An article on Coty's deal with Balenciaga to create and develop fragrances (with the first one due to appear in stores in the spring of 2010) led me to ponder over what exactly attracts us to a perfume. On a personal level I can honestly say that scent is one of the few instances when "designer" connotations hold no appeal to me whatsoever...possibly a throwback to all those instances during my childhood when I was trapped in elevators and other confined spaces with numerous women who'd obviously bathed in Yves St. Laurent's Opium...it marked them as part of a tribe but gave no clue to their individual personality. And, after all, fragrance is such a personal thing...both from the point of view of the emotions it evokes in you and in those around you...and because the same scent can smell so differently on different people.

Thankfully, after much trial and error, I eventually found three fragrances which I can happily say are "me" and which span both my moods and the seasons. They are...

• Melograno aqua di colonia by Santa Maria Novella - pomegranate with baby powder-ish undertones shouldn't also have a masculine feel but this scent does. Though I generally find it too heavy and cloying for warm weather it's my daily companion through the colder months. Interesting factoids (because I love inane trivia)...#1, this scent was purportedly used by the character Vesper in the James Bond film Casino Royale...and, factoid #2, the pomegranate was often depicted in Egyptian tombs and classical works of art where it symbolized wealth and abundance...some scholars believe that the forbidden fruit of biblical and mythological fame was, in fact, not an apple, but a pomegranate.
• Cannabis Santal by fresh - Sephora sells this as a men's fragrance and, as this is the second scent where I'm going to use the word "masculine" I can only say that my butch side must appear whenever I go near a make-up counter...however once I realized that I wasn't a "light and flowery" scent kind of girl I've been much happier so I'll continue to enjoy this heavy-but-still-wearable-in-the-summer scent.
• Sake by fresh - the most feminine of the three but almost poisonously so...spicy, yet sweet...a perfume that initially seems to welcome you in, and then slams the door in your face.