My love affair with beauty products started with scents.
I remember that as a child I wouldn’t go to bed without patting on some cologne. If other kids needed warm milk, or a pillow, I wanted to smell nice before dozing. My favorite scent was the blue Johnson’s baby cologne that my mom would buy for us kids.
In high school I would go to Greenhills to look for the perfect atomizer. At that time my scent of choice was Nenuco or Petit Cheri, but still every night I sprayed on Johnson’s baby cologne.
As I grew older I started moving on to the wide world of perfumes. To this day I don’t leave home without spritzing some on.
During a family dinner at Resorts World Manila, we headed to get some ice cream for dessert. In front of it was the store Art of Scent. We ended up going in and I was surprised to see such a well-edited selection of scents. My top five picks:
1. Joy Patou— I was suprised to see my mom’s favorite scent here. I remember her telling me it was the most expensive scent in the world (which I’m sure does not hold true anymore); it was also Jackie O’s favorite. Henri Alméras launched Joy in 1930, in response to the crash of the stock market that launched the Great Depression.
He was instructed to create an extravagant perfume: 28 dozen roses and 10,600 jasmine flowers go to every ounce of extract. Architect Louis Süe designed Joy’s emerald-cut bottle. This elegant scent will fit a sophisticated woman—not overpowering but very distinct.
2. Balenciaga Paris—I love this scent. Perfumer Olivier Polge characterized the floral chypre as “present”: “It’s here. When you wear it, you smell it.” It is a vague description but it is quite accurate—not a bold scent but it lingers.
It smells like a very soft violet, a nice nod to Balenciaga’s iconic classic Le Dix, perhaps. It has a woody-musky base (the notes: bergamot, spices, pepper, violet, carnation, oakmoss, cedar, vetiver, patchouli, labdanum). My sister-in-law Tessa Valdes went home with a bottle.
3. Annick Goutal Un Matin d’Orange is composed of Sicilian lemon, ginger, gardenia, shiso leaves, magnolia, champaca flowers, jasmine from Indonesia and sandalwood. I particularly like this fruity scent because it has body and smells fresh without being too much like baby cologne and yet doesn’t have the heaviness that perfume sometimes has.
4. Infusion d’Iris Prada for women was introduced in 2007. It has a woodsy Oriental fragrance. Its name was inspired by the old method of producing iris extract which took six months of soaking until the sweetly fresh iris notes were extracted. This modern and elegant fragrance opens with notes of mandarin, galbanum, orange and orange blossom, which lead to the heart composed of iris, cedar and vetiver. The base is composed of incense and benzoin.
5. Jo Malone is inspired by the blossoming of vanilla orchid in Madagascar. Its composition opens with fresh Sicilian bergamot accords, along with Tunisian neroli, wild fennel and star anise. A heart blooms with tuberose, violet vanilla orchid, jasmine, frangipani and cloves, while a base incorporates ambergris, vetiver, Bourbon vanilla absolute and tonka. If you are a smoker, take note: Tonka is known to mask cigarette smell.
7 must-haves
Inquirer Red magazine’s June cover girl is industrial designer Liliana Manahan. You may read about her at inquirer.net/red. Here are her seven beauty must-haves.
1. La Mer moisturizer
2. YSL Touche Éclat
3. MAC brow set
4. Kérastase Oleo Relax Serum
5. Bobbi Brown shimmer brick set
6. Kiehls Midnight Recovery Concentrate
7. Malibu C Swimmers Wellness/Color wellness shampoo and conditioner