February in my home town is dark and rainy. Smart Portlanders book flights for Mexico and other parts south. My budget usually keeps me home with stacks of novels and something braising in the oven, but this year I’m going to spend a week at a friend’s house in Palm Springs. I’ve never been there, and my brain is loaded with visions of the desert, palm trees, old steakhouses, and, hopefully, a good thrift shop or two.

I’ll be traveling with a modest carry-on suitcase, so I’ll probably take only a decant of a good all-purpose vintage fragrance with a warm-day, cool-night feel, like Rochas Audace. But if I were to pack a steamer trunk, here are five perfumes I’d include…

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