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THESE NEW FRAGRANCE STYLES WILL HAVE YOU WANTING TO UPDATE YOUR SIGNATURE SPRITZ
GARDEN VARIETY
Fruity scents don’t start and end with citrus. Today’s perfumers are offering olfactory delights in the form of some truly unexpected essences. A mint- or banana-based perfume might sound strange in theory but, somehow, a waft of artfully blended produce just works. Still unsure? Floral Street’s rhubarb concoction is an easy entry-level point for those with traditional tastes.
FOCAL POINT
Not all perfumes need to be overwhelmingly heady concoctions. Clean, uncomplicated fragrances that hero a single note are gaining popularity thanks to recent advances in extraction and isolation techniques, allowing perfumers to drill down on one particular component. Go back to basics with scents that focus on the classics, or add depth to your regular redolence by layering a single-note scent underneath, which will help to amplify middle and base notes.
BEST ACCESSORY
Thanks to the innovative new scent offerings from Diptyque, you really can change your fragrance as often as you change your mind. The Parisian brand has developed a selection of reusable perfume stickers that sit on your skin, in addition to perfumed brooches and bracelets. Each iteration comes in three aromas that deliver significant scent pay-off, without being too overpowering. The added bonus? They’re incredibly chic, yet subtle enough to slot into your everyday accessory repertoire. If that’s not enough to convince you, Celine (the purveyor of all that is covetable when it comes to accessories) recently sent models down the runway with mini perfume vials bouncing across their torsos. Get your name on the waitlist, stat.
GOING NATIVE
Your nose might not know it, but there’s every likelihood that your favourite fragrance contains constituents you’d find in your own backyard. Upscale perfumers have secretly been mining Australian scents for decades, but our homegrown resources are finally garnering some real recognition. Rather than burying our distinctive materials beneath the glorified blooms of Grasse, fragrances are now being purposefully crafted with Australian natives and landscapes at the forefront – think wild wattle, forest woods and wildflower compositions. So really, you would be doing your patriotic duty to buy one.
AT HOME
Home fragrance doesn’t have to just mean candles (although there are plenty of chic options to choose from). These days, you can scent your space in a range of ways, such as incense sticks (yes, they’re cool again), room sprays and elegant oil burners.
ON IMPULSE
Admit it, you miss those cloudy body sprays you used to douse yourself in after every recess. Spray-on scents have now been reinvigorated with a host of grown-up variants hitting the market. The idea is the same – shake, mist and go – but the pay-off is better and the fragrances are undoubtedly more refined. They’re also far lighter and more petite than a customary perfume, slotting into even the most impractically small statement bag (Jacquemus, we’re looking at you!).
SQUEAKY CLEAN
The fragrance world is one of the final hold-outs when it comes to ingredient transparency. Which means if you’re trying to switch to all-natural products or avoid certain ingredients due to skin sensitivities, it can be tough to navigate. Fortunately, natural and organic perfumes that are formulated without chemicals are on the rise – and they smell every bit as complex and sophisticated as their more traditional counterparts.
TRAVEL BUDDY
When it comes to portable perfumes, rather than just carrying a mini version of your go-to, opt for a complementary scent that you can layer over your fave. The simplest way to find one is to consider the top notes of your usual EDT (the scents you smell when you first spritz), then choose a coordinating formula that captures those same notes. They don’t need to match exactly – in fact, it’s more interesting if they don’t. For instance, if you wear a light floral during the day, roll on a warmer, oil-based blend in the afternoon. Or switch completely to an earthy balm – the perfect way to mentally shift gears when you’re transitioning from desk to date.
MINDSET SHIFT
For anyone who’s ever whiffed an ex’s fragrance and hit rock bottom in minutes, what you experienced was the direct link between your nose and the emotional centre of your brain. The good news is that it works both ways: we can also flood our mind with all the happy feels by taking a deep breath of something pleasantly nostalgic, like biscuits baking. That’s the thinking behind candles and sprays with quirky scents, designed to trigger happy memories and deep relaxation (just what you need after a stressful day).