Fashion Dilemma - Those Christmas Parties!

Somehow for someone who spent the last month basically being a hermit, I've managed to accumulate a number of Christmas invites. I already know what I want to wear to most of the more formal occasions, but I have a couple I'm not sure about. The first is an informal little open house with a bunch of my friends from a ladies' networking and service organization. I plan to wear either a warp cardigan or a big pashmina shawl, so I thought I'd like to get a cute little top to have peeking out of the sweater/shawl. Do you think something like this little sequin number would work? I couldn't find a great image, but it's a drapey black sequin top from Talbots:



And then there's this one:


I also thought I could go for something a little more toned down. Perhaps a sleeveless shell with a ruffled collar or maybe even something like this lace tank I saw at J.Crew that comes in a variety of colors:



The other party is for my husband's office. It's on a weekday evening, so it's supposed to be "dressy business" attire. I know that a number of high-ranking political types will be present, so I need to make a good impression. I just have no idea what to wear - hence the lack of pictures for this one. Given the dress code, I'm sure my holly green cocktail dress is out, but I think a plain black suit would be too severe. Ideas?

Many thanks!

Smells Like a Monday - Souvenirs of Italy

I went to Italy for two weeks at the end of October, and even the smallest towns there had little perfumery shops. It was much easier to find pretty perfumes - and lots of selection - than in some American cities I've visited. Given the huge fragrance displays in the local pharmacies and the presence of perfume shops on what seemed like every other street in even the smaller towns I visited, I got the impression that fragrance plays a larger part in daily life over there. As someone who doesn't feel entirely put together until I've spritzed on a little something, I completely agree with this approach!




I was already familiar with Dolce & Gabbana, Gianfranco Ferre, Ferragamo and some of the other major designers' perfume lines, so when browsing for goodies to bring home, I didn't linger long at those counters. I instead kept an eye out for lines that are harder to find back home. In a small town in Tuscany, a local perfumery carried the I Profumi di Firenze line. If you ever have a chance to try these scents, do so! They are beautifully made and while they are much less expensive in Italy, they are also available in the United States via Beautyhabit. After sampling the wares, I ended up with a bottle of Talco Delicato. I've worn this scent before and it's still one of my favorites from the line.

I've seen Talco Delicato described as a musky vanilla scent, which would make one expect something much heavier than it actually it. The name really says it best. Talco Delicato is a very warm and feminine scent that has a powdery aspect to it, but without making one feel as though one is smothering in a cloud of talc. I find this scent elegant and incredibly graceful. It drifts over the wearer and just settles in naturally. With its warmth, it's a perfect scent for fall and winter.



My next fun stop was at Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Known officially as Oficina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, this pharmacy has been open to the public since 1612. In addition to selling a variety of fragrant colognes (Zagara, or orange blossom, being one of my favorites), Santa Maria Novella also sells a variety of luxurious soaps, home fragrances, and skincare products. Many of their recipes are based upon those developed by Dominican friars around the 13th century, and the Domincans actually owned and ran the business for several centuries before it went into private hands.

The pharmacy is housed in an ornately decorated old building and it takes up several large rooms. Given the enormous crowds on the day I was there, they needed it! I didn't end up with any new perfumes for myself, but I did buy several of their milk-based soaps to give as gifts. The soaps are strongly fragranced and smell absolutely beautiful. I got some in carnation and some that are jasmine scented. They are blending beautifully in my sweater chest until time to wrap them for Christmas.



Throughout my travels, I noticed that almost every pharmacy or midlevel perfume shop had plenty of shelving devoted to a brand called L'Erbolario. I had seen a few of these scents in the United States, but I have no real familiarity with them. Given that the company makes perfumes with matching bath/body products, it made me think of something along the lines of Crabtree and Evelyn here at home. Every time I saw a display, I took a few minutes to try various scents. Oh my goodness, the variety!

Many of the scents were soliflores (based around a single flower), but some of the flowers were ones that I had never seen scents for before, such as Acacia, which turned out to be soft and rather sweet. They also make various citrus scents and a neroli(blossom of the bitter orange tree) scent. The Italians seem to love their orange blossom! Almost every line, whether high end or not, seemed to have an orange blossom cologne or neroli scent of some type.

