I keep getting refrains of songs in my head for this recap of summer scents.
How about Joe Cocker!
Ayala Sender of Ayala Moriel perfumes invited me to participate in today’s summer scent story. Ten blogs are participating and you’ll see the full list with links at the bottom of this post.
I'm a little late getting mine together, except in my mind, because I'm just newly back in town and catching up is more than I anticipated.
And truth be told, there are places I might wear very little fragrance -- why waste it! -- such as poolside or the beach (assuming I am going in the water.) I will wear scents that evoke the image, but I don't wear them to the places. And for a summer night out here, I'd be careful of scents -- too many bug critters. Whatever I wore in the day time would have to be what is left for the evening.
Best inexpensive: anything Bath and Body Works or Bathed and Infused and some Avon
Lots of nice BBW light fragrances. I like the pineapple, a less expensive alternative to Ananas Fizz.
Avon Tahitian Holiday
Not exactly tuberose, but a close cousin. Evokes the beach for me, with the tiare and coconut.
Ginger, tiare, coconut.oil, musk, monoi oil (tiare flower and coconut oil)
Best expensive: Kilian Love don't be shy
Love this!
Top notes: Marshmallow, Neroli
Heart notes: Sambac Jasmine with Rose and Iris
Base notes: vanilla and musk.
Best summer incense: Kilian Cruel Intentions tempt me, hands down.
A little bit boozy, a whole lot sexy, this one starts out with a blast and softens to a delightful skin scent. My 13 yo raved about how I smelled when I first sprayed it, whereas I thought, what a surprise that she likes it on me. I was enchanted once again with the ending.
Fresh notes: Bergamot calabria oil, orange blossom oil,
Floral notes: violet accord, centifolia rose absolute,
Woody notes: agarwood (here is the oud again), Indian papyrus oil, gaiacwood oil, Haiti vetiver oil, sandalwood,
Animalic notes: styrax absolute, castoreum absolute, vanilla absolute, musk.
Best summer chypre: Guerlain Chant D'Aromes
Imagined as a scent for an idyllic island, Chant D'Aromes enchants. It is light and sexy. Who knew it was a chypre! Originally, I thought it was just an interesting floral, one I can wear, as I wear chypres well.
Top Notes: Mirabelle, gardenia, aldehydes, fruits
Heart Notes: Rose, jasmine, honeysuckle, ylang-ylang
Base Notes: Benzoin, musk, vetiver, heliotrope, moss, olibanum
Best remedy for humidity: YSL Elle
Floral and woody, soft but with presence. Compliment source. Love that patchouli in the heat.
· Top Notes: Cedrat, peony, lychee.
· Middle Notes: Pink berries, freesia, jasmine.
· Bottom Notes: Patchouli, vetiver, ambrette.
Best clean floral: Avon Summer White
This is a floral I can wear. Fleeting, which is perhaps why I like it. I generally wear something more complex like Chamade.
Hints of sparkling florals blend with sheer jasmine and soft white musk, capturing the essence of a gentle summer day.
Best long lasting citrus: Is there such a thing?
Bigarade Concentree by Frédéric Malle, Creator: Jean-Claude Ellena
Lasts a bit longer than some, but I don't mind re-spritzing.
Bitter Orange, Cardamom, Pepper, Rose, Hay, Aldehyde
Guerlain eau de fleurs cedrat Pure Lemon
This is very refreshing, but it lasts about 5 minutes, or 5 seconds. Still, it is a terrific fragrance for the heat.
What's with that!
Not exactly citrus but it is a fragrance that never quits: 24 Faubourg by Hermes
One I can't wear as it just gets stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger on me.
orange blossom, amber, vanilla, jasmine, and ambergris
Best summer gourmand: Guerlain Gourmand Coquin
Chocolatey and sweet, but not like Iris Ganache, this one whispers rather than shouting. Nice. Warm. Enveloping. Jorganne, the manager of Guerlain at the Palazzo, wears this scent almost exclusively.
Gourmand Coquin notes: black pepper, rose, rum, chocolate.
black peppercorns and a trickle of chocolate. A dash of rum, and the spice and cocoa bean
Best sultry summer date night: Anything Kilian.
Or anything with some patchouli. Patchouli is cooling to me.
Best scent for a summer night out in the big city: L’ i n s p i r a t r i c e by Divine. (or anything Kilian) I love it.
Notes ylang from the Comoros and bergamot from Calabria, peony and white musk, vetiver blended with vanilla and tonka bean.
Best outdoor party/picnic/BBQ: Not for me to draw critters! I'd go with whatever is left from my shower or earlier in the day or the night before.
Best fruit salad: J Lo Live Platinum Smells lemony, some say.
Or anything with pineapple. Or fig.
marzipan, plum, ruby grapefruit, Christmas rose, heliotrope, orange blossom, vanilla, musk, white cedar wood and amber
Best scent that seems like it wouldn’t work in the heat but totally does:
Anything heady and oriental. I can wear them all in summer, and it's a good thing because summer is 8 mos of the year here.
Best scent to wear while lounging in a hammock reading a book: L'Artisan Ananas Fizz
I can't think of a time or place when this wouldn't work in the summer. It's a stand by! Light, with presence. Yummy!
Pink Grapefruit, Bitter orange, Rum, Victoria Pineapple, Lychee Sap, Cocoa Milk and Vanilla.
Best summer tuberose: Guerlain Mayotte
You can either wear this or you can't. There's no middle ground. It's wonderfully warm and creamy when it works. This is the re-do (or else the same just different name) for Mahore, which was lovely but not well received. When it settles, it's lovely. Both are sophisticated tropical floral orientals. Mayotte is more frangipani and ylang-ylang.
