Samantha's Perfume Diary: Are all scents unisex?

Samantha's Perfume Diary: Are all scents unisex?:   On a recent scent exploring trip at my various favorite spots in the city it occured to me that so many of my favorite scents appeared ...

Are all scents unisex?

 


On a recent scent exploring trip at my various favorite spots in the city it occured to me that so many of my favorite scents appeared to fall into the category of unisex scents.  I'm not sure if that is because mens scents seem to wear heavier and that is somewhat a signature for me.  Also I found it interesting that in doing some research on the subject of unisex perfumery that its really regional.  Certain parts of the world it is quite common place for men and women to wear scents made for the opposite sex.  Perhaps it is only in the Western countries that it seems to taboo to switch to mens scents and vice versa.  Seems to me that its almost considered "bad taste" to wear a mans colonge or scent.

Good for me then I'm somewhat of a rebel in perfumery.  I like to smell like whatever triggers my fancy at the time.  Consider myself to be scent ADD, I cant help it.  Because I wear dresses and skirts so often I find I like my scents to be powerful, clean and sweet but definately in the masculine range.

I came across a scent by mistake in after purchasing it, I thought it was a perfume, but it was an EDT by Versace "The Dreamer".  Oh my suns, moons and stars.....when I sprayed this heavy sculped bottle upon my wrist I almost squealed with delight!  Oh how strong, beautiful, rich and opulent.  Clean and fresh with explosions of green flowers with a hint of spicy vanilla notes though in face vanilla is no where in sight.  It may just be my chemistry that turns the smokiness of the tobacco and tonka bean into a heavy vanilla?
The notes list it as including Clary sage, Mandarin and Lavender, with Geranium, Rose and 
Tobacco in the heart  and trailing off with hints of Cedar and Tonka bean.


This was my very first Versace purchase and I dont regret it, even though intially I was dismayed that it was a menswear scent.  After wearing it all day and into the evening I must say it works wonderfully for me.  This is one of those Unisex scents that can work for a women.  Not just any kind of perfume wearing woman.  You must not be afraid to walk into a room and let your perfume walk a few feet ahead of you announcing your entrance with full fanfare....lol

Wonderfully bold and spicy.  If this perfume had a color I'd wear a beautiful gown littered with cobalts, purples and bold red crystals-like the starry night which the box suggests.  It truly makes me feel like I've stepped into a dream.  Now if I can just find the right man that chooses this scent for himself-Ah I might be hooked.  This scent makes me want to travel to the Mediterranean Sea.  I'd love to be lingering on a beautiful yacht in the deep blue ocean under the illuminating light of that night sky.  Dreamers this scent whether for men or women is for you.  Dreamers are less bothered with things like dos and donts I believe so this scent will work for those of you who don't fit the typical floral fruity Juicy Couture set.

The Bottle is beautiful cut crystal with what appears to be a Medusa on the front in frosted glass, with glassic Grecian architectual accents.  Very acceptable for display on the vanity for either sex.  It's truly a unique scent and I get so tired of the constant dribble of everyone wanting to wear what is in.  I like wearing what is in bad taste and the opposite of what everyone else is blogging about.  I want real perfumery and couture design in my perfume.  Perfumery is the one area of extravagant purchases that I have no issue with spending a considerable amount of money on.  Perfume is the only thing next to diamonds and jewels that really never go out of style and always leave traces of memory of your presence.

Forget jewels....I'd rather drown in a sea of perfumed oils.....

Happy scent journeys fellow Perfume afionados.

Samantha


Image Courtesy of Getty Images

Samantha's Summer Perfume Vlog and a bit of a chat!

This is my current rotation of summer scents that I've gravitated towards.  This was the second time having to film this particular video but at last got it finished!  Also, I update you a bit on some life circumstances that are changing for me.  Hope you like this one as I intend to have many more on the way!

Samantha

Samantha's Perfume Diary: Water scents to dream of!

Samantha's Perfume Diary: Water scents to dream of!:                                                I have a deep affinity for the element of water.  It's all shades of my favorite...