After trying many, many fragrances from L'Erbolario's seemingly endless list, I settled on Fiori Chiari as my last fragrant souvenir of the trip. It has notes of lily, rose, peony, lily of the valley and various fruits. This scent smells of green grassiness and light blooming flowers. It's the perfume equivalent of walking in a sunny breeze, and I suspect I'll be wearing it a lot in the spring. Even though I visited Italy in the fall, this scent really captured for me the essence of how I felt on my favorite day of the trip, which would be the day my friends and I hiked through hills in Tuscany on a bright sunny day when the light made everything look unbelievably green.

And to bring it all back to Virginia, I discovered over Thanksgiving that L'Erbolario now has a US distributor, and this distributor is based in Charlottesville, VA! You can find the complete L'Erbolario line in the USA at Londons. They have a shop in Charlottesville (love it!) and a website complete with Cyber Monday deals. If you're interested in L'Erbolario, Londons has set up a dedicated website and those products can be found here.

Recalled to Life

Funny how life works. I figured I'd be offline for 2 weeks while I went on vacation to Italy and then be right back. Italy was absolutely wonderful, and I'll blog more on it later (with pictures!), I promise. However, I ended up getting sick the last day of the trip. And I kept on being sick until finally I dragged myself to a doctor here at home - and found out I had whooping cough.

I'll spare you the details of being sick and just say that anything that makes you cough enough to break your own ribs is very obviously not a lot of fun. I had no energy for weeks and I've only just recently gotten to do basic things like leave my own house or get caught up at work. Thanksigiving this year made me feel extra thankful because I am finally better. I even felt well enough to bake my usual bourbon pecan pie and play with my little cousins for hours on end. It was fabulous, and being able to celebrate like that is not something I'll easily take for granted.

I've been having such fun catching up on blog posts and puttering around my house. I never thought I'd actually be thankful for organizing my books and papers, but I've been getting into it. I set my Pandora account to Christmas music(Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy is awesome paper sorting music, btw) and I've just been going to town. What a great day - even if the UVA/Tech game was just awful. I had been heartsick about having to miss almost all the UVA games this year, but I can't say I'm sorry about being home instead of down in Blacksburg this afternoon.

So, anyway...I made it back to the online world and I'll be posting again. I actually have some minor news, too, but I'll save that for later.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

I Want!

I had never heard of Lesley Evers up until very recently. Somehow I came across an article saying that those who like Jules Reid or Kate Spade would like Lesley Evers dresses. I went to her website and - wow! I was like a kid in a candy store. She makes cute tunics and skirts, but there are so many dresses that look both polished and very comfortable. I am especially wanting this one, called the Riley:


I like it the way it is, but I think it would look adorable belted as well. And I have cute 60s style black flats that would be perfect with it!

It would be a little cold for this one in Virginia in fall, but I like it, too:

Megan


And I absolutely love this Kylie skirt!




And, since there is a summer sale on, this little number may soon be mine to hold onto for next year. I'm not sure how long my self-control with regard to the Margaret will last:


And don't get me started on Miss Laura here:


You can find all the goodies here.

Go Hoos!

I'm not going to be able to make it to many UVA home games this year, but I'm following along at game parties. UVA vs. VMI would not normally be a big deal of a game, but with the season UVA had last year, I'd privately get a little nervous about what the local high school would do to them. They're my team and I love my school, and I'm happy to see that they seem to be stepping up their game this year. Hope it continues when they play ACC teams!

As I write this, we're in the second half with a comfortable lead, and I'm hoping it stays this way. I'll admit to teasing my cousins about Tech's defeat at the hands of JMU; please let's not give them a reason to turn the tables.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Nuts and Bolts - Coding Help, Please?

I'm definitely a total newbie when it comes to HTML here. I've learned a few tricks and beamed with pride accordingly. However, I'm having a little issue here. I'm trying to add the BlogFrog widget to my sidebar and it just isn't cooperating. I can't get it to line up symmetically with all the other widgets, and I just need to move it over a little to the left. Does anyone know how to do this? Thank you!

