THE PERFUME FILES

I am a firm believer of having an “essence”. A smell that will make people think of you. When I was a pre-teen, it was Victoria’s Secret Bombshell. I know, very lame. But I was in middle school and believe it or not it was cool back then.

When I started high school, my smell evolved to Lancôme Trésor Midnight Rose. I still get vivid memories whenever I smell it. I would empty half of the bottle after going out so I wouldn't smell like cigarettes. For day to day, my go-to was Chanel Chance Eau Tendre. Probably a bit too much for high school.

As I was already interested in high fashion, I LOVED perfume commercials. Daphne Groeneveld channeling Brigitte Bardot for Dior Addict, Prada Candy variations featuring Lea Seydoux, the iconic Miss Dior commercials especially the ones directed by Sofia Coppola... And I was particularly inspired to actually buy them. I blind bought Versace Bright Crystal only because the commercial featured my favorite model of all time Candice Swanepoel.

After a while, I started discovering the world of more niche fragrances starting with Lipstick On by Maison Martin Margiela. It was love at first sight! But they later discontinued it which I'm still sad about. So I started looking for alternatives. Lipstick Rose by Frederic Malle and Lipstick Fever by Juliette Has a Gun were said to be similar - hence the names. They did have the lipstick dna which I adored. Chanel Misia is also known for being “lipsticky” although it is a lot more mature then the others. I love and still use all of them.

After learning a bit about the world of perfume, I started recognizing perfumers. Francis Kurkdjian and Quentin Bisch make some of my favorites. Kurkdjian is the nose behind Burberry Her which is one of my absolute favorites of all time.

With Parfums de Marly, Bisch made Delina an icon. Although it is very pretty, I love the La Rosée version more. It is actually my current l'essence.

Another favorite from Bisch is Good Girl Blush by Carolina Herrera which I love using at night. And I love the pink stiletto bottle. I don't care.

I still have a lot more to explore - especially in the niche area. Until then, hope you enjoy my current picks.

xo Tuvana