As both my Nan and my Mum wore it, I always refused to wear Chanel No 5. I saw it as “too grown up”, an, “old person’s fragrance”. I wanted to be cool, independent, young…
…But silently I loved the scent and wanted to be able to feel “grown up enough” to wear it. It’s so true that a scent can really help to evoke memories and because of the family connection, there’s something comforting about its powdery fragrance. For this reason, it is and will remain, an all time favourite of mine.
But that doesn’t stop me flirting with other scents from time to time.
In my late teens (in a bid to fight my secret love for Chanel No 5), I wore Chanel Coco Mademoiselle. It had that sophisticated Chanel packaging but with a sugary sweetness thanks to the rose and jasmine. It was younger and sweeter and I wore this religiously for a long time. Until I realised every other girl walking past was wearing it too!
My love for rose perfume led me to discover Lady Vengeance by Juliette Has A Gun. The name, branding and packaging of that perfume is fantastic and really fulfilled my brief of finding a lesser known (lesser worn) fragrance. With top notes of rose, vanilla and patchouli this has a girliness to it but a musky base makes it sexy, mysterious and a bit more grown up.
I’ve lusted after Byredo perfumes for ages but never found one that works. I thought I’d love their best-selling Gypsy Water and when I smell it on other people, I really do. But for some reason, this reacts to my skin and I smell of a mixture of damp, old books and moth balls (not good).
I read about Rose of No Man’s Land and knew that I’d love it. With top notes of Pink Pepper and Turkish Rose Petals, mixed in with Raspberry Blossoms and White Amber, this is a true rose with a spicy twist. Plus it works on my skin! The longevity is fantastic (just as well as it’s rather pricey so you don’t want to spray too much!) and I can’t even begin to express my love for the stylish, clean, simple packaging.
This really is a great rose based perfume and I would really recommend anyone who’s into Rose to give this a good sniff when they can. As I’m not the best at describing fragrance I thought I’d leave links to other blogs who can do it justice.
I am in love with this and as much as I want to save it for special occasions, I can’t help but spray it every day. Even on days (like right now) when I’m dressed in some old leggings, a t-shirt and probably won’t even get out of the house!
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What’s your favourite perfume? Any other Rose scents to try?
Melissa xx