Smells Like a Monday - 20 Best Ever Perfumes

As I caught up on my blog reading today, I saw a feature over at Perfume Shrine talking about an article in the Daily Mail which purports to list the 20 best perfumes of all time. I realize that scent preferences are a very individual thing, but I just don't agree with the list. The scents listed in the article are:

1. Chanel No. 5
2. Shalimar
3. L'Air du Temps
4. Joy
5. Poison
6. Eau Dynamisante
7. J'Adore
8. Blue Grass
9. Je Reviens
10. Jean Paul Gautier Classique
11. Opium
12. Angel
13. CKOne
14. Anais Anais
15. Jo Malone Lime, Basil and Mandarin
16. Rive Gauche
17. DKNY
18. Coco Mademoiselle
19. Beautiful
20. Youth Dew


Most of these are scents that have sold millions of bottles, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them on a bestsellers of all time list. However, I don't think that these are the best 20 scents that perfumery has ever had to offer. My own personal 20 best list would be:

1. Laura Ashley No. 1 - now discontinued, but one of the most delicate, polished florals I've ever worn. Of scents available today, Santa Maria Novella Angels of Florence probably comes closest.

2. Coty Chypre -Nearly 100 years ago, this perfume launched an entire category of perfumery called chypres. It too is discontinued, but I've smelled vintage bottles of this scent and it was amazing.

3.Guerlain Mitsouko - One of the most sophisticated and beautifully crafted chypre scents out there

4. Guerlain Shalimar - It's not really "me", but this oriental scent truly is a classic and if you like orientals, it's one of the great ones.

5. 4711 cologne - This scent has been around since the 18th century, and remains probably THE classic citrus cologne. I love Eau Imperiale dearly, but I do have to give this one the edge.



6. Je Reviens - I'll agree with the Daily Mail on this one. It's soft, feminine and beautifully crafted.

7. Quelques Fleurs - One of the oldest multifloral perfumes (i.e. doesn't simply focus on the scent of a single flower); It was launched in 1912 and women still wear it today.

8. Dioressence - I know that Opium gets all the attention, but frankly I think this oriental which came out around the same time is much better made. It's been reformulated since then (sadly), but still deserves a mention.

9. Chanel No. 5 - Yes, this one is a classic and deservedly so. It's probably the most famous aldehydic floral of all time and has been loved(and imitated) for many years.

10. Joy - Another one that belongs on the Daily Mail list. Again, it's not really "me", but this rose-jasmine powerhouse has definitely been famous for a reason for all these decades.



11. Ivoire de Balmain - I've come across many aldehydic green florals that came out in the 1960s - early 1980s Some are better crafted than others, but this green floral which starts off sharply green before drying down into a heart of roses and white flowers is probably my favorite.

12. Crown Rose - Sadly discontinued but this is an amazing rose scent. It starts off very rosey and then dries down into a resinous sandalwood base

13. Estee Lauder Pleasures - Trendy fresh florals are sometimes maligned, but I think this one is wonderfully blended.

14. Creed Fleurissimo - This was created for Grace Kelly and she wore it on her wedding day. One of the most polished sweet white floral scents I've ever tried!

15. Estee Lauder White Linen - This is another amazing aldehydic floral. It's fresh, polished and really well done. Whenever I smell Charlie, I keep thinking that it WISHES it could be this perfume.



16. Chanel No. 19 - No. 5 gets the lion's share of attention, but this green perfume is amazing, too. It manages to be both feminine and yet give off a very no-nonsense, powerful vibe.

17. Annick Goutal L'Eau d'Hadrien - I'm usually not into the unisex scents, but this cologne has an understated polish that definitely makes it classic in my book.

18. Caron Nuit de Noel - Another classic wonder - this one from the 1920s. This scent is very polished, but with an undercurrent of darkness and mystery to it. I love to wear it to midnight service on Christmas Eve as it fits to unfathomable wonder of the occasion very well.

19. Robert Piguet Fracas - This 1944 creation is a bigtime attention getter. There are several big tuberose scents out there, but this one is the best, I think. It has just enough green to tone down the big florals so as not to overwhelm everyone around the wearer. A great party scent!

20. Guerlain L'Heure Bleue - This floral with the powdery drydown came out in 1912 and is deservedly still in circulation. It does have a faintly old-fashioned vibe to it, and I love the powdery drydown. There's a melancholy, bittersweet air to this one that just gets me. And as with most of the older Guerlain classics, the craftsmanship is impeccable.

White Party!

Ever since I saw Desperately Seeking Seersucker's post about her White Party, I've been feeling inspired. What a great way to end the summer! So here's my white party. They're not 100% white, but these are mostly pictures of pretty, crisp white things I've seen in my own life.

Yes, I really have seen 6 foot high Queen Anne's Lace!



Bluish-white glaciers - the coolest shade of white I've ever seen in real life


Easter lilies really do grow back and bloom again if you plant them


Another lily I've managed not to kill


Most determined rosebush ever


Because a white party needs sparklers!

