fragrance

My gateway into woody scents was La Labo Thé Noir 29, 3 years ago. Santal 33 was everywhere but after whiffing Thé Noir I immediately bought the EDP and the body lotion layering my scent for longevity and richness. It was love at first whiff and after sussing out the notes (the black tea united with fig, then woody vetiver and cedar wood– delicious), I slowly noticed that a lot of the scents I opted for had a recurring theme. Nowadays I look for anything with creamy sandalwood, rich vetiver or a dry, intriguing cedar wood. Occasionally I’ll opt for an oud, but most of the time I won’t pick anything that heavy. When I tell you I’m exclusively surrounded by woody perfumes, I’m not exaggerating. It’s stretched to candles and home fragrance too, where my chosen picks are Boy Smells A...

Don’t get me wrong. I am a summer baby through and through. I like the heat, I like floaty clothes, I like sun-kissed strands, I like freckled noses, and I really like the pared-backed beauty routine that so often comes with summer months. For the most part, I’m willing to say that I sort of loathe waving goodbye to summer. Except, that is, when it comes to my fragrance collection. It sounds like an odd thing to say, I know, but the one thing that gets me really excited for autumn is surrounding myself with the seasonal scents. I’m an inherently cosy (read: lazy) person, and something about being snuggled up warm inside, enveloped by creamy, spicy scents makes my typically sun-drenched heart feel a little bit giddy. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates On...

By all accounts, when I got married back in June 2018, it was a fairly laid-back affair—70 of our nearest and dearest crammed into an old London pub to watch my husband and I exchange wedding vows before a pie-and-mash dinner and a rather rowdy party. However, despite taking a laissez-faire approach to things like colour schemes, centrepieces and seating plans, there was one part of my day that I was determined would be extra special: my wedding perfume. Admittedly, it might seem a rather odd aspect of the day to obsess over, but as someone who loves perfume, I knew that I wanted a fragrance that would truly mark the occasion. I wanted a scent that I could smell in years to come that would still take me back to the most fun and joyous day of my ...

Fragrances can really set the tone or vibe for the day. I like to think of choosing a fragrance as choosing my “aura” for the day. Do I want to feel seductive and sexy? I might try a spicy or musky fragrance. Do I want something that’s light and carefree and perfect for daytime? I normally gravitate toward fresh florals or citrus. And for special occasions, like weddings or big work events, I might bring out a classic designer fragrance to make me feel grown-up. There’s a fragrance I’ve been drawn to recently, though, that I realised is perfect for days when I want something effortless, a little low-key, but still noteworthy—basically, something that will make me smell good, that might get me a compliment or two, but that doesn’t make me look l...

When it comes to fragrance keepsakes, I know of many a perfume lover that continues to cling onto a dusty bottle (or two) of their saccharine, coming-of-age scent—purely for nostalgia’s sake. After all, is there anything more comforting than a vanilla-infused spritz of the fragrance that saw you through your teenage years? To this very day, I I still reminisce about my first ever fragrance: Avril Lavigne’s Black Star Eau De Parfum. Combining two of the ’00s most vital perfume ingredients (a celebrity endorsement and a syrupy aroma) even just a glance at the star-shaped bottle takes me back to 2009. Yes, the scent itself was sickly-sweet, but the more subtle notes of pink hibiscus, black plum and dark chocolate spoke to me—and have been inspiring my frag...

Growing up, the bottles of body sprays, lotions, butters and eau de toilettes that lined my bathroom vanity were far sweeter than a desert-filled episode of The Great British Bake Off. My rotation typically included Britney Spears’s Fantasy (or Curious); a pure-sugar scent that, not surprisingly, was called Pink Sugar; and anything else my collection of glossy magazines was advertising. If it smelled like a frosted cupcake with sprinkles, I was—without a doubt—wearing it.  I’ll always love unapologetically sweet scents, but now my tastes have graduated to fragrance blends that are warm and woody or grounded with spices, leathers or classic florals. That said, signature sweet notes like vanilla are often at the heart of...

Despite being totally obsessed with perfume and owning a frankly obscene number of bottles, there’s no doubt that my favourite perfumes tend to be united by a few key notes: musk, vanilla and patchouli. Not always together, you understand, but it’s these warm and cosy aromas that appeal to my senses time and time again. Whether it’s Byredo Velvet Haze, Maison Margiela Replica Whispers in the Library or Jo Malone Myrrh & Tonka Cologne, warming, woodsy perfumes have undoubtedly become my signature scents. So when summer rolls around and the new perfume launches become lighter, fresher and undeniably citrusy, I tend to give them a quick sniff and pass them on to a home where they will be much more loved than mine. Why? Well, over the years, I hav...

Discovering your signature scent can be a long and arduous path, but it’s one which all beauty aficionados know is worth traversing. Fragrance has the power to unlock memories and define moments, so it certainly pays to find one that you love to wear. Still, the process can be off-putting, to say the least. Seldom can you truly understand how a perfume is going to smell on your skin without having worn it for a prolonged period of time. This is why I always advise getting your hands on a tester if at all possible. It’ll allow you to try it at your leisure and in your everyday life, as opposed to a quick spritz on your arm in a store. However, I acknowledge that obtaining these testers isn’t always easy, especially if you don’t live near a stockist whi...

My perfume collection is extensive. As a beauty journalist, I receive a lot of perfume. As long as any given scent doesn’t make me turn my nose up at first sniff, I’ll usually add it to my shelf. The reason for this being that my job is to try as many products as possible and get a feel for them, even if they’re not to my usual tastes. But when it comes to perfume, this can be tricky business. In order to give each fragrance in my lineup a proper go, I try to mix things up every single day. While one day I might try a head-turning oud, the next I might opt for a light musk or spring-like floral. Not just because variety is, of course, the spice of life, but also because I have found that it is the best way to take others by surprise and gauge reactions. And so, after ma...

Within the span of a few years, everybody who was anybody had a bottle of Santal 33 on their shelf, and you could barely walk down the street without smelling it on at least one cool fashion girl. Fast-forward to now, and the Santal 33 obsession isn’t slowing down. In fact, as a beauty editor, I’m still getting people message me about it almost weekly. More recently, however, the angle of the questions that I’m receiving has changed. Whereas once upon a time people wanted to know everything about it, now people are asking me what sort of perfumes they can wear instead. It seems that, for some, its popularity has all been a little too much. And I totally get it. No one wants to smell like every other person they meet. In fact, I think I’d run out of hands if I were to count on my finge...

There’s a lot of power in a signature scent—it’s another form of personal identity that allows the wearer to be sensed without even speaking. Consider it the beauty counterpart to personal style. And just like my own sartorial approach, I’ve taken care to find a scent that really resonates with me.  As most of you already know, fragrance is a highly personal thing. I would be okay with smelling like Atelier Cologne’s Vanille Insensée for the rest of my life. On the other hand, my mother tends to run across the room anytime she’s within walking distance of it. Each person has their own idiosyncratic preferences that add an extra layer of complexity to the business of fragrance. It’s partly why it’s taken me so long to f...

While there’s something lovely about having a signature scent that you wear year-round, I prefer to think of fragrance in the same way that I would my wardrobe. Sure, I have some staple perfumes that I come back to time and time again—my fragrance basics, if you will—but I like to layer in new scents in the same way that you might try a trending style of shorts or a new dress silhouette when the seasons change. And there’s one season in particular when this concept really comes into its own: summer. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give us...