Sometimes, we just want to smell different. Nothing against all the mass-market scents out there in the familiar floral-fruity-woody variants, but if you’re feeling adventurous, there are more alternative options out there to spritz on and leave the people around you wondering, who is that person who smells so interesting? Only in a good way, of course. Here are 5 options that could be your new signature scent:
Diptyque Eau des Sens
Right from the get-go, you know this scent is out of the ordinary, because Diptyque describes it as “a confusion of the senses”. The idea here is to celebrate the “softness of skin”, but in an rather unexpected way with orange blossom, bitter orange, juniper berries and patchouli to make up a woody and spicy scent – not what you’d usually associate with “softness”. It’s also not clear whether it’s made for men or women, left to all that catch a whiff of the scent to decide for themselves. If you like to be deliberately mysterious and create an air of intrigue around you, spritz this on.
Diptyque Eau des Sens Eau de Toilette, $144 for 50ml and $190 for 100ml. Available at escentials stores.
CHANEL Les Exclusifs de Chanel Boy Chanel
It’s a fragrance borne out of a rather tragic love story – Gabrielle Chanel’s 12-year relationship with Arthur “Boy” Capel, the gentlemanly English polo player who helped finance Chanel’s first-ever store. It was an affair that ended prematurely when Capel died in a car crash in 1919, and this addition to the Les Exclusifs de Chanel scent range commemorates their relationship, a story that has been much retold. Chanel’s perfumer Olivier Polge imagines “the mark of a man on the skin of a woman” with a heart of rose geranium, an “androgynous flower” that is equal parts minty and rosy, between layers of citrus zest, lavender and sandalwood. It’s a fragrance that’s meant to be androgynous, like how Chanel was always unafraid to don menswear pieces without sacrificing any of her femininity. This scent is one for the romantics.
CHANEL Les Exclusifs de Chanel Boy Chanel Eau de Parfum, $310 for 75ml and $560 for 200ml. Available from 10 June at CHANEL Fragrance and Beauty Boutiques at ION Orchard, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands and VivoCity.
Comme des Garçons Dot
The dot has long been associated with the Comme des Garçons brand, and the story of this scent started off from this iconic symbol. Rei Kawakubo herself requested that the osmanthus flower, characteristic of Japan in the autumn, be the the main theme of the scent, and the result is a floral and fruity mix that is made up of bitter orange, pepper, and white amber woods to create the mysterious allure of a park filled with osmanthus trees in full bloom. It’s definitely a feminine fragrance, but unusual enough without being overpowering, in typical CDG style.
Comme des Garçons Dot Eau de Parfum, $206 for 100ml. Available at escentials stores.
Kenzo Totem
There seems to be a recent trend of creating fragrances for millennials, and this trio of unisex scents is Kenzo’s version of what millennials are supposed to smell like: fresh, woody, and brimming with energy. The trio is made up of the Totem Woody Citrus, with pink grapefruit and tea leaves and a base of woody leather; the Totem Woody Floral, made up of bitter orange, lemon blossom essence and vetiver; and the Totem Woody Fruity, which has pineapple, cardamom and cedarwood.
Kenzo Totem Woody Citrus, Totem Woody Floral, and Totem Woody Fruity Eau de Toilette, $95 for 50ml. Available at Sephora stores from 12 May.
CLEAN RESERVE Warm Cotton Reserve Blend
If you like your scents clean, New York-based fragrance brand Clean Reserve has a range of offerings that’s all about keeping things fresh and simple. Another important fact about the brand: all its ingredients are sourced responsibly from sustainable sources. Warm Cotton is one of its more iconic scents, and is a combination of light florals and musk with notes of mint green, pepper floral and musk, to evoke freshly-washed cotton on skin. Clean Reserve’s fragrances are also linear, which means they don’t move from top to bottom notes like most other perfumes; this means they’re suitable for blending – we suggest the other offerings like Reserve Rain.
CLEAN RESERVE Warm Cotton Reserve Blend Eau de Parfum, $128 for 100ml. Available at Sephora stores.