Mahora notes: orange, almond tree blossoms, ylang-ylang, neroli, tuberose, jasmine, sandalwood, vetiver, vanilla.
Mayotte notes: neroli, frangipani, tuberose, ylang-ylang, jasmine, sandalwood, vetiver, vanilla.
Tiare Mimosa is a lighter fragrance and perhaps more wearable.
Another good one is Divine by Divine. It's sharper than Tiare Mimosa.
Best scent for gardening and/or the farmer’s market: Anything green, so long as it doesn't draw critters. How about English Tweed unexpected for summer, but green and woody. Or Fidji -- haven't worn that for years.
Best scent for when you need a vacation but can’t get away yet:
A scent that evokes the place where you'd like to be or a place you've already been.
How about Capri! Fig...
10 Capri by Carthusia or Fresh Fig Abricot or Aqua Allegoria Figue-Iris.
Best summer scent for dining out with your in-laws: Hermes Hiris
Top Notes: Orange blossom, rose, coriander seed
Heart Notes: White iris, black iris, cedarwood
Base Notes: Vanilla, ambrette seed, almond wood
Later today or tomorrow I'll post a list of summer favorites, no categories, and in no particular order. There are so many that I love to wear. Just no time at the moment to compile it.
What do you like to wear in the summer? Do you have a favorite(s) ?
There was a time when I loved Jean Nate (can you evoke the scent in your mind?)
Meet you on the rooftop!
Karin
Check out the other blogs participating in today’s Best of Summer, 2009 piece:
Ayala’s Smelly Blog
Originally posted 2009-07-17 09:46:45.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I love the Guerlain AA Figue Iris, too. The AAs get a bad rap but some are wonderful.
24 Faubourg, great choice. That one does wear beautifully in the heat.
Wow, you were creative with the categories, so many!
It’s always good to see Chant d’Aromes in lists, I love it so dearly. I have been wearing it this spring quite a lot, it’s so delicate, tender, affectionate and lasts well. I find it poised between a lactonic floral and a light chypre, which makes it even more interesting!
Also love Divine, Fidji and Chamade.
Have you tried the 24 Faubourg in EDT? (spritzed lightly) I found out it is nicer than the quite heavy EDP which indeed never quits…
Glad Ayala brought me to your site! Love your in-laws category and love to see Hiris on any list. What fun!
If you like tuberose, I recall that Sonia Kashuk makes a nice one. I am wearing Avon’s Imari Seduction and I love it…but it wears off too fast.
reapplication is necessary. My all time fave year round is Lolita Lempicka. Obsession is a close second. Recently I got a mini of Anais Anais, and the bottle is beautiful but the perfume smells powdery instead of flowery on me and disappoints me terribly. 
booo. And what else. A mini of Amarige that I love for any time. I have some Organza Indecence that I only wear for evenings. I think that pretty much covers my little collection.
She does and I actually have it. I’ll have to respritz, then add to my list(s.) Heading out the door, more later.
Trish, I’m glad you’re here! I love Hiris.
I so overdosed on the 24 Faubourg edp that I think I was afraid to try the edt. I love, love, love the bottle!
Yes, Chant d’Aromes is one I like to wear, and I layer up through the day. It was one of the few florals I enjoyed — and no wonder since it is a chypre.
I wore Fidji when I used to make myself finish a bottle before I would buy another bottle. Man! it was hard to finish. I can still smell it in my mind’s eye.
I think some of the AAs are lovely. Some are unwearable for me. They don’t last terribly long, but not being long lasting isn’t a bad thing if you like to change scents throughout the day, as I do.
Karin,
What a great list and great categories!
I’m sorry it took me so long to post here… The tea party sucked me in more than I could expect.
Wow, I didn’t know J Lo Live Platinum existed. So many sequels these days I can’t keep up. But like you I like anything with fig and pineapple – especially when they are not too sweet. Ananas Fizz and Philosykos are the best of them all in my humble opinion.
And Guerlain’s Eau Fleurs de Cedrat is my favourite of its genre, yet unfortunately nowhere to be found in Canadian Guerlain counters. I also like Eau du Coq.
Thank you so much for taking part in the project! It was fun to read everyone’s ideas, suggestions and concepts. I fell so lucky to be among such original and creative perfume bloggers
Thanks, Ayala! I wish I were closer to you so I could get to your presentations — hey, just to be in your presence would be like royalty! Seriously.
J Lo Live Platinum is my favorite of all of the Live ones. Haven’t bought it yet. I have never smelled Philosykos, but it is always mentioned in the same breath. I don’t even know who sells it — certainly no one around here! I envy those who live near big cities where these can be found. OTOH, with 800+ new fragrances per year, who can come close to experiencing a majority of them!
I smelled Eau du Coq on my recent trip, but I didn’t think I could wear it. I’d have to go look at the notes to see why. Fleurs de Cedrat reminds me of one I had in a Bee Bottle at one time, I think it was Eau De Guerlain, citrus — and more long lasting than Cedrat.
I found my Sonia Kashuk bottles and I’ve been spritzing my legs (these are large bottles 8 fl oz!) and a lighter version, I’m sure. They offer instant get-aways in thought.
No 1: Tangerine, Chamomile, Gardenia
No 2: Yuzu, Giner, Tuberose
No 4: Bergamot, Waterlotus, Quince
I like them all. I should do a review!
I forgot to say in my earlier comment that I too like Avon Imari Seduction. I don’t care for Imari, but I like Seduction. Haha, pun intended! On me it lasts pretty good. I’ve never tried lotion or powder or anything else in it, but perhaps any of that layered would help the lasting power. Usually Avon fragrances are a bit like Estee Lauder, they never quit (or at least they don’t if you are tired of them!) Do you remember Timeless? I had a friend who wore it extremely well. Heady stuff!