13 February 2007

Sexy women smell good


One of the best moments in a woman's day is when the wind catches her neck, wrists or clothing just right and she gets a few intoxicating seconds of her perfume's settled-in scent.

Though I can't know for sure, I imagine from her expression this is the sensation Monica Bellucci is experiencing in the above photograph.

Selecting the right fragrance is an extremely personal journey. Women who've found their perfume tend to think of it less as just a cosmetic and more as an extension of themselves -- a liquid interpretation of who they are or more often, who they want to be.

It is no surprise, then, when I asked my closest girlfriends to share with me their day/evening perfumes, even before they knew my request was blog-motivated, that I encountered more than a little hesitancy. Even though they knew I was on my seventh, fifth, and fourth straight bottles of the same three perfumes (i.e. I'm not on the prowl for a new scent), it still took a good deal of persistent cajoling to get them to cough up the information.

So for the few men out there whose significant others aren't already committed to a particular scent, here are some ideas straight from the sexiest smelling women in the District:

Day perfumes:
1. Sugar by fresh ($75 at sephora.com)
2. Sake by fresh ($75 at sephora.com)*
3. L'Eau d'Issey by Issey Miyake ($127 at sephora.com)
4. Island by KORS Michael Kors ($60 at sephora.com)
5. Michael Kors by KORS Michael Kors ($85 at sephora.com)
6. In Love Again by YSL ($39.99 at perfumeemporium.com)*
7. Vanilla Grapefruit by Lavanila ($56 at sephora.com)
8. The Fragrance by Vera Wang ($65 at sephora.com)

Evening perfumes:
1. Miss Dior Cherie ($85 at sephora.com)*
2. Betsey Johnson by Betsey Johnson ($75 at sephora.com)
3. Romance by Ralph Lauren ($69.50 at sephora.com)
4. New Classic by Stella McCartney ($84 at sephora.com)
5. Love in White by Creed ($165.99 at perfumeemporium.com)
6. Red Delicious by DKNY ($68 at sephora.com)
7. Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel ($95 at sephora.com)
8. For Her by Narcisco Rodriguez ($94 at sephora.com)
9. Nectarine & Honey Blossom by Jo Malone (£59.00 at jomalone.co.uk)

Weekend perfumes (a category created on her own accord by L):
1. Cannabis Santal by fresh ($75 at sephora.com)
2. Classique by Jean Paul Gaultier ($90 at sephora.com)
*what's spritzed on your editrix's inner-wrists, inner-elbows, neck and backs-of-the-knees

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you ever mix perfumes? I've found that using a dab of this and a dab of that can sometimes smell even better than the two individual scents.

I'd also like to add Pour Femme by Bvulgari to your evening perfume list, if I could.

here's to driving all the men crazy!

Anonymous said...

I love putting on a sweater I haven't worn in a long time and smelling the scent I wore months and months ago. Nothing like it. You captured that moment really nicely. Well done!

Anonymous said...

I also wear Sugar by fresh and love it. Never tried Sake or Cannabis, but I'm going to check them out next time I hit up Sephora.

Thanks for the tip!

Anonymous said...

To tell the truth - as a man - the scent of a woman I remember most isn't perfume. Its the shampoo she uses. Relative heights being what they are, that's what a guy's going to be smelling most of the time, and that's what evokes the visceral reaction. Not that you don't EVER notice the perfume, but the shampoo is what sticks in the mind.

N-Y-i-E