Endless Summer in a Bottle

Summer vacation is drawing to a close, and fall is just around the corner. Wouldn’t it be great if your choice of fragrance could help extend the relaxing sensations of summer into September, to fight against those back-to-work blues? Well, here are some ideas to help you keep smiling… and to keep you on the sunny side of the street!

If there’s one perfume that’s redolent of summer, Rem by Reminiscence is it! 

Between the aquatic notes and the bouquet of white flowers, it’s the most summery of scents. And it’s instantly recognizable, too: the sun-drenched facet and the waves of salty spray combine to evoke a stroll along the beach. Like a good mood in a bottle, it will make your summer last a few weeks more...

 Along similar lines, men could very well find their own happiness with Sel marin (‘Sea Salt’) by James Heeley, an exhilaratingly fresh elixir, with salty sea-spray notes over an attention getting woody dry-down.

What’s the ideal perfume to keep your vacation bubble from bursting? Bet on white flowers! Imagine a fragrance starring tuberose and featuring all its different facets, from the green nuances that smell like nature to the lascivious, sun-drenched coconut and beach effects. Like Carnal Flower by Frédéric Malle, for instance, one of the loveliest variations on this flower that is absolutely spell-binding, to my nose. Without being either overly exuberant or too “femme fatale”, tuberose gradually shows its different faces, from grassy green and tropical to lushly milky and carnal, and it’s even got a few spicy touches wrapped around an enchantingly sunny breeze. Breathtakingly beautiful, like an untamed landscape on the other side of the world.

Sticking to white flowers, Songes by Annick Goutal is one of my summer loves. Like concentrated exoticism in a bottle, loads of white flowers (jasmine, ylang-ylang) transport you to the tropics from the very first spritz of tiaré flower and frangipani blossom notes over a woods-and-vanilla trail.  Beach, vacation, sultry… all these words and more can be used to describe this fragrance. Wherever you are – even commuting – it will instantly take you halfway around the world. Like an antidote to the end of summer, this sweet scent is the perfect perfume for helping you rise above September.

And speaking of Goutal, anyone who’s nostalgic for the charms of Corsican beaches could indulge in their Sables (‘Sands’). An ode to the hot, dry, burnt (and totally unisex) scent of immortelle blossom, it will extend your trip to the “Isle of Beauty”.  

   One great way to immortalize your vacation is to choose a scent whose waves will instantly remind you of your most recent exotic destination. Hermès offers an especially wide range of them in their Jardins series, from the Mediterranean to the Nile via Un Jardin après la mousson. (“A Garden After the Monsoon”). That’s a particularly successful one that’s very realistic too – just right if you’re looking for a quick getaway in a bottle. Lime, ginger, cardamom, coriander, vetiver... a whole cocktail of citrus fruits, spices and green notes add up to a scent that’s as exotic as your last trip to India!  Perfect for coming back to town, while keeping your head and nose far, far away...