Why does everyone smell the same these days?

Every so often I find myself in the check out line of the grocery store and I can pick out what perfumes women are wearing and dang it if it all doesn't smell the same! There seems to be this variation on a theme that most perfumes that come to market are based around these days and they just aren't for me.

I don't tend to like super commercial, celebrity created scents (the exception being SJP's 2 scents) and I also am not usually a fan of florals either.I really lean towards spicy scents with just a touch of sweetness to balance them out.

I had read all about Musc Ravageur a Editions De Parums scent and was intrigued. So I headed to the local Barneys to see if these would be the antidote to my perfume blahs. I immediately noticed the 3 floor to ceiling tubes in front of this perfume section and also that the perfumes were kept in a refrigerator....hmmmm, even more intrigued. The 3 tubes that can best be described as Star Trek teleporter type things, turned out to to be scent chambers and in order to really smell the fragrance, internal fans were switched on and the fragrance was sprayed inside.

Moments later I was busily going between the 3 scent tubes and sniffing to my hearts content! The first tube contained Noir Epices which was really love at first sniff. The second was Carnal Flower and was just too flowery for me. The third was Musc Ravageur and while I loved it and will probably end up purchasing it later, tube #1 was my clear choice.

Noir Epices (Black Spices) is just that. Warm, spicy, it smelled intoxicating in the way that a scent that you love makes you feel slightly light headed. It has just a touch of sweetness from the orange and in my mind keeps it from smelling too manly. I do happen to like many men's fragrances but some just veer too far in the manly direction for my everyday wear. This fragrance walked that tightrope like a trained acrobat! The waves of spice were a marvel and I kept noticing that something was missing and it was vanilla. Vanilla is fine by me but I was thrilled that it had not joined the party because this scent was pure spice market in some steamy hot country I have never been to.

I highly recommed checking this line out if you are tired of the run of the mill fragrances that all seem to smell disturbingly similar these days. Be fairly warned that these frangrances are an investment (from around $100 to over $300) but are sure to be a permanent part of your scent wardrobe.

I get a little thrill every time I spray Noir Epices on. I feel that I am transported to a time when perfume was heady and romantic and the women who wore fragrance were spraying on a luxury of the most intimate kind.