What is it about simple things that so capture us? I'm not really sure since it's a complex world out there. But www.Philosophy.com offers a few scents (Grace, Unconditonal Love and Falling in Love among them) that each and all radiate pure joy and well-being, along with a perfect dose of femininity that suits anyone, any age (unless you are a punk rocker or Goth girl and then my guess is this might not be your scent choice). Such are the nature of these scents that proves that simple can be totally alluring ....if for no particular reason that they just smell sweet and innocent.

The main notes of this sumptuous, happy fragrance aptly called Falling In Love are musk, vanilla, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley and blackberry. It is a bit sweet and a bit fruity but stops short of being cloying. Instead, this is one of those scents that has strangers stopping to ask you what you're wearing. It is actually a very romantic scent.

Falling In Love can make you feel 16 again but mostly, it brings a sense of lightness and dreamy potential to any day with one fresh spray. Not surprisingly, just seeing the words Falling in Love on the plain glass bottle - is one more feel-good effect of this new favourite perfume of mine.

www.Philosophy.com

Scent Mate (c) from www.GoldCanyon.Com

or the Scent Pod Warmer, also from www.GoldCanyon.com

Sometimes you need a little scented breeze to pick you up. Candles make you uneasy (I put a timer on when I light candles so I remember to blow them out) so these two products from www.GoldCanyon.com are just the thing and the best in their category.

The Scent Mate is a wee plastic dome that contains soaked cotton pads, infused with your favourite scent, be it a fragrance oil or essential oil you love. It is so compact, it is perfect for home, home office or your car. It is virtually noise-free and 2 AA batteries ensure it wafts scent all the time unless you just click the button off. It's easy to use and unobtrusive - and you can change the scent as you change your mood. You also can use scents you prefer versus similar units that are largely chemical-scents that also simply run out (and the refills are expensive)

The Scent Pod Warmer is a decorative ceramic, also from www.GoldCanyon.com is another brilliant design. Firstly, it's pretty as a picture, it's small and it has this amazingly thoughtful timer on it so you can click on an hour, 4 or 8 hours and be assured it will turn itself off. No worries. You just pop a Gold Canyon (or your favourite) wax tart, wax melt or even a few drops of fragrance oil (atop the melting wax). Similar products don't have the automatic timer and this, aside from great styling, makes all the difference!

www.NarciscoRodriquez.com

This is a refreshing, more citrusy spin on the classic Narciso Rodriquez fragrances and decidely cooler fare.It is a quiet but complex composition of citrus, flora, bergamot, spice, and a powder and musk accord. Of the florals, IIris seems to dominate. It is definitely airy and feminine but I detect jasmine or maybe it is that somewhat soapy (it's even reminiscent of Sicily, Estee Lauder) smell that makes me think, bath time jasmine. It is clean - versus innocent; tidy versus 'nicely put away'. It's sophisticated and almost pretty but a bit like a pretty girl with too big a nose! Somehow, one note (citrus? bergamot? or just the domiance of musc in an otherwise light perfume) leaps out and casts an acidic pall on things. That said, this is a unique and special perfume  -it's just not, for all the warmth and promise of musk, that warm or animalistic. It's more watery and ephemeral than that.

http://www.mugler.com/ca/en/
From the Clarins Group, Womanity by Thierry Mugler

If you were expecting something angelic here, say, like famed Thierry Mugler's Angel, think again. This is another dramatic scent but it's hardly sweet. Instead, it is riveting in a citrus, wood and salt fusion, a result of a fruity top note (Marans des Bois Strawberry), followed by White Fig (frankly a few incarnations of fig: fruity fig, fig leave and fig wood), and a basenote of caviar. No, no one gets the caviar touch but most reviews harp on this perfume as being salty, green and fresh.   For some reason, I also smell spice. But salty, fresh and green it is. It's definitely a daytime, upscale work perfume, take-the-meeting-by-storm assault but coy, sweet and demure it's not. That said, Womanity is quite well named. It's about strength.....with a pretty bow afterthought to tie it all up.

www.VanCleefArpels.com

Top notes:raspberry, galbanum, neroli, marigold and bergamot
Middle notes: orange blossom, jasmine, rose and geranium
Base notes: sandalwood, tonka bean, musk, vanilla and cedar.

Note on fragrance notes: despite this detailed fragrance 'recipe' that is the official Oriens story, I still smell black currant, praline, white jasmine and patchouli - These additions aren't stated at the Van Cleef and Arpels site but I definitely inhaled those extra scent suspects in this perfume. It is also probably why for all its sweetness and vanilla innocence, it is way complex and just so incredibly appealing. By the way, if you like Beautiful (and who doesn't?) by Van Cleef and Arpels but worry this would be as equally over the top (or as sweet as Feerie), no worries. This is a perfume breed of a totally different echelon.

