I have been thinking about posting this small collection post for a while, but kept putting it off due to the fact that I can be terrible as describing scents and anything perfume related. But here I am, attempting to give this a try! So bare with me as a walk you through my complete fragrance collection. I will add a small statement that I am not crazy known for loving perfumes, but there have been a few scents over the years that just really have stood out to me as scents I had to own.
The newest addition to my collection will be the first one I talk about: TokyoMilk Dark Bulletproof No. 45 from the Femme Fatale Collection. If you’ve seen me obsess over the scent of the matching hand cream in my July/August Favourites post, then you already know I’m obsessed with this unique scent. I stated in that post that I had smelled the perfume and was not as big of a fan of it, but I had another chance to smell it outside of Sephora, and it was a completely different reaction. On a sale price, I quickly made the decision to buy the matching perfume and have been using it for the past month. The scent is a mixture of four main ingredients, including smoked tea, coconut milk, crushed cedar, and ebony woods. I have only been able to describe the scent as something that sits so perfectly borderline between feminine and masculine, and I love it! The packaging itself is so elegant and dark, but overall just very modern looking. This is the scent I am currently reaching for most days, and will probably continue using it throughout the colder seasons because there is a warmth to the scent.
On the days when I don’t reach for the first perfume, I reach for my Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb, which I have in rollerball form due to how expensive any other size would be to purchase. The saddest part of me owning this is that I originally bought one and within two weeks it fell to the ground and shattered. Heartbroken over the wasted product, and yet how great my room smelled for a day or two, I eventually re-purchased the rollerball about a month later because I knew it was a scent I really liked. Being almost an opposite of the first scent above, this is a very light and sweet scent. I am so incredibly picky with scents, especially the sweet ones, but there is a reason why this one is so expensive and it’s because it smells so amazing and is a perfect combination of sweetness and elegance. I usually just apply this behind my ears and on my neck when I feel like I am dolling myself up a bit more than usual.
For a choice between two different scents, earlier this year I bought the Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black perfume. I was smelling both White and Black versions in store and ultimately went with Black because it smelt darker and more vanilla-like, which is an ingredient I love. Now, I will state that this scent is strong and too much sprayed could be toxic, so I only use this perfume very rarely these days. I also picked up the rollerball of the Nirvana White later on, and I can’t stress enough about how important it is to smell things away from a wall of perfumes. Your nose gets so distracted by all the scents around you to get a true scent from the perfume you are trying to smell sometimes. I ended up liking the White version better, and it was much less toxic overall. I have the mini rollerballs of each if I’m tempted to layer them because I have heard and tried once to apply both to get the balancing scent between them.
Another perfume I purchased a year or two ago was the Kat Von D Saint perfume as part of her Saint and Sinner collection. This perfume is somewhat similar to the Nirvana Black, being a very deep warm vanilla based scent, but also can be toxic. At first sniff, there is almost a boozy scent, but it disappears quickly to leave the desired smell. It was one of those smells that you smell and it somehow casts you under a spell that you have you buy it. Both my sister and I smelt it, loved it, and ends dup buying it the same day. They have since discontinued selling this brand’s perfumes at Sephora.
Lastly, my earliest scent that is still lingering around for when I feel like bringing the scent back is actually in the form of a scent body lotion. This would be the Juicy Coture Viva La Juicy body lotion. This was my first scent to get me on track to finding what I liked in a scent, without any celebrity status associated with it. This scent was a very sweet one, but not in a sickening way that some can be. I think that because this was a body lotion and not a spray perfume, the smell was made to be a lot less toxic as I like to refer to the super powerful scents. This blend of wild berries, mandarins, honeysuckle, gardenia, jasmine, amber, caramel, vanilla, sandalwood, and pralines is definitely the mixture of a very sweet scent. But within those ingredients you can identify a couple that have carried through my favourite scents to this very day: vanilla and sandalwood. I used to be able to get into a friend’s car and they would smell my body lotion and identify it as “Nicole’s scent” – and I mean that in a good way!
That’s it for my current scent collection this time around. I’m sure if I ever do an updated version of this I will have another addition or two, as I know there is one I have my sights set on but is super hard to locate within Canada and is quite costly. I’d recommend giving these a smell if given the chance, or might help identify a scent if you’ve ever wondered what I used.