If you want to enter the giveaway, it's not too late. You can find details here.

Smells Like a Monday #9 - Kai

Yes, I know. I've been bad and not posted regularly for the past few weeks. Such is the craziness of my work life. However, it's the last Monday before Labor Day and there's one summer perfume I want to mention before we head into fall. Kai is not too heavy, but it pretty much screams tropics to me. It's a beautiful white floral that comes in oil form. There is now a spray version, but the oil is heavenly, so I can't imagine not wanting to use the original. Favored by a diverse group of stars from Reese Witherspoon to Maria Shriver, Kai is a sweetly tropical floral with notes of gardenia, jasmine, tuberose and lily.


This is perfect floral to wear with your own Lilly. Though the notes make this sound like an almost overpowering floral, it really isn't. It starts off sweet, clear and a little greenish. As the oil warms up on skin, it gets to be more floral and less green, but it stays relatively close to the skin. The tropical prints on the clothes and the beautiful rich tropical notes of the scent blend together perfectly. So, before Labor Day passes us by, I say it's time to pull out a cute Lilly Pulitzer dress and a dab for Kai for one last summer cookout.


Kai is available at a number of shops. I've seen it in several cute little boutiques, but I most often order it from Luckyscent or Beautyhabit. Partially, I like the convenience of not having to drive to Richmond or Charlottesville for it, and I also love the great customer service at Luckyscent and especially Beautyhabit.

Cooking on Really Hot Days - and a Recipe!

I love to cook. I enjoy playing with herbs and spices and watching ingredients come together in the kitchen to create something new. It's the one major chore I would not want to hire someone else to do. However, there are times, such as during awful heat waves, when the thought of turning on a stove makes me just a little queasy.

Virginia tends to get hot and humid during the summer, but there are often breaks in the heat. In addition, our "hot and humid" tends to hover in the 80s. The weeks on end of temperatures in the 90s as we've had this year are hotter than I'm used to, and I'm happy to see fall coming. However, in the meantime I've been making the best of it with tomato salads, fresh melons from the farmer's market and simple recipes that don't require heating up the entire kitchen.

One of my favorites has been spaghetti squash "pasta". This one is a lot of fun to play with. I put different things in there every time I make it. Earlier this week, I made a version with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, some fresh cilantro, red pepper flakes and shredded parmesan. It's also good with garlic, olive oil and sliced cherry tomatoes, or with shredded cheddar, fresh parsley and sauteed mushrooms.

Here's how you make the basic spaghetti squash (quick and easy, I promise!):

1. Using a sharp knife, make slits in the rind of the spaghetti squash all the way around. This is very important - you don't want your squash to explode during cooking. Trust me on this one. :-)

2. Place spaghetti squash on a microwave-safe plate, put it in your microwave and zap it at 4 minute intervals until it's ready. The squash is ready when you see the juices oozing out of the slits you made in the rind and the squash gives slightly when pressed. For most sqaushes, this will take 10-12 minutes of cooking.

3. Let squash cool for 5-10 minutes.

4. Cut squash open lengthwise. Taking a fork, remove the seeds and then scrape along the inside of the squash. The interior will come apart as you do this, looking almost exactly like spaghetti.



5. Collect the "spaghetti" in a large bowl, and toss with whatever toppings you care to use.

Enjoy!

August Craziness - and pictures!

Do you ever have times where it just seems like your job ate your life? I've been going through one of those lately. For some reason, all of my cases just decided to blow up and need immediate attention over the past two weeks. And I realized that I never did post my promised report back from tax-free weekend. I hit some great sales and had fantastic luck!

At The Pink Palm in Richmond, I got to check out the new fall Lilly collection. I'm drooling over several of the pieces, but this cute dress really caught my eye. They had it in two prints, and I'm loving both! This is the one that was on the mannequin and ready for its close-up, though:



I made myself be good, and stick to sales for now, though. Given that they had the gorgeous Lovell shift in my size, this wasn't exactly a hardship. I tend to wear lots of greens and blues, but this cheery yellow is a lovely change. I wore it to church last Sunday, and I felt so sunny!



I had lunch at a very yummy cafe next to Pink Palm. It's called Mosaic and they pride themselves on cooking dishes with local ingredients. The salad tasted out-of-the-backyard-garden fresh, and I had a very good dish of pasta with fresh cherry tomatoes. I will definitely keep this little place in mind for my next Richmond jaunt.

