To Me, This Means Summer!

I love scents, fragrance, perfume, call it what you will! ever since the days of floating rose petal in my bath thinking the bath would be scented to pouring some of my mothers perfume in my bath, she was furious, and I mean really furious!

To me certain smells mean certain times of year, of feelings, of moods, and of course one of those times is Summer when any heat makes fragrance smell stronger. All around anywhere in France, Spain and Italy, in the warm evenings you can smell all these difference fragrances. Go into one of their gorgeous perfumeries and what a fabulous, sensory overload of scents!

At the best of times, I love anything citrus, something clean and fresh.

So I thought I would tell you my Summer favs!

First up is the gorgeous take on 4711. Acqua Colonia Lemon and Gingeri s actually made by the 4711 company in German and I bought this one in Spain but it is available on Amazon. In Spain particularly,  there are many Acqua Colonia’s, it’s a fragrance that you smell everywhere when you are walking around. You can buy inexpensive, huge bottles in the supermarket or smaller more concentrated versions like this one. A lot of people, male and female use it as a splash to cool themselves, smell lovely and keep the mosquitoes at bay. It’s a quick, light spritz of lemon and ginger, fresh and sharp with that little big of woodiness from the ginger. It’s the type of fragrance that you spritz on to freshen up or after a swim or before you go out.

This Eau De Parfum, Brazilian Lime, Fig Leaves and Tea is made by Beauty Pie by French parfumeries in Provence is a new find that I bought last Summer. It had everything you might imagine from the name, Lime, Fig and Tea, citrus, muskiness and a touch of earthiness, but it smells like a real perfume, not an eau de toilette or a cologne. So therefore it does last much longer. I have been wearing it most days all last summer and this, it feels grown up and fruity!

I’ve had a bottle of Cristalle by Chanel for ever. I’ve got to the stage of eking it out now, so I only use it once in a while. After getting used to liberally spraying my Brazilian Lime, Fig Leaves & Tea all over me every morning I got a bit of a shock when I used my Cristalle one morning, you only need a tiny bit for the same level of fragrance. That’s probably why it’s so much more expensive. It’s deeply green, deeply sharp, with bergamot, lemon, and hyacinth. Smells glorious and expensive!

O de Lancôme was one of my very first fragrances, in my early 20’s. It was affordable and accessible and wasn’t strong, bearing in mind I was in my impressionable 20’s, wanting to smell nice but not to stand out with something strong, and I’ve never been a fan of florals. It’s another sharp, lemony scent but of total gorgeous that it’s still a favourite after all these years. A sensual, cool, and invigorating scent. I prefer the original scent, quite honestly I hate it when they mess with the original scent to make it more ‘modern’, there’s loads of modern stuff around!  

There’s only one word to describe Guerlain, and that’s Parisian heaven! I first found this Eau de Fleurs De Cedrat in Paris in the Guerlain shop on the Champs Elysee, as you do! The only place I’ve been able to buy it is online. It possesses the secret freshness of the scents of the Mediterranean. Inspired by the landscapes of the Riviera, its fragrance centres around citron accents. Gorgeous and fresh!