The Beauty of your Bouquet...

Summer's scent is filling the air. The aroma of the ruby red rose mellows into the smell of apple blossom on the breeze and freshly cut grass hangs heavily in the air. With all these natural scents to contend with, choosing a perfume is tough but getting inspiration from summer's scent is a great place to start.

Perfume is a personal choice. Most scent savvy women can smell the difference between ‘Chanel No.5’ and ‘White Musk’ which were both hugely popular in the 1980s and have lived on to the present day. Classic perfumes have longevity and are a great investment. Chanel, Estee Lauder, Dior, Body Shop and other well known perfume brands all have their core ranges and best sellers so speak to the shop assistant about sampling a few of these classics.

The fantastic innovation in scent over the past few years is the take off of beauty products including fragrance. Most perfume houses also have skin care ranges which include their scents and this gives you a flexible choice when wearing fragrance. You could wear the bath and body range in the daytime and the perfume for the evening! The versatility in the products gives you a chance to smell divine all the time.

Floral or full bodied? Eau de Toilet or Perfum? 35ml or 100ml? The choices are endless. To help sift through the vast quantity of gorgeous scents that are available, here is a selection which gives you an insight into some of the light aromas, new perfumes and sophisticated scents currently on the market.


Light and lovely…

Pure’DKNY
The Perfume Shop. £31.50*

PureDKNY is described as ‘…a floral fragrance with top notes of dew-on-petals’ and includes extracts of accord, lotus flower and the Bulgarian rose. The idea behind its creation was to give the wearer a moment of calm in amongst the hustle and bustle of everyday life. One of the selling points for this scent is the fact that it uses vanilla from long-term sustainable vanilla production in Uganda, so as well as smelling sweet you can rest assured that at least one of the ingredients is being sourced ethically.

Daisy in the Air by Marc Jacobs
The Perfume Shop. £39.99*

This is a limited edition of the original Marc Jacobs fragrance. The attractive daisy bottle in a summery shade of blue will look great on your dressing table. Described as elegant and enchanting with a sparkling floral bouquet containing heart notes of wild strawberry, violet leaves and grapefruit. The scent is meant to be reminiscent of a fresh spring day and is sold along with a scented paper garland to hang in your room bringing a touch of fragrance to your home as well as your body!
GHOST ‘Sweetheart
The Perfume Shop. £21.99*

GHOST Sweetheart is all about love and at GHOST they have tried to capture the spirit of sweet, young love in a bottle. With lemon, spearmint, white flowers and sensual woods they have created a feminine fragrance for the modern, young romantic. The bottle is minimalist and thin so it is portable.

Fashionable and new…

Hearts and Daggers for Her, Ed Hardy
The Perfume Shop. £35.50*

This product is new on the market having been launched in May 2010. Brought to us by Ed Hardy, the famous designer clothes label, it's described as a ‘tantalizing, abstract floral cocktail that reflects the same colourful vibrancy, optimistic energy and open-minded movement of Ed Hardy’. So if you like Ed Hardy clothing, then this is the scent for you.

Gwen Stefani Sunshine Cuties – Harajuku lovers
The Perfume Shop. £14.99*

‘Sunshine Cuties’ is the new fragrance collection by Gwen Stefani bringing you five fresh, new fragrances in the well received ‘Harajuku style’ (little characters that sit on top of your perfume bottle!) If you like a bit of fun you'll love these. The Harajuka sport bathing suits and each character is gorgeously, looking every bit the beach babe. The five different bottles to choose from are ‘Fruity Floral’ with nectarine, plaumeria and vanilla orchid, ‘Lil’ Angel’ with citrus, pink rose and sugared patchouli. ‘Music’ contains pear, tiger orchid and cashmere woods, ‘Baby’ is a dewy floral with mellow mandarin, white poppy and soft musk in the scent. The last bottle is called simply ‘G’. This is a creamy musk combining coconut water, white peach and vanilla bean. They are light, airy scents and the bottles are entirely different to your average perfume holder making them irresistible to collectors.

Sensual and Alluring…

Versace Versus
The Perfume Shop. £39.99*

Versace have launched a redesign of their original ‘Versus’ fragrance which was originally brought out in 1992. With this in mind, the bottle is a vivid purple, chunky 90s inspired design but the scent has been updated into a zesty compound including kumquat, star apple and lemon, orange blossom, stephanotis and centifolia rose. The aroma is aimed at the modern sensuous woman – strong willed and sexy! The marketing campaign is fronted by the beauty icon Lara Stone and Versace say ‘this beautiful and seductive fragrance embodies the “rock n’ roll soul” of Versace’.


Stella by Stella McCartney
The Perfume Shop. £32.50*

Stella McCartney has created a scent which she hopes will make the wearer feel special every time she puts it on. This is a great aspiration and the blend of rose, peony and mandarin essence with base notes of sensuous amber combine to create a feminine fragrance. It is designed for the modern women and looks like a perfume that lends itself to being slipped inside a handbag for all day use.