Oriens is the subtle mystery of the Orient and all bound up in a contemporary way. It is perhaps unfair to start by saying if you like Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely and Guerlain's Idylle, and last, Narsico Rodriquez for Her, you will similarly adore Oriens but it is as fair a start as any. What is similar about all these fragrances? Well, they are all light, airy, feminine and while categorized (for the most part) as Floral Oriental, they are hardly old school, in that regard. Oriens, as are the rest, a whiff of fresh air on the subject of Floral Orientals and it's as if feminism got into the mix (and the bottle) and while the Oriental nod is there, it's a whole new ballgame of this genre.

Now back to Oriens - It is more of a fruity, floral VANILLA perfume that wafts wealth, a kind sort of entitlement, and a woman who has arrived - whether she is 30 or 60. It makes a statement but it's so complex (for all its sweetness) that it is still understated. The musk and cedar at the base ensure it has a bit of animal charm intact, for all its elegance making this (given you like vanilla because that you will note it instantly) the total package.

Narcisco Rodiguez, Stunning Femininity....Bottled Up

Narciso Rodriguez for Her was created by Christine Nagel and Francis Kurkdjian for the fashion designer of the same name, renowned for his graceful, gently elegant and feminine trademark styling. The Narciso Rodriguez line might cause some confusion because there are three concentrations of Narciso Rodriguez for Her: the EDT packaged in black bottle, the EDP packaged in pink and the parfum in a rectangular clear vial with a dropper but one doesn’t encounter that format too often.

Some perfume companies make the EDT a simply lighter version of their EDP but Narciso Rodriguez is indeed almost two different scents. The notes of both overlap but the arrangement is slightly different as is what dominates. That said, I like both the EDP and the EDT and consider them a place of honour in my go-to perfume wardrobe.

Both have an amber, slightly vanilla and more dominant chypre accord which is artfully fused to tones of wood, musk and citrus, all kissed with a floral – mostly a sweet orange blossom. This makes NR almost a hybrid – it is at once Oriental Floral and then a woody Chypre with warm, sweet tones of musk and some citrus for good measure. In the EDP there is also rose and peach, a tiny accent of pink roses, along with a touch of honey.

If you like Lovely (Sarah Jessica Parker) or Guerlain’s Idylle, you will love Narciso Rodriguez’s EDP and EDT . Where it differs in a basic way from Lovely is it is a bit less earthy and scented of clean sweat and very much more complex. Where it differs from Idylle (which is a stunner) it is far more feminine. It is feminine in a clean but still mysterious way. If you wear it, you will cut a swathe through a room leaving an echo of quite womanliness. It’s a memorable scent and a signature scent if those who wear it but it’s knowing and poised –a less is more – totally nuanced perfume that is a true classic.

Feminine, Sweet and Sexy, Jean Paul Gaultier's Classique

http://www.jeanpaulgaultier.com/

Jean Paul Gaultier Classique

Eau de Parfum, Eau De Toilette


If packaging either very much repels or attracts you, you will not be unmoved by the fabulous female torso-bottle that is the iconic Jean Paul Gaultier bottle, that in turn houses the similarly iconic JPG Classique. I confess, for many years, I was a put off by the JPG bottle; my slight feminist bent a bit put out by the overt sexuality of the bottle. But then, feminist judgment left, and femininity took over. One day, after having dismissed the bottle (and scent inside) for being frivilous, I made a bee-line for Jean Paul Gaultier’s Classique. How could I have held off on this perfume for so long! What a treasure!  The nose behind this treasure, it must be said, is Jacques Cavallier

The famous glass torso housing this wondrous fragrance is available in two decants: Classique Eau Parfum and Classique Eau de Toilette although over the years (since the 1990’s), there’s been some 18 or so, variations on the theme but Classique is your best bet. Unless you know JPG you might not, having seen the perfume in its metallic packaging which looks very much like a can of salmon have a clue of what lies therein. But open it up and beyond the glass, buxom bottle is a world of dreamy femininity.

Purportedly created in memory of Jean Paul Gaulthier's chere Grand’Mere, Classique was mean to capture both raunch (inspired by said-grand mere’s pink corselet, discovered after she had departed to wherever mature femme fatales ultimately reside) and sweet vanilla comforts (inspired by the homier, nostalgic, and decidedly more maternal memories of grandmother).

Sweet, fruity, vanilla and musk are the main wafts and yet done, as only the French can do such combinations, with total sophistication. Classique is, if you pardon my audacity, as if you were indeed clutched to the bosom of a madonna/matron/showgirl –all at once. I would go as far as to say: motherly stripper but that’s too far in either direction. Suffice to say it’s sweet but not cloying, sexy but not tender – it’s a gentle sigh of a womanly woman who knows her strength lies in knowing who she is and what men like in that way French women seem born with. With Classique, you too, can aspire to this Eve-old wisdom.

The Fragrance Notes

What greets you Jean Paul Gaultier’s Classique are roses, tethered to orange blossom, musk, a tiny hint of ginger and star anise, the delicacy of orchid and a base note of amber and vanilla. This scent could be over the top or too sweet but it somehow offers a coquettish strut – rather than a heavy footed thud. It is a floral oriental in the best of ways. It comes on strong and settles in a powdery je-ne-sais quoi that is flirtatious, maturing to captivating. If you wanted a signature scent in the sea of signature scents, this is a good place to start