Halloween afternoon, the ten-year-old neighbor boy came by looking to borrow a wig. He had decided to dress as a girl for a Halloween party. His parents, who give out organic apples to trick-or-treaters and keep their own chickens, don’t have much use for high heels or lipstick. My house is a relative haven of girliness. While I didn’t have a wig to give the boy, I filled a bag with clip-on earrings, rhinestones, a sequined cardigan, a pair of gold slides, and a tube of Revlon Temptress.

My hand paused at a bottle of Yardley Red Roses Eau de Cologne. “Perfume?” I asked and unscrewed the top for him to smell. “Uh, I guess it’s o.k.,” he said. I knew his response translated as “no way I’m wearing that”, so I didn’t push it. But it led me to wonder, what makes a good feminine fragrance for a man?

As is true for many women, I’ve been wearing masculines almost as long as I’ve worn perfume. But I don’t have many men in my life who wear scent at all, let alone fragrances marketed to women…

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