Top fragrances for this season

It is a new year, the chance for starting anew and keeping up tighter your resolutions. If you are looking to make a dramatic change of style or just curious to try something new, in the last days of 2016 I worked hard to bring you my latest recommendations for special fragrances a modern woman should consider seriously at least twice.

Launched in 2013, Bright Crystal Absolu by Versace leaves a strong impression, with its exquisite and eclectic combination of woody, cistrus, yuzu, pomegranate, peony and magnolia, to mention only few of the essences brought together. For me it was a bit sweet, but it has the advantage of matching easily each moment of the day and almost every occasion, from a first date to a casual restaurant outing.

With a base of white musk and cedar, the newest version of the legendary Chanel no. 5 - L'Eau was launched at the end of 2016. I instantly fall in love with it, for its gentle variation of fragrances - among which citrus, woody, white floral - which keeps in line with the elegant original version. It demonstrates that you can still be creative with top brands, as long as you respect the main frame. Something to wear for life. 

The First Fragrance by Miu Miu is exquisite not only for the fragrance, but also for the story of making off this perfume, with more than thousands of tries and the creation of a special ingredient - akigalawood - based on patchouli. I usually, don't like patchouli, but in this case, it was added to the main lily of the valley fragrance. It suits a dynamic and complex woman - like you, and me...

Be Tempted by DKNY is a matter of choice. And special style. The combination between patchouli and vanilla can be a bit too extravagant or too sweet to suit everyone, but actually, it has some spicy accents too. In any case, it is the choice of a woman with a strong personality, self-aware of who she is and not keen to be what other people want her to be.

Unfortunately, I don't pay too often attention to Lacoste fragrances. Pour Femme I've discovered completely randomly and what I've smelled made my ashamed for my ignorance. It is elegant and friendly and special, not necessarily the usual sporty feeling I was expecting - again, ignorance is bliss. It has a spicy impression, with balsamic notes, to which add Bulgarian roses and hibiscus. It creates an impression of comfort and easiness while keeping up a particular individuality. 

What about you, what are your top fragrances for this season?

Fragrances to test this season

Although quite conservative in my choices of perfumes, I am always looking for new fragrances to test, sometimes just to answer a special mood or the need for a change into my life. In the last days, I've been out in the perfumes stores - Douglas, the German version of Sephora - discovering and trying to understand new scents.

Here is my short list of recommendations for this season.

This 2015 Paco Rabanne women fragrance, Olympea has a very elegant bottle, representing a laurel crown, illustration of the message of strength and dynamism. The olfactive impression was at the first sight unusual: an explosion of strong impressions, from sandalwood to citrus and vanilla, white floral and salt. It suits a strong, stubborn personality, that doesn't mind to wear it all round the day. A smell not easy to forget.

Offered in a bottle shaped as a hand grenate, the Flowerbomb by Viktor&Rolf is an exuberant pot-pourri of flowers. It may smell as a bubble gum, or like patchouli - not necessarily my favourite fragrance - balanced by musk, jasmine. The list of flowers seems to be even bigger, with orchid, fresya, rose, jasmine being only some of them. The smell is persistent and you can easily wear it for the whole day, but I particularly recommended for some day outfits and during some girls time. After a while it is just intoxicating, not in the bad sense.

Created by Prada in February 2016, Candy Kiss belongs to the same exuberant flower-inspired category. It enhances and explores the powerful musk smell, adding drops of vanilla and white cotton. It plays with emotions and impressions, the balance between elegance and fragility and strong personality. You can wear it for the day, with flowerly dresses and with a big smile on your face. It makes you even more special and different.

Alien, by Mugler is for people really wild at heart, and it is not only about the bottle - with a design between the philosophical stone and the witch secret weapon. The first thing I noticed about it was the strong pepper fragrance, followed by an elegant combination of amber and Indian jasmine. It makes you feel exuberant and special, a bit intimidating at a first date. 

Eau tendre by Chanel brings the flowers into your house and body, leaving around Romantic traces of grapefruit, jasmine and white musk. Elegant and distinguish, it embraces you in the morning and follows your steps during the day, until late in the night. 

Pleats Please is not only a perfume, but corresponds to a collection launched by Issey Miyake a couple of years ago. Although it follows the fruity-flowerly line, it uses exquisite fragrances, such as that of the special Asian fruit - Nashi, a crossing between apples and pear - combined with white flowers, patchouli, vanilla, cedar and white musk. Bubbling at any age and time of the day. It doesn't matter if you keep up with the dress code, this perfume is just another statement about how special and unique you are. 

5 top items on your shopping list from Rituals

With more time spending at home that I used to after the birth of the baby, I focused more than usually in the last months on creating a special family ambiance. A couple of days ago, I went to Rituals for a short overview and left with five purchases. 

Honey touch - 15.50 EUR. A combination between Himalaya salt and Indian rose, it brings a velvet skin and the perfect balance between body and soul.

Ginkgo's Secret - 10 EUR. Just because I cannot resist a hand cream. For my tired and water affected hands, the ginko and ginseng mixture is the right answer. It is recommended as a night treatment.

Sweet sunrise - prices my differ...around 18 EUR. I live i an old house and especially when I cannot keep the window open for too long I need various air refreshners. Sweet sunrise bring the smell of fresh sweet oranges into small and big spaces. It lasts for around 2 weeks and fill-ups are also available.

Happy mist perfume - 16.50 EUR. The novelty of this perfume is that it is designed both for the body and the bed. It has a fresh smell, with flowers essences, alcohol-free and suits sensitive skin. 

Elixir d'Orient - The prices may differ, but goes around 20 EUR. A beautiful combination of Oriental essences, among which the Persian pepper is giving the personality of this very special and obsessive perfume. It is recommended especially for the late evenings and matching a velvet black or purple dress. The rest is just a work of imagination...

A perfumed choice for the week-end: Pleasures, by Estée Lauder

The wave of Pleasures from E.Lauder is not easy to describe. Anyway, how one can correctly and precisely describe pleasures? It is completely out of question to succeed in describing correctly all the flavours and impressions sent by a drop of this simple yet mysterious bottle. For a couple of days already, I am trying to describe in the simplest possible way this perfume, but I did not reach the proper level of brevity yet. 

As an eternal lover of lilies and everything that has to do with it, especially perfumes, and as an equal admirer of the delicate jasmine fragrances, the presence of both passions in a perfume called 'Pleasures' is beyond expectations. Baie rose was also added, and violets, and the result is not your every day perfume. It matches velvet dresses or silky flowerly-prints. I will not wear it in the morning, or on the way to the gym. Not even when I am going out with the friends for shopping or for a coffee, when I travel or when I should make a presentation at work. Rather, when I am invited to a reception or at a opera or classical concert, at a wedding anniversary or for a family gathering. It goes with the spring and early winter. The summer may be too hot for such passionate pleasures. 

Fragrance of the week: Balenciaga, Florabotanica

Source: Banciaga website

I must confess that I can hardly resist the temptation of not trying a perfume with such an inviting cover: flowers and butterflies always remind me of the spring and summer time in June. It smells as the summer in the big cities. Think about elegant ladies in flowerly dresses in a late summer on Broadway, walking slowly and laughing loudly, showing off without allowing the passers-by to approach them. Bubbling with energy and joy, because it will be a pitty to do not show to the world how happy and beautiful they are. This is how I felt after I tried Florabotanica, by Balenciaga.