I know that I’ve covered summer scents already, but I was sorting through my Cabinet of many Beauty Secrets and putting fragrances into groups (as you do) and this was the collection I nicknamed “hot and heady”. I also have a group called “naughty rose” (I kid you not) and one called “figgy pudding”. I’ll share those with you another time; there’s probably only so much of my weirdness and/or dullness that you can cope with in any one day.
The “hot and heady” group features the kind of exotic scents that are almost a little bit intoxicating; big hits of orange blossom and powerful florals with warm or woody or sweet base notes. Coconut, vanilla, sandalwood. These fragrances are just made for those sultry summer nights. They even look like summer in a bottle; all syrupy-sweet and amber-toned with rich golden accents and jewel-like glass. The summer seems to have disappeared for a little nap (I’ve got a huge cardigan on as I write this!) but I’m positive that it’ll be back in all its glory very soon, and when it reappears I shall be waiting with my arsenal of knock-em-dead scents.
1) l’Occitane’s Neroli & Orchidee is getting a lot of use at the moment, though the good weather seems to have taken a bit of a break. I’ve written about this one loads already; it’s my favourite of the l’Occitane Grasse collection. You can find previous musings here.
2) elle l’aime by Lolita Lempicka is an absolute cracker. Beachy and exotic, orange-blossomy and fruity, but then with this great whack of sandalwood. It’s incredibly seductive, I think. It’s on sale at the moment, the 80ml is £46 down from £70, the 40ml version is £36. (I know which size makes sense to me!) Find elle L’aime parfum here.
3) Odd one out: it’s a body oil. The Huile Sublime, to be more precise. I bloody love Roger & Gallet’s Bois d’Orange, as you probably already know – I actually love the body cream more than this oil, because the texture is just magnificent, but it didn’t look as good in my photograph! Bois d’Orange is just the most lovely hit of warm orange blossom – the oil is great for a non-greasy skin sheen after the beach and you can use it in the ends of your hair, too, though I do always prefer cream leave-in conditioners. You can find the Bois d’Orange range on Escentual.com here.
4) NUXE: again, I’ve written about this one quite a lot, I think! I keep smelling the Prodigieux fragrance on other people and asking them what they’re wearing; a good sign. This one has orange blossom and bergamot and tangerine but with a gorgeous tropical undertone; vanilla and coconut milk make this a warm and almost comforting scent. You can find it here.
5) And – ah! – the sumptuous, sexy-as-hell Classique Intense from Jean Paul Gaultier. This completely stole my heart earlier on in the summer, but at the time of reviewing (read full review here) it hadn’t yet been released. It’s now available, sold out in a few places but good old Boots.com have it here – you get a free body lotion when you buy 50ml or above.
Leave me a comment with your own sexy, sultry summer scent suggestions (BLIMEY! Alliteration gone mad!) and I’ll test as many as I can when I’m in town next week. I’m due a bit of a perfume exploration session.
Read about scents that remind me of summer….
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