos and Eau Rose. I love Philosykos because it’s fresh and crisp, something I love to wear during the Fall and Winter months. It wears well on its own but also mixes with Chloe well (imo). The smallest amount is enough for me and I have a feeling it’ll take me ages to get through this bottle. On the woodsy note however, I have been eyeing the Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt which I’ve had a few samples of and love too. As a lover of all things rose scented, I just couldn’t say no to Eau Rose. The bottle itself is beautiful and the scent is bright and beautiful. It really is one I spritz on mornings where I feel a bit meh as it picks my spirit up immediately. It’s sweet but not overly nauseating, and I feel like it musks up a bit throughout the day on me. Whenever I spray that I just think back to Spring which is around the time that I picked it up - I still love wearing it throughout the year though.
Earlier this summer I treated myself to a new fragrance from Byredo, a brand I’ve been eyeing up for the longest time. Through Sofia, the queen of fragrances and candles, I was introduced to Lou who is my Byredo queen. I always feel intimidated when I walk into Neiman Marcus and the SAs were always a bit standoff to me. I never wanted to ask for a sample as there were so many I wanted to try. Lou is the absolute best and sent me all the scents I wanted to try and more! While I thought I’d love Gypsy Water or Mojave Ghost, I actually ended up falling for Bal d’Afrique. I love how different it is compared to anything I have and just makes me feel so bad ass and sexy (lol) when I wear it. I like to think of it as my grown up mature scent when I want to be taken seriously. Or when I’m wearing a leather jacket and just want to be cool. I highly recommend getting samples of the scents you're debating and wear them a few times before making such a hefty investment. I'm definitely eyeing up the matching hand cream - but that's a splurge and one I'm putting off for a while.
It should come to no surprise that Glossier You is included in the lineup. This was released back in October and has quickly jumped up in the number of wears compared to the other fragrances in my collection. It’s definitely an interesting one and one I probably wouldn’t have been drawn to if I sniffed it in a store. But since I’m a fan of pretty much everything Glossier, I decided to give it a fair try. I wore the sample daily for a few days and oh mannnn did I fall in love with it. This one just feels like the perfect sophisticated fragrance. It’s something I’d love to wear if I were strolling down the streets of Paris with some fitted trousers, a silk button up, and my hair in loose waves. I think it’s the perfect cool girl chic fragrance and I think it’s definitely taken over as my fragrance for this upcoming Fall/Winter and beyond.
The latest addiction to my fragrance wardrobe is the Charlotte Tilbury Scent of a Dream fragrance. I went to an event at Nordstrom with my mom and they were giving away full size (yes, you read that right) of the CT fragrance with purchase. Since my mom loves all things CT skincare, she easily met the minimum and gifted me the fragrance since she is loyal to her favorite fragrance (Jo Malone Orange Blossom). I love how this bottle looks as it does remind me of the classic perfume bottle that our grandmothers had on their vanities! And it’s a much more grown up and sophisticated looking version than my Britney Spears curious fragrance (lol).
I have a million and one samples as Sephora tends to send me them in place of samples I actually ask for (anyone else)? I store all of my perfume sample vials in old candle jars so they're all upright. I usually give all of the perfume samples a try but if I don’t love them, I usually use them as air freshener sprays around my room. They last longer and are much better than the Air Wick / Glade plug ins that always give me pounding headaches.
I think it’s fun to see how much our preferences for fragrances change as time goes on. How has your fragrance selection evolved over time as you’ve aged? What does your collection look like?