Guerlain has launched Insolence Eau Glacée, a new summer flanker to 2006's Insolence fragrance for women (and see also: My Insolence, Insolence Eau de Parfum).
An icy fragrance that makes you melt with pleasure…
5 Perfumes for: a Humid Day
Until six months ago, I was living in a semi-arid, high plains environment and I had forgotten what humidity was like. Returning to the area where I grew up has meant returning to Humidex (humidity rating) values and the cloggy, bilgy pockets of air that wallow around an Eastern city. I don’t sweat very much and personally prefer a little swampiness to the near constant gritty wind I encountered out west, but there is only so much stagnant heat a girl can take. During the muggiest days of our summers, I have noticed that a certain portion of the population in Toronto manage to affect a sort of languid, fanning Southern Belle attitude. Those of you who know me — either through online interaction or in what we now rather charmingly call “real life” — will be able to guess I have no ability or desire to pull such an act off. The Canuck obsession with endless discussions of the weather is a long-standing source of humour in my country, so while I indulge myself occasionally, I mostly try to just slog my way through heat in silence, washing my face three times a day and sleeping with a fan roaring into my ear.
One of the few benefits of the closest days is that the low sillage and lasting power of some of your favourite scents no longer seems like a drawback. When every opened door or sluggish second of breeze means you encounter the smells of both yourself and everyone around you, a linear, gentle and smiling scent seems like common sense and courtesy, rather than lack of imagination. Smelling the many colognes and eau fraîches released each year to the market also makes you realize exactly how difficult it is to make something straightforwardly fresh that still smells good. Listed below are five scents that have stood up to the challenge of a humid subway tunnel without wilting…
Top 10 Summer Fragrances 2008
Summer: it’s the best of times (fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables — songbirds and butterflies in the garden); it’s the worst of times (muggy, bug-infested days of unbearable heat). On the brightest, breeziest summer days (when the temperature is below, let’s say, 78 degrees), I feel happy and fling open the windows in my house to “freshen my life;” I listen to Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne at high volume and imagine myself running, buff and tan, thru poppy-dotted country fields in IMAX — I feel energized and immortal. Then, when the temperature soars, my spirits and outlook plummet: oily faced, limp haired, mean as a snake and with cold booze in hand, I retreat to dark rooms or my basement — and mope (when I’m not lashing out at friends, family, cats).
A summer arsenal of perfumes should make the good days better and the doldrums bearable. For me, summer is a time for sprightly perfumes, and just like I try to grow new things in my summer garden each year — I like to wear new fragrances. Here are a few of my recent discoveries:
A ‘soapy’ cologne is a must for me in summer. Balmain's Ivoire de Balmain smells like a scented summer bouquet sprinkled with pepper and dabbed with labdanum…
Yves Saint Laurent Cinema Scenario d’ete ~ new perfume
Yves Saint Laurent has launched a new limited edition summer flanker for 2004’s Cinéma fragrance for women. Cinéma Scénario d’été is…
Time out in the shade of a palm tree, in the burning hot summer sun…
Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Lotus, Mustang Blue ~ new fragrances
Elizabeth Arden has launched Green Tea Lotus, a new summer variation on her ever-popular Green Tea fragrance:
Look east with a beautiful new scent that complements the original citrus-influenced Green Tea fragrance. Green Tea Lotus is an elegant fragrance inspired by the flowers traditionally used to scent teas in India, China and Japan, plus the beautiful lotus blossom…