Choosing your Signature Fragrance…

For me fragrance is just as important as my skincare routine. I like to smell good god dammit.

Over the years, my fragrance wardrobe has grown and adapted, just like I have grown as a person. It has evolved to embody my style and attitude. I no longer reach for the perfume of the moment, the one every girl has to own. I no longer pick up just any pretty bottle that sits perfectly on my dressing table. Fragrance has become so much more than, just that.

I love how our senses can force us to take a trip down memory lane, particularly when a smell can remind you of a place or a person. When I wear a fragrance, I want to feel like it is mine, I own it. So that when those around me come across that scent, the signature belongs to me.

Let me explain.

So, Victor and Rolf Flowerbomb, is a brilliant example. I bought this perfume when it very first came out, before everyone else discovered it, because I was drawn to the unusually sweet scent, but deeper base notes. I loved the packaging, I loved everything about it. By default, it is a perfume that I will throw on in a hurry, because I know whatever the weather, I will smell fabulous. However, the downside to being so god damn fabulous, everyone wants you. So now, every woman in the universe will have tried or worn at least once (To a hundred times) this fragrance. For that reason, because I like to be individual, I often stubbornly refuse to wear this. It is a perfume I adore, but not my signature scent.

Tom Ford Black Orchid, this was my next favourite perfume. I wore this for so many bloomin’ years. It cost me a fortune. I then had the stupid idea of buying this for my youngest sibling. What had become my signature fragrance, shifted to being someone else’s. I of course still wear this fragrance, but again, it no longer feels like, me.

You can see where I am going with this?

A signature fragrance to me, is something that carries all of my favourite ingredients, rich woody base notes, a hint of oriental or smokey heart, followed by a slightly lighter top note. It has to be expensive. Only the expensive ones last all day long, and remain floating like a little secret across your clothes when you open your wardrobe.

So how do you choose yours?

Take a look at your perfumes, discover the ingredients they have in common. Are you more of a floral lady? Or do you like a nice clean, musky scent? When shopping for fragrance, only try 3 at a time – don’t overpower your senses. Walk away, and come back another time until you decide.

Do not buy your fragrance purely because it is a famous brand and the bottle is extravagant. Sometimes the lesser known brands, with simple packaging are so beautifully unique.

With me, I like either a really woody intense scent, that warms on your skin and is a real comfort all day long, or the complete opposite a super light, floral musk that barely lingers, but occasionally reminds you it is still there. Clean Reserve perfumes have the most amazing, simplistic packaging and I recently tried Rain. A musk, but with vetiver, one of my favourite ingredients in any perfume. What I like about this brand, is that you can very easily layer the blends to create your very own unique scent.

The Maison Martin Margiela Replica fragrances are truly stunning, and I recently discovered both Jazz Club and Beach Walk. One offering my woody fix and the other a musk. I actually need to repurchase Jazz Club, as my mother decided she loved it so much, she wanted to keep it – and I could not say no. Everything from the bottles, to the way the scents are layered, these are just incredibly made perfumes and I cannot recommend them enough.

Sometimes, you can stumble across your fragrance by chance.

A friend of mine, he always wears Bvlgari Man and he literally smells a-ma-zing. On my return home to the UK, I just had to buy the women’s version as I could not get this scent out of my head. I am so glad I did as it is fast becoming, what I hope to be my signature scent. Bvlgari Jasmin Noir, not only has a sexy bottle, but encompasses everything you desire to feel empowered and beautiful.

What is your signature fragrance?