At Talbots, I managed to break my "sales only" rule. Still, I think the shoes were worth it. I will wear these all fall. Aren't they cute?


I also found this fun blouse that will brighten up my navy suits for work. I wore it to court today, and it looked great. It was a nice change from my usual button-down shirts.



At the venerable Levy's, I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised. I haven't been to Levy's in Virginia Beach very often, but I remember them having cute beachy clothes. The Levy's in Charlottesville was, if not as cool as the Corner, still definitely quite the preppy shop when I was in college - and known for years as a great place to find dresses. However, the Richmond store seems to cater to an older crowd. Many of the items in the front of the store were things my grandmother's more flamboyant friends would go for. Think comfortable knits and elastic waist pants in a variety of animal prints. It's not my thing, but I know some ladies who would love it. This Levy's still had a small dress rack, though, and in the very back of the store, they had some of the well-made basic shirts, polos, droolworthy cable knits, etc.. that their other stores are known for stocking.

It was there that I struck gold. Levy's was having its fantastic 3 for 1 sale (buy 1 piece and get 2 free). I managed to pick up a really flattering pair of khakis, some white jeans and a khaki skirt. Not exciting, but very necessary. And since they're all well-made pieces, I was happy.

Phew! It was quite the expedition - and I also ended up cashing in all my various Ann Taylor coupons to order the suit I showed in my last post. I can't believe it took me two weeks to recover, but there you go.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! I'm off to lunch with family tomorrow, but otherwise no major plans. How about you?

Tax-Free Weekend

This weekend is tax-free weekend in Virginia. I plan to go to Richmond tomorrow to celebrate. I need to replace a summer weight suit, so I plan to hit Dillard's and possibly also to check out this number at Ann Taylor. Lately, I've been very disappointed in the new design and lowered quality at Ann Taylor, but this suit looks like it could be nice so I'll at least look it over.


And here is its matching skirt:


I also plan to head out to the Lilly shop down there to see if there are any must-haves in my size. I wouldn't mind coming across this on sale:



Other than that, I'm not sure where else I'll go browsing. I've always liked Levy's, but we'll see how much shopping I can take in one day. I do tend to wilt in the heat!

So, does anyone else have shopping planned?

Pink and Green Thursday Goes to Disney

Since I was in Disney last week, I just had to make that my pink and green theme. There's an awful lot of it to be found there!












And last but not least, we end the day with...

Smells Like a Monday #8 - Guerlain Boutique at Epcot

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent most of last week down in Florida. While I was there, I got a chance to slip away and play at Epcot. Even though it was ridiculously hot and my sunglasses steamed up the moment I stepped out of the hotel, I had a blast! The food in the international pavilions is fantastic, and I had fun on the rides. If you're ever there, I highly recommend Soarin. I really did feel like I was flying!

And what does any of this have to do with perfume? Well, the venerable perfume house of Guerlain has its largest US boutique right in the middle of the French pavilion at Epcot. And on a fine sunny day last week, I got to spend a fun morning in it.

Most people best know Guerlain for its classic Shalimar, launched in 1925 and still very popular today. However, this perfume house has been around since 1828 and is one of the oldest perfume houses in the world. They have created more than 300 scents and many hold them in high esteem.

Guerlain is one of my very favorite houses, so when I stepped into the pavilion and saw their round, three-tiered table of perfume bottles sitting in the center of the floor, I felt a little thrill of excitement. First I visited some of my old favorites such as Eau Imperiale, Chant d'Aromes and Mitsouko. Then I found myself testing the scents I've never owned or never tried. There was the bracing clean scent of Vetiver pour Elle, the happy lemony freshness of Eau de Fleurs de Cedrat and the mysterious sophistication of Vol de Nuit (I want!).

The ladies at the shop are French and have trained at the flagship boutique in Paris. They were very helpful, and I enjoyed discussing the history of various scents with them. In the end, since it has been so very hot, I decided that my souvenir of Epcot would have to be something a little lighter. One of the ladies there brought out a bottle of a scent that she said was originally inspired by the gardens at Epcot and had been exclusive to this location until spring 2010. As soon as I tried this one on, I knew it would be perfect. It smelled of white flowers and honey on my skin and was pretty without being overpowering. And it was:

Flora Nymphea!

