Perfumes and a surprising realisation of my taste :D

It's an essential to every woman's (and hopefully all men's) wardrobe - not wardrobe exactly, but the thingamajigs you use before you walk out the door. Everyone has their preferences - some like it musky, some like the woody smell .. some even like floral fragrances :)

Essentially there are 4 basic notes to all perfumes

1. Floral

2. Woody

3. Fresh and

4. Musky

The names kind of are self explanatory. I don't have any preference per se, but I know or sure that the woody ones are not my choice. Almost all perfumes have a combination of these 4 types of scents, but there are layers : head note, middle note and base note. Base notes last the longest and you need to ensure you choose one that has a base note that you like. The base note kind of influences the lingering scent once you have applied the perfume.

Applying perfume on your skin is supposed to be the most effective way to get the smell to last longer; especially applying it at your pulse points. 'Coz when you get warm a bit (due to the sum / slight perspiration), your heart beats faster and the molecules dissipate, thus making the perfume's fragrance come out a bit more.

I remember the first expensive perfume I ever got. It is Dune by Christian Dior. The reason I love this fragrance is because of my mom :) She has this bottle in her cupboard and it has been her staple perfume for as long as I can remember. The shape of the bottle, the approval my dad gives when either one of us wears this perfume, the long lasting smell - all of them make me love this one. The base note is Vanilla. Now, I am not a fan of Vanilla smell - it can be extremely strong and many perfumes in my opinion have gone horribly wrong with it.. But Dune .. oh my God.. Dior has nailed it with this classic. I asked my friends to give this to me as a wedding gift instead of the usual jewellery 😁

The next one I own and love is Weekend by Burberry. I remember the first time I smelt this perfume - it was at Central in Bombay. I was still in college then and had gone shopping with my mom and one of her friends. The sales lady sprayed this on those paper thingies you get for smelling perfumes and among over a dozen perfumes we smelt, all 3 of us loved this one. But even during the sale it was freakishly expensive (over 2k). So I let it pass. When I started working, flipkart had a sale and this perfume was being sold by WS Retail (back then) and it was 1.2k for a 100ml bottle :D Of course I bought it :) The base notes in this one are woody.

My next favourite is the one my husband got for me as a wedding gift. Burberry Body ... It was a newly launched scent in 2013; and I wore it during our wedding, honeymoon .. Hell, now every time I use it I am reminded of Goa :D Base scent is again woody... I guess I tend to like base notes that are woody ... Hmmm 😀

Last but definitely not the least is Sunflower by Elizabeth Arden. It has a fruity top note, and a woody base note. Lol!!! I first got a whiff of it at my first job when the HR walked by. I actually stopped her and asked her the name of the perfume she was using - and ever since then I have been on the lookout. I finally got my hands on it at duty free at the Bangalore Intl Airport. I think they have discontinued this range !!!! But, next international trip, I plan on buying a bottle to make sure I have a back up just in case they actually do stop production. I hate it when companies stop stuff that you like- happened with the Lychee fragrance range from the Body Shop. Yes yes it is a limited edition - thank God I bought 3 bottles when it was on sale 😐

Another range that has been discontinued is the White Cherry Blossom from Bath and Body Works. My God - the smell ... absolute heaven. They've stopped it; so I bought it off on amazon.com and asked a friend to bring it ove. Unfortunately they didn't have the perfume, so I made do with a body wash and 2 bottles of lotion - hee hee😎

I'm sure more will be added - but I know for a fact that I will definitely repurchase all the above if and when I run out of my current stock !