Call Me a Rebel

A girl can’t talk about innovation and the Internet all the time, so today I’m going to share a few thoughts about perfume. I know that the big trend in fragrance has been scents by celebrities and designers – I read the same magazines you do. But I know what kind of fragrance I like and I enjoy shopping for it. I like nothing more than to find a really knowledgeable fragrance sales person and spend some time chatting about what I like and who has it. On a recent trip to New York and with very little time on my hands, I went in search of a perfume I first read about on a blog on the Internet (Well, there you go. We talk about it a lot for a reason!). At the Caron boutique, I met just such a sales person who let me smell Tabac Blond, described as an oriental leather type. Plus, it has a great story about its development. This scent is not for everyone and not for every day wear, but I am so glad that I found it. While at Caron, I was treated to a sample of Caron’s Poivre described thusly: an initial cayenne-pepper start makes for one of the spiciest perfumes on the market; rounds out on a wooded base. It is meant for an ‘explosive, captivating, fascinating man or woman’. You gotta love it.

I mentioned I was also looking for a bottle of Velvet Rope by Apothia and the sales person at Caron made a phone call and sent me over to Henri Bendel. I can still remember when the little sample arrived at the office many months ago. Here was something different, something that seemed a little dangerous. “Inspired by an icy, dry, vanilla martini spiked with absolute jasmine and a twist of grapefruit,” I had to have it and I love to wear it.

To round out my theme, a friend told me today that she recently bought a bottle of Chanel’s Cuir de Russie – Russian Leather. I can’t wait to smell it, and I love the way it is described at Chanel.com: A very improper perfume for nicely brought up young ladies. At minimum, when you read that, you have to at least smell it!

I guess if there is a point here it is that fragrance preference is very personal and I for one am really glad that I can shop the trends at the department store and I can go up the street and find something really different that suits me just as well. A well-trained and experienced sales person can make all the difference. I love to hear the story behind the development of the fragrance. Do the new fragrances have great stories? And, of course, if the snow ever gets deep this winter, I can go online and buy more!