Flora Nymphea is a new scent in the Aqua Allegoria line, a limited edition line that Guerlain adds to each year to celebrate different scents found in nature such as rose, anise, mint, etc.. This scent has a little citrus to lighten it, but mostly I smelled orange blossom and honey as it settled into my skin. It's a soft floral and very wearable. And if you're interested in wearing Flora Nymphea yourself, you no longer have to go to Paris or Epcot to get it. It can be found at select Guerlain counters or ordered from here. I had a wonderful trip, but I'm glad to be home.

Unexpectedly Offline

I actually had planned to blog this past week. However, I was on travel in Orlando for work and ended up spending less time planted in front of my computer than I had expected. On the plus side, I did have fun and I even got to sneak away to Epcot (will post later on this). However, that intense heat/humidity really got me, so I slept VERY well at the end of each day. My Fla. friends online definitely get lots of respect from me. It takes some serious toughness to live well in that weather!

Still, I will be back tomorrow. After all, not only did I get to go to Disney - I got to play in the Guerlain boutique at Epcot. If you have any interest at all in perfumery, that place is amazing!

Hope everyone had a good week and weekend!

Smells Like a Monday #7 - Lancome Peut-Etre

When most people think of Lancome, they tend to think of Tresor (I swear I smelled that one everywhere from high school through law school), or possibly of the more recent Hypnose or Miracle. However, Lancome has in recent years reintroduced some of their vintage scents or, in the case of Peut-Etre, retooled versions of vintage scents.

The original Peut-Etre was released in 1937 and has been described as featuring rose, lily and linden - sounds like a very feminine floral to me. For the 2008 re-release, perfumer Nathalie Lorson has, according to Now Smell This, added lilac as well as an amber and musk base. I expect that this base would add strength as well as warmth to the original.

I've only ever worn the modern version of this scent (would that I could try the original!), but it's still a beautiful one. On my skin, I got a soft, warm floral. It definitely smelled rosy, but I could tell other flowers were in there, too. Some reviewers have complained that the amber/musk base dominated things for them, but I did not find this to be the case at all. Perfumes can smell very different on different people due to skin chemistry, and Peut-Etre is one that works well on me. It's a sweet rose-jasmine floral on me, and actually rather subtle.

This lovely scent can be difficult to find, but the La Collection scents from Lancome are generally available at both Saks and Nordstrom. They also show up periodically on EBay and decants are available at The Perfumed Court. It's definitely worth trying if you get a chance. On me, Peut-Etre is both a subtle scent and a meltingly feminine one.

TGIF!!

Even though it's eleventy gazillion degrees outside, today just feels so light and free to me. Don't you love the freedom of a perfect summer day? Today is definitely one of those. I'm done with my court docket for the day, I have no particular obligaitons this weekend, and I'm going on a little trip next week. Finally having some free and easy time really makes it feel like summer to me. What does it for you?

Pink and Green Thursday - The Scented Edition, Part II

Last week, I talked about perfume on Thursday and since it's one of my favorite hobbies, I'm doing it again this week. Instead of pink and green perfumes, this week I have pink and green fragrance notes. Notes are the building blocks that make up a scent. Some have only a few and other very complex scents have more than a hundred different notes blended together to make one multilayered perfume! Here are some pink and green notes for you:


I love peonies! They smell so gorgeous, and it seems like there have been tons of peony scents out there. Banana Republic did a pretty one several years back, and Guerlain's Pivoine Magnifica is just beautiful.


The sharp green of vetiver grass spikes many a perfume. This grass is native to India but grown in many tropical regions, and its oil is prized in many different types of perfumes because it has excellent fixative properties and, depending on the quantity used, it can blend well to create a variety of different moods. You can find it in everything from very, fresh and springy scents to dark, mysterious and spicy ones.


In summer, pink grapefruit is so refreshing! I love grapefruity scents this time of year.


I know the blossoms are technically white, but lily of the valley has such a fresh green scent. Fragrances with lily of the valley are often classified as "green" or "green floral" in perfume references, so I figure it counts.


I don't think you can talk pink without pretty pink roses. Does anyone remember a fragrance Elizabeth Arden made called True Love? The perfume itself was a lovely pink, and it smelled so pretty and rosy.


And just like I can't talk pink without pink roses, I can't talk green without galbanum. This resin, which comes from a plant native to Iran, has medicinal properties and also gives many perfumes a hint of something herbal or simply intensely green.

Happy Thursday!