Water scents to dream of!

                                              

I have a deep affinity for the element of water.  It's all shades of my favorite color blue and it is such a peaceful and alluring quality to surround oneself in and around.  Who doesn't love a beautiful ocean beach with sand and the warmth of the sun?  I think of pristine and cool Grecian coastal scenes, even the cold green of the Irish Coast, the tropical waves of the Pacific ocean against Makapu'u Bay on Oahu Hawaii.


But.....alas, finding a water scent that captures this quality is so hard.  To this day I  still fall upon my few faves.  It seems to be that the perfume industry equates watery scents to men which I dont really understand as its such a feminine quality to me. 

As I am still on a constant search to expand my water scents to more than my three long time favorites which is will be sure to talk about here, but until then these three remind me of daydreams of mermaids and starry skies under the deep blue of the ocean depths.

A personal favorite of mine is Womanity Acqua Chic by Thierry Mugler.  Okay can we first talk about how gorgeously weird and Steampunk this bottle is to me?  It gives me such a Industrial chic feel but the perfume inside is so seriously soft and watery.  It's got great staying power on me and throughout the several hours of wear from about 2 or 3 sprays I get continual wafts of the ocean.  I grew up surrounded by the ocean on an island so I can pretty much attest to the sweet and slightly salty effect this gives my skin.  Isn't it interesting that the color of the juice is pink and yet the scent is so very blue.  Bit masculine and feminine.  I love it and the unique bottle gives it even more desire.  There is nothing cheap about this fragrance.  Its made very well, lasts a good amount of time and the bottle is a serious work out art for those like myself who enjoy a bit of strange in the artistic fashion.







An old favorite of mine which I must say is NOTHING like the newest reincarnation of this namesake thankfully is one of the sweetest scents I've ever worn.  Sweet and salty and absolutely my holy grail water scent.  Its so confoundedly difficult to find these days at a reasonable price but I am always on the search for it.  Why do Houses discontinue the most amazing scents?  Why?  WHY!  To add insult to injury they remarket it and reformulate it and make you think the newest version will have a smidge of the original in it.  As I recently got a sample of the Acqua di Gioa at Sephora and tried it out and all I got was rancid oranges and cat urine....YUCK!  But I promise you if you find the original Acqua di Gio on a shelf and get to sample it you will love it.  It wears well on hot and cold days!  Its so refreshing and cool and the frosted mint blue color of the bottle is simply Mediterranean.  Gorgeous, in one word this perfume is gorgeous!






I happened across the tropical bottle at a T.J. Maxx one day.  It was described as a sweet acquatic and with a name like beachy I figured it was a reasonable impulse buy.  Even though at the time I had never heard of Lily Pulitzer, I bought it and sprayed the nondescript bottle on my wrist and instant memory of white sandy beaches and tropical drinks and breezy palm trees.  Very tropical and at the same time beachy and acquatic.  A very good deal at 10 dollars for 3.4 ounches I do think this one deserves a look see.  This line has three scents all with a different take on the outdoors I believe, the other is a citrus scent and the other a lemon based one as I recall.  Its a beautiful blue bottle with a satin ribbon on a classic glass stopper.  Its very much like the smell of a classy hotel on the beach with the evening wind blowing through the corridors.  Very lush and light.  This one will trigger memories of your youth in the tropics or at least give you fantastic daydreams of a dream unfulfilled in the tropics.

Well that is it for this post and I hope you enjoyed!  Many happy summer adventures before the sun descends into the briskness of fall.

Samantha

Samantha's Perfume Diary: My HOT Summer Scents for 2014

Samantha's Perfume Diary: My HOT Summer Scents for 2014:  Ahhhhh.....Summer is so very close by. The sweet smell of flowers blooming, colors everywhere.  The smell of grassy fields, wildflowers,...

My HOT Summer Scents for 2014

 Ahhhhh.....Summer is so very close by.

