Because I would love to hear your recommendations.
First, this (Jo Malone Grapefruit) is not my regular perfume. My regular perfume is Bond No. 9 Nuits de Noho, which is a kinda musky vanilla-y scent not too dissimilar from Thierry Mugler’s Angel, but less sweet and a bit sexier. I love it. I’m also feeling in the mood to try something different.
I brought the Jo Malone with me to Cali mostly because I want to leave as many personal care-type products here as possible when we make our return trip, and the shot-glass-sized bottle (1 oz) seemed like the right amount to last me the summer. And I thought the Grapefruit scent would be nice and fresh. But as it turns out…eh. I’ve heard great things about Jo Malone scents (and very much want to try out this one and this one), but the Grapefruit? I like it okay, but I don’t know that it’s really “me.”
Too fruity.
No matter, but it has gotten me thinking I’d like to try something new once I get back home.
When you’re looking for a new perfume, I think it’s nice to do a little scrolling back through your memories to locate that handful of scents that really jump out at you, from whenever and wherever. For me, there are three.
1. Carrot Water. One afternoon when I was in high school, I was wandering around the city by myself and decided to stop into Barney’s. Not a place I ordinarily “stopped into,” but I guess I was in the mood to feel fancy for whatever reason. At the fragrance counter, I picked up a bottle made by some artisanal company I’d never heard of because it was so simple and cool-looking – milky white glass with a screw-on tin top and a tiny image of a carrot on it – and because I couldn’t imagine what carrot eau d’toilette might smell like. And what it smelled like was the lightest, cleanest scent ever.
It was crazy-expensive, because it was in Barney’s…but I bought it with commercial residuals I’d just made, and took it home, and felt fabulous and grown-up and elegant whenever I put it on. I’ve hunted for that fragrance from time to time over the years, but have never been able to find it.
2. Roger & Gallet Lettuce Shower Gel. During my sophomore year of college, I stayed with a friend in Paris for a week, and while Paris was lovely, obviously, what I remember most about that trip was my friend’s huge, all-white bathroom, which she stocked with the most unbelievably fresh-smelling shower gel on the planet. It smelled like what I’d always imagined France would smell like: sun, and air, and all things beautiful. This stuff is strangely hard to find – only a couple of stores and sites that I’ve found stock it – but totally worth tracking down, trust me.
3. Hawaiian Tropic Sunscreen. This might just be the best scent ever ever ever. I’m not sure it’s what I’d like to smell like on a day-to-day basis, but I can’t list my favorite scents without including this one.
