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Everything on our fragrance shelf — mine, his, and my best friend's
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items I can tell you what everyone I love smells like. This is the whole shelf: the ones I reach for in summer, the heavier ones I switch to when it gets cold, the two my best friend wears that I've never quite been able to pull off myself, and my husband'...
Sections
4
What I wear when it's warm
What I switch to when it gets cold
What my bestie wears
My husband's — and my answer when you ask what to gift
What I wear when it's warm
Five that come out roughly between May and September. They run from something almost nobody can name on me to a Tom Ford that announces itself from the hallway — and the last one is a beach scent I wear maybe four times a year, which I've said honest...
For when you want to smell like the walk rather than the beach — cold air, wet stone, a bit of herb. There's almost no sweetness in it, which is exactly why it works on days when a floral would feel like too much. It's a cologne, so it's light by des...
Wood Sage & Sea Salt - Jo Malone London
Flowers, and I mean properly flowers — tuberose and jasmine, thick and green, like opening the door of a florist's cold room. This one isn't subtle and isn't trying to be. If white florals give you a headache, skip it entirely; if they don't, it's th...
Bloom Eau de Parfum - Gucci
Full disclosure: I don't wear this often. It's coconut and tiaré — suntan oil in a bottle, completely one-note — but that is the entire point. When I want to be in holiday mode before the holiday has actually started, this is the shortcut. Heads up i...
Monoi Eau de Toilette - Yves Rocher
The expensive one, and I won't pretend otherwise. Coconut, ylang ylang and a little cardamom — it smells like being somewhere warm rather than like a perfume counter. It lasts all day on skin, which is the honest argument for the price: two sprays wh...
Soleil Blanc - TOM FORD
What I switch to when it gets cold
The heavier half of the shelf: ambers, muskier florals, the ones that want a coat and a room to sit in. If you only read one section, read this one — cold weather is when perfume actually behaves. Fair warning that one of these has been discontinued;...
My favourite of the cold-weather ones. Bright white flowers dropped onto something dark and earthy — orange blossom and tuberose on top, patchouli and vetiver underneath — so it never tips into merely "pretty" the way florals usually do. This is what...
L'Interdit Eau de Parfum - Givenchy
Warm the way a jumper is warm. Amber and sandalwood with soft powdery flowers over the top, sitting very close to the skin — a comfort scent rather than a statement. This is for days indoors with people who'll be standing near me.
Sexy Amber Eau de Parfum - Michael Kors
The one everyone recognises, and there's a reason it has survived twenty years. Dark juicy pomegranate over orchid and creamy amber woods — a little sticky, a little 2000s, completely unapologetic. If you wore this at eighteen it will smell like your...
Euphoria Eau de Parfum - Calvin Klein
If you only take one thing from this list, take this. It's the reference musk, and I wear the pink one — the Eau de Toilette, which is the lighter of the two: apricot-soft osmanthus and orange blossom over clean warm skin, where the black-bottle Eau ...
Narciso Rodriguez for Her
Candied ginger and bitter orange over a honeyed rose — sweet and slightly boozy, the most dessert-like thing I own. Fair warning before you fall for it: it's been discontinued, so what's left on the shelves is what's left. I'm rationing mine.
ILLICIT Eau de Parfum - Jimmy Choo
What my bestie wears
Not mine, and that's the point. Two perfumes I've smelled on one of my favourite people for years and still stop to comment on — one a sugary gourmand I could never carry off, the other so light it works in real heat. Between them they cover the two ...
This one belongs to my best friend, and it's here because I've never seen anyone smell it on her and not ask what it is. Marshmallow, orange blossom and sugar — it should be far too much and somehow isn't. She calls it her confidence perfume and I ha...
Love, Don't Be Shy - KILIAN Paris
Also hers, and the exact opposite of the one above. Tart kumquat, green bamboo and wet stone — it smells like a garden after rain and it weighs nothing at all. She wears it in real heat when everything else feels heavy, and it's what I'd hand to some...
Le Jardin sur Monsieur Li EDP - HERMÈS
My husband's — and my answer when you ask what to gift
Both of his, here because "what should I buy a man?" is the question I get asked most. One is the warm, sweet, memorable one; the other is the clean, safe, wear-to-work one. That is genuinely the entire decision when you're buying a fragrance for som...
My husband's, and the one I get asked about most often. Vanilla and toasted chestnut over spicy lavender — warm and sweet and far more interesting than that description makes it sound. If you're buying for a man and have no idea where to start, start...
Stronger With You Intensely - Armani Beauty
His daytime one. Lemon and lavender drying down into cedar — clean and sharp, nothing sweet about it, the kind of thing that works in an office at nine in the morning. Between his two on this list: this is the safe gift, the Armani is the memorable o...
Absolu Pour Homme - Michael Kors