Perfume Portrait #4 : Astrid

- What was your very first perfume?

In this context, I won’t count perfumes I bought in supermarkets, like Coty’s Ex’cla-ma’tion. My first real perfume was Cacharel’s Anaïs Anaïs, which I was given as a present when I was a teen. The first one I bought for myself in a perfume shop was Jean Paul Gaultier’s Classique.

- Could you give us your own personal selection: your 5 favorite perfumes?

- Sicily, Dolce & Gabbana

- Dahlia Noir, Givenchy

- John Galliano le parfum

- Coco Mademoiselle, Chanel

- Libertine, Vivienne Westwood

- If you were a perfume, which one would you be?

I love wearing a rare, enigmatic, hard-to-recognize scent… when people around me are intrigued and don’t recognize it! What I love most is making a perfume my own, becoming the perfume! And I found all that with John Galliano’s perfume.

- What perfume are you wearing now?

Lately I’ve been wearing Guerlain’s Shalimar Initial eau and Narciso Rodriguez For Her eau de toilette.

- Is there a perfume you haven’t tried yet but that appeals to you?

La Panthère, Cartier

- How do you choose your perfume?

I have to fall in love! When I go to a perfume store, I absorb all the scents. I can smell and love plenty of fragrances, but I always know right away which one will be the winner!

- What is your favourite men’s (or unisex) perfume?

Paco Rabanne’s One Million drives me wild! Absolutely any man wearing it will catch my attention! But I was so disappointed when the women’s version came it: nothing in common, I didn’t care for it at all. There are other nice men’s scents, like Kenzo Homme Sport, Marco Serussi’s White and more.

- What is your favourite women’s (or unisex) perfume?

Sicily, Dolce Gabbana

- In your opinion, what is the smell of happiness?

There are several. I connectcertain scents – both women’s and men’s – to specific times of my life, whether happy or sad. When I smell one of them, it makes me smile and remember. There isn’t just one smell of happiness, there are all different ones. For instance, when I smell Thierry Mugler’s Angel, it takes me back to high school, and the Harley Davidson fragrance reminds me of my first love.

- If perfume were an object, what would it be?

Lingerie: an object of desire, close to your skin, personal, sensual… Just like perfume.

- If perfume were a book, what would it be?

That’s easy: Patrick Süskind’s Perfume. It’s such an amazing gift to be a Nose; the book is about making perfume and being madly passionate about perfume… C’est magnifique!