Monday, June 15, 2015

My Favourite Scents & their Je ne sais quoi

When it comes to fragrance, I’m not the type of girl who sticks with just one scent. To me, a fragrance is like an outfit, I change it according to which ever outfit I decide to wear on that particular day. I own 10+ fragrances but I do have top 5 picks that I love, and 3 out of them are my all time favourites. My top 5 picks are - from the oldest to newest addition - Bvlgari Pour Homme Extreme; Love, Chloe; Carven Le ParfumMaison Martin Margiela Beach Walk; and Byredo Bal d’Afrique. My favourite 3 that I gravitate toward the most as of Spring/Summer 2015? Bal d’Afrique, Beach Walk, and Carven.
It’s like having love affairs with each and every one of them. The decisions fall on my mood and the articles of clothing I want to wear.
-Disclaimer- This is not a review of these fragrances, I’m not particularly good at picking up the notes in them. However, I’ve came to a conclusion that between those fragrances, few thing in common are that they’re all somewhat “clean, fresh, citrus-y, woody, white floral&musky"- if you’re not a super-girly-girl, you seek for fragrances that bring you an uplifting energy and comfort, and you don’t like loud scents, this post may be helpful!:)

Bvlgari Pour Homme Extreme-
This is “supposed” to be a men’s EDT but when I first smelt it I fell in love. It was prom night, and the rest is history. To my nose, this is clean, crisp, refreshing, and kind of sexy, but never in an aggressive manner. I love wearing this scent with a white or light blue button-down shirt, possibly boyfriend-fit; lose the first 2-3 buttons, cuff up the sleeves. Pair with cut off denim shorts or just denim bottoms in general haha. I always feel so “cool” when wearing this fragrance. Very easy, no fuss.

Love, Chloe-
This used to be my favourite perfume for years, and it is actually my second bottle. If you know me or have read my intro, I've never used up a perfume(because owning so many and alternating within a few). Love, Chloe is no doubt very feminine. It is soft, soapy, and powdery, just like some other Chloe fragrances. This used to be my GNO scent, and dinner date scent. I always get compliments when I wear this, which was why I had to buy another bottle after I used up the first one. My dressing style is not super feminine, I don’t wear a lot of body-cons, skirts, or pinks. So if I want to be very honest, this scent is the least “me” scent out of the 5. I still like it a lot, and will wear it whenever I want to feel ultra feminine and when I go on date nights with my boyfriend.

Carven Le Parfum-
I adore this one. It is clean, cheerful, and musky. It smells delicious- not in a cheesy way. The staying power is great on me, so I wear this to work very often. I love it with a loose sweater, soft and in the colours of grey, black, or cream. I like to have a “mod” look with it, clean silhouettes, nothing too extravagant. This is also another one I’d consider repurchasing when I’m out.

Beach Walk by MMM-
Don’t get fooled by the name of this. From the Replica series of Maison Martin Margiela, he created different fragrances according to a special memory at a certain place. Beach Walk, as it labels on the bottle, the provenance and period is at 1972 in Calvi(located on the northwest coast of the island of Corsica), and the description says “sun kissed salty skin”. It is not your typical beach scents where they’re usually overwhelmingly sweet/coconut-y, it smells fresh, with a tiny bit of coconut in it but not so much, and a little bit salty. More like the air you smell when you’re taking a walk- barefoot on the sand along the beach, just by yourself or with your better half. It is a bit musky too. When I sniff this scent, I get a sense of peace and comfort. And no, I don’t think this is strictly a summer scent. It is such a comforting scent that I would want to wear it during the colder months as well.

Byredo Bal d’Afrique-
This is the latest addition to my collection and I have been enjoying it since the day I bought it. It is claimed to be a unisex fragrance but I think this definitely leans towards the feminine side. It is warm, citrus-y ..not the crisp kind, but the soft, clean kind- slightly woody and on me it dries down to a soft powdery finish. I love it so much I feel like I can wear it with just anything. Mostly a daytime scent, though. 

Byredo is not the most accessible fragrance brand if you live in Vancouver. On their website, the stockists are Holt Renfrew and Want Apothecary on South Granville. However, I went to Holts and they didn’t have the collection. The SA told me she could still order it in for me if I know which one I want. The perfume is $150+CAD for a 50ml bottle and over $200 for the 100ml. So no, not a good idea to splurge that kind of money without smelling and testing it out first. So far, Want Apothecary has a fairly decent selection of Byredo in 50ml as well as 100ml. I went and spent quite sometime to try out each scent, and trust me, it was a difficult decision. I wanted to love Gypsy Water that everyone’s raving about, however it smelt like paper boxes on me!! The big brown kind you use for moving. It stayed like that for a good 2.5 hours, then it dried down beautifully. I was shocked how the end of the scent was so pleasant but couldn’t justify spending money to smell like paper boxes for the most part. Another one I also like was Blanche. By now I’m sure if you make it this far, you know I love clean and fresh scents. It is a nice scent, very clean, like the scent you get when you're taking out clean laundry. But then, there's not too much to it. Bal d’Afrique has everything it has to offer with more depth as you wear it. It really is everything I wanted in a bottle for a perfect daily perfume. So, that was my final decision and it came home with me:)




By J

15 comments:

  1. Theyall sound great! Loving the bottles. Thanks for sharing!

    styleandchocolates

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Celyn! They do look great on my vanity hehe xxx :P

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  2. Very nice selection, very pure, love it :)
    Bisous,
    *-* Sand. *-*

    www.taimemode-fashionblog.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really like it!

    Alice Cerea,
    BABYWHATSUP.COM

    Join this new blogger network, I'm waiting for you!

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  4. Bvlgari is my drug!!! <3

    xo xo
    Marina
    http://mmfashionbites.blogspot.gr/2015/06/grown-woman.html
    http://mmfashionbites.blogspot.gr/

    ReplyDelete
  5. I found your site through another blog and I have to say I'm not disappointed at all. This is a wonderful post and I can't wait to read more of your content. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. oh I love trying new perfumes!:) great tips!


    www.Lorietta.cz

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