The sweet smell of flowers blooming, colors everywhere.  The smell of grassy fields, wildflowers, the sun and salt in the air of the ocean nearby.  I love summer the most.  I will brave the wilds and grass that gives me allergy hell just for the pure pleasure of being in the sunny and fragrant outdoors....

Since this seasons color is all about the purples and violets I thought this picture represented the overall feeling of summer very well.  Rich and a bit deeper and opulent in a way, perhaps.  For me I have been testing my scent closet to determine which scents should be put on display for summer wear.

I'm so delighted with my selection as I have acquired some new ones and have rediscovered a long lost bottle that I had previously dismissed, perhaps from wearing it during Winter two seasons ago.  But for now I am in scent heaven.  I've worn it several times this week.  The first scent I will put on my display for Summer is Thierry Mugler's Womanity Acqua Chic for Women.  Oh my goodness I have fallen for this all over again.  Originally I bought it blind at T.J. Maxx a while ago.  What a delight to find an acquatic that I can wear. I grew up on an Island and fancying myself a bit of a mermaid I do tend to long for a scent that reminds me of my youth swimming in the sea, with sand and salt on my skin and in  my hair.....lol  I find the scent to be fruity, soft and excotic with a unique spicy accord perhaps because of the lily scent that I find very prominent in spite of it not being listed as a note. 

The next scent is Agent Provocateur L'Agent and just like Womanity (who's delightfully chic bottle makes me squeal with delight, I am a bit of a Steampunk girl).  L'Agent smells like a wearable version of Tom Ford's Black Orchid for daytime wear.  Unlike some unfortunate souls that find the woody notes to be too much like cedar shavings, on me its warm and woody-as in a rainforest wood.  I think this would be perfection on a night out during summer-maybe for a summer night festival.

My next pick is Burberry Woman.  I did some research earlier in the month looking for which scent might match me best from the designer and in the end decided on the original.   Its listed as a fruity woody-floral scent.  It is but on me its very subdued.  It is warm but I find on me my skin drinks it up and doesn't magnify the warmth to the point of screaming obscenities to the innocent passerby.  It took a bit for me to settle in to deciding if I liked it or not as its very much a departure from my normal scents, but the scent dries down to the most elegant and gentle aroma after a little settling down.  I LOVE it!  I have held off for quite a while owning a Burberry scent as it seemed so many wear them, but at last I found one that I enjoy wearing and I look forward to this being my go to scent during the summer days.

Two more to go!  My next scent choice is Elizabeth Taylor's Sparkling White Diamonds.  Its similar enough to the original to smell like it but its quite a bit different in the dry down to me.  My mother who passed away a couple years ago wore the Original and as much as I love it, I found that I could not wear it because it made me sad.  I have found that this although having the original still there floating around in the bottle, it seemed to me to be softer, quieter, maybe subdued is the word?  Like a lily rather than a rose.  Still beautiful but quietly so.  I want to wear this during summer to remind myself of my mother. I am glad that I can enjoy the memory of her now with her scent.  Gonna stop before I cry.... :-(

The last scent to go is a new obsession.  And I mean Obsessed!  The only Ed Hardy thing I've ever owned before was a white ball cap which I still have and wear, but the esthetic of his design line didn't seem like it would ever fit my unique tastes in fragrances.  Well I now stand corrected!  I found a love in his Love & Luck for Women.  First off the bottle is super gorgeous and trendy.  The juice inside though is all peach and sweet goodness.  I dont think of it as gourmand because it doesn't seem juicy enough for me for that description but the scent is so light and fizzy and still sweet.  The citrus isn't painful or make my nose itch.  I was super excited when I smelled how much my skin magnified the peppery notes of this.  Its my favorite note to distinguish a fragrance.  It seems like a young and fun scent.  Definately all of these scents are wearable for me during the day.  Night would necessitate respraying which for me isn't a problem.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed my scent faves for our upcoming Summer 2014.  I look forward to enjoying many a night and weekend over our short Northwest summer!  I hope you have great plans for you and yours and I look forward to reading what you all enjoy for your hot summer scents!

Samantha