Valentine’s Day: my favourite fragrance finds

If you’re planning on investing in a possible romantic entanglement this Valentine’s Day, gifts don’t come much better than a beautiful, unique fragrance. With an emphasis on the “beautiful” and “unique” you’ll definitely be likely to impress, rather than appearing like you’ve run screaming through a department store ten minutes prior to picking up your date, arriving with a generic fragrance clutched in one sweaty paw.
There are a plethora of truly original scents out there if you really look for them, so I've come up with a few examples here of some that took my fancy, and just may grab your loved one’s attention too.
If you are looking for the ultimate gift for yourself or the fragrance fiend in your life, you can’t get much more luxe and fabulous than one of Puredistance’s three scents. Created by Master Perfumers in London and New York and available as perfume extrait only (that’s 25-32 per cent perfume oil), Puredistance really is one of the most exclusive perfumes in the world. Currently you can choose from just three exquisite fragrances, which are sold in a very limited number of luxury stores and perfumeries worldwide. In New Zealand and Australia they are stocked exclusively by WORLDbeauty, where they retail for $479.00 for 17.5ml.
My personal favourite us Puredistance M, which is an oriental, leather chypre in an insanely chic bottle. Created in London by Roja Dove, the world’s only Professeur de Parfums and one of the biggest fragrance authorities, M is inspired by “the stylish comforts of the interior of a grey Aston Martin”, and has elements of excitement and danger, which is just how it should be, in a fragrance inspired by Bond’s car. The composition purrs softly along, weaving the leather accord into the road map of spices, woods and resins. Seriously fabulous and incredibly luxe, this fragrance is quite honestly to die for.
Just up the road at Mecca Cosmetica you’ll find some absolutely beautiful fragrances that walk a little on the edgy side, as well as some cult favourites that you just can’t beat – think brands like Byredo and Serge Lutens, as well as those by Parisian legends Diptyque.
Lutens’ Un Bois Vanille is a truly sumptuous, all embracing parfum composed with Mexican black vanilla absolute, Sandalwood, Black Liquorice and Coconut milk. It really has to be sniffed to be believed, and is a truly heady beast that will have you looming in for more.
Mecca Cosmetica also has the Antonia’s Flowers range for something rich and floral, and it has a sweet backstory that I love. As a student, a young Antonia Bellanca studied art in Boston and then in France. It was in France, the markets of Aix and Paris, that she discovered all the wonderful varieties of flowers that she had up until then only seen in pictures - anemones, poppies, mimosa, freesia, and many more. After returning to New York she opened her own florist in East Hampton in 1982. She named it "Antonia's Flowers" and "it was a tribute to all the special gardens of my life." Wanting to recreate the scent that hit her customers when they walked in her doors, she worked with a parfumer to create her first fragrance, and soon others followed. Tiempe Passate is the jewel in the crown, and at $450 plus is definitely at the luxurious end of the spectrum. Extremely decadent and sensual, the unique, feminine fragrance is named after a love song Antonia's grandfather wrote, and is a deliciously musky, floral scent with it's key notes being Cedarwood, Amber, Clementine, Bergamot and Montauk Rose. It comes packaged in a custom made bottle and hand made box with stopper and pump, and is sure to impress.
Keep an eye out for something different than a celebrity scent this Valentine’s Day people – you know you want to!