Scent of a Woman

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with a little extravagance from time to time. In fact, it's my deeply held belief that without spoiling yourself at least a little, you do yourself a disservice. What's the point of earning money if you never do anything fun with it?

This post is going to be about my favorite beauty indulgence: Perfume.

Honestly, I'm a bit of a perfume whore lately. For a long time there, I was loyal to ONE perfume (I adore the idea of a woman having a signature scent, you know? I wanted people to think of ME whenever they smelled it.) But as of late, I've been branching out. Perfume is the one thing that I tend to buy the advertisements for, hook line and sinker. My favorites not only sell a scent, but an image of a slightly mysterious and completely intriguing woman.

My all time favorite perfume has to be Allure by Chanel.


From the product description on the Neiman Marcus website: Clean and sheer, warm and sexy. Difficult to define; impossible to resist. Yes! I want to be that woman! (well, ok, maybe I don't want to be sheer exactly, but you get my point.) I first fell in love with Allure when a man I was seeing wore the Allure Homme (ohmygah, that scent makes me weak in the knees. ya'll) and I went to the Chanel counter to try the femmine version. It was love at first whiff. It's rich and a bit musky and sort of classy sexy. A whore would never wear it, but a mistress certainly would. This is the perfume that mixes oh so well with my Johnson's Baby Oil. It's light enough for day wear but transitions perfectly for a sexy night out.

I first smelled Versace Crystal Noir thanks to a former co-worker. I was chatting with her in her office one day when I got a whiff. I swear to you, I used to stop in her office just to smell her. Of course I couldn't buy it until I no longer worked with her; you don't steal another lady's signature scent. But as soon as I left that place, I got me some of this. Will you just look at the bottle?
Gorgeous, right? For some reason, this bottle makes me think of Elizabeth Taylor. No one but NO ONE has ever been more beautiful than Ms. Taylor, and I've yet to see a perfume bottle that is prettier than this. Not only does it look good, but it smells amazing. It's sexy, dark, rich and grown up. Spray this on before a date and you'll feel like a dark and mysterious siren and irresistible to men.

Another current favorite is Tom Ford Black Orchid Voile de Fleur.

This is also in a really pretty bottle; sort of sleek and reminiscent of Art Deco, but much more understated than the Versace. The scent, however, is anything BUT understated. Now, if you're going to purchase this scent, be careful that you don't buy the original Black Orchid as the bottles are deceptively similar. This is the lighter version of the Black Orchid, but there's nothing "light" about this fragrance. It has more white floral than the original, but it's still dark, earthy, and utterly breathtaking. This is the scent you wear on the second or third date, when the time for being sweet and ladylike is past, and you're ready to get down to bi'nezz. I would not recommend wearing this for brunch with Gram.

Beauty Tip
Don't ever, EVER buy a perfume before you have worn it for at least a day. Scents wear differently on different people, and a scent rarely ends up smelling worn as it does straight out of the bottle. I also don't tend to trust those samples you can get in the magazines; they never give you the full picture.

Did you know that you can go to Nordstrom and request a sample of ANY perfume? They'll spray the perfume into a little vial and give it you for FREE. How bad ass is that? Each vial gives you enough to wear for at least a week. Sometimes, the perfume counter will have pre-made samples that have a spritzer thingy on it, and those tend to be a little larger. I always get a sample of a perfume before I buy it. After all, perfume is expensive and there's no point in forkin' out the dough if it ends up smellin' rank on you.

Beauty Tip 2
Amazon.com is a great place to find deals on perfume. There tends to be a pre-set price for perfume and there's little to no price difference from store to store. Amazon, however, offers good bargains from time to time.