Spring in the Pacific Northwest is a transitional season — there are chilly days and warm days, a dry day (or two), and then there’s…RAIN…all types of rain — sprinkles, showers, ‘horizontal’ umbrella-proof rain, deluges, sometimes all in the space of one exciting hour. What separates spring from fall, another season with multiple personalities, are the fragrant flowers that bloom in spring: plum and cherry; narcissus; wintersweet; scented azaleas, camellias and witch hazels; lilacs; daphnes; hyacinths; and my favorite — wallflowers. For my springtime perfume choices, I (mostly) skip spring flowers in a bottle — no perfume matches the aromas of real plants blooming all around me. My spring favorites, most of them new discoveries and, as yet, un-reviewed, are a varied lot.

Ah…the smell of gasoline on a warm afternoon! Histoires de Parfums Pétroleum reminds me of lawn mower fumes mingling with the scents of flowers and cut grass. It makes me drowsy (in a good way). And speaking of grass (and roots) I’ll add LesNez Turtle Vetiver Front to my spring favorites list; it’s a rich and warm vetiver that works in any season (like a “perfume-scarf,” it blunts the chill on cold days and, conversely, it accentuates the heat of a warm day when you want that “baking” feeling).

As one bakes, one sweats, and I’m one of those people who likes a hot-and-bothered-smelling perfume on occasion (we’re talking ‘clean’ sweat — grapefruit, vetiver, cedar — no overwhelming cumin). In this clean-dirty category, I’ll put Kinski (with its marijuana and vetiver notes) and the éminence grise of modern perspiration perfumery: Cartier Déclaration…

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