This year is different. Usually, when it gets colder, out come my ‘winter’ fragrances: all the spicy woods, the heavy gourmands, the jammy roses that feel too smothering and cloying during summer. This year? Can’t stand them.
My brain and my nose cling to summer days and scents. I’m not a fan of hot weather or the sun in general, so I’m a bit confused with my brain’s insistence that this, and only this, is the thing we’re doing right now. But, why not?
How to choose a winter perfume
Because: whoever told you that you’ve to wear light, floral or beachy scents in Summer and vanilla and woody stuff in Winter? Was. Wrong. (Same with gendered fragrances.) I can see where there’re coming from: light scents can start to sing on hot skin and humid weather where everything sweet and heady may feel cloying and sticky. And all airy, summery fragrances may be lost in your layers of sweaters and scarves. But in the end, a scent is about what you want them to do, and feel, and evoke.
Wearing summer scents in winter
And I want the olfactory memory that goes with those summery scents: I want the beach holidays, the Italian cities and their melting asphalt, the rooftop bars and small Asian alleys. The thing I emphatically not want is Germany in December 2020.
Wanna accompany me on this journey?
Tom Ford Neroli Portofino
The unobtrusive scent of Ladies who Lunch, of all coastal towns everywhere, from the Hamptons to Amalfi to Nice. (Don’t destroy my fantasies, plz.) It’s a white blossom neroli (original review) and the much more expensive cousin of 4711. Also, it hasn’t the regular 80s Tom Ford brashness. It’s an everyday scent that doubles as my pashmina during these times (shop here). (In other words, it’s my comfort blankie.)
H&M Raconteuse
It’s Neroli Portofino, but for Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive. Its white flowers are louder, the base is headier. It also needs big hoops and a vibrant lipstick. (Remember lipstick?!) It makes me smile (shop here).
Estée Lauder, every Bronze Goddess iteration ever
BG’s tiare and coconut always brings me back to a really upscale resort hotel where South American millionaires lounge at the pool with their model girlfriends. I’ve written much about it on this blog (here and here), and I’ll always have a bottle or three around, I guess (shop here).
Robert Piguet Fracas
THE tuberose soliflore. Really, there’s no other. It projects like nobody’s business, so it’s definitely not a scent for the office (WFH, anyone?!) or enclosed spaces. It was the scent of Brigitte Bardot and Madonna, it screams femininity, and also hot flesh, sex and hothouses. It’s the loudest scent I own, and if I ever want to feel like a sex symbol, this is the scent accompanying me (shop here).
Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt
A pivot: Iceland in summer: rain and the sea, green grass, the wind, big horizons and air that’s not comparable to anything a city dweller knows. A very private scent (original, ooooooooooold review) that wears close to the body, restrained and Nordic cool (shop here).
That’s what helping me keeping afloat.
Is wearing Summer scents in Winter something you do, or are you all for cinnamon, Christmas tree and spice fragrances right now?
Please note that this review is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods, or money, for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.
4 Comments