BY DESIGN : Smelling Like a Rose . . . or a Gardenia : Our Own Back Yards Are the Inspiration for Many of the Sweet Scents a Lot of Us Are Wearing These Days
As ozone levels climb with the temperature, the scents of Southern California yards (jasmine, gardenia, orange blossoms, white rose) are being overpowered by the distinct odor of metallic-scented smog.
Perhaps that explains why so many Southland women seem compelled to splash on white-flower fragrances. At least that’s the trend that emerged from an informal survey of who wears what.
Depending on her mood, super-model Linda Evangelista wears Chanel Gardenia, Tuberose by Jean La Porte or Gardenia Passion by Annick Goutal. Sharon Stone wears Bulgari Eau Parfumee (the one in the big green bottle), a blend of green tea, jasmine and orange blossom. Melissa Rivers (Joan’s daughter) wears Tova (citrus, jasmine, bergamot). And Lauren Holly wears CK One (fresh and citrusy).
Regular women share the preference. Susan Williams, an attorney who practices in Pacific Palisades, has worn Chanel Cristalle (a citrusy herbal) since 1977. “It came out the summer I got married and I still wear it,” she says. “It’s really light and totally unobjectionable,” a consideration in her profession. “I used to work Downtown and one of the law partners wore Tea Rose, which is a very potent, lasting scent. You always knew when you got in the elevator if she had been there within the preceding four hours.”
Williams, a wife and mother of two boys, adds with a smile: “Now that I spend my life at TJ Maxx and Ross Dress for Less, I’ve noticed that Tea Rose is one of those perfumes that gets remaindered all the time, along with Poison and Giorgio.”
Besides Cristalle, “My real weakness is Fracas,” Williams says. “It’s got a gardenia undertone. In fact it’s like Jungle Gardenia for grown-ups. I fell in love with it as a teen-ager. It developed a certain mystique for me because it was hard to find. People would have their stewardess friends buy it in Paris. I still really like it--and it’s still hard to find. I used to be able to get it at Joseph Magnin, but of course that dates me. I think you can get it at Saks.”
Williams does issue a disclaimer, though: “I suspect Fracas is one of those scents the wearer loves--but anyone within five feet does not.”
Maybe it’s all in the application. Splashing oneself with eau de toilette (third in strength behind perfume and eau de parfum) is the mode of action preferred by many Angelenos. Cathy Feliciano, director of public relations at the hair-care firm Sebastian International in Woodland Hills, wears Eau d’Hadrien (a lemony cypress) by Annick Goutal.
“The only problem is, it’s so light it doesn’t last very long,” she says. Her trick is to spray Eau d’Hadrien on a cotton ball, rub it on pulse points, and stuff it in her bra.
“I subscribe to the French way of wearing fragrance,” Feliciano says. “It should only be detected up close. Not a hundred miles away, which is more American--think of Giorgio perfume: I’m heee-rree!”
“The ‘80s were full of overly strong perfumes,” says Susan Sussman, vice president of fragrance at Tiffany & Co. She was in town recently to talk about Trueste, a new perfume coming in August at Tiffany and Saks.
“Our generation likes lighter fragrances,” says Sussman, who formulated Trueste with peach, apricot, tuberose, jasmine and vanilla. The result is a light, fresh floral with staying power.
You have to find what works on you, says Nancy Starita, a Los Angeles homemaker. “Of my 15 best friends, none of us wears the same thing,” she says. Starita likes the lily fragrance of Anais Anais, “although it doesn’t last too long, so I layer it--I use the eau de toilette and the perfumed body cream. I never invest in perfume.”
She also wears Tiffany (a fruity floral), which she got as a gift. It worked out: “My neighbor said, ‘You smell so good, what are you wearing?’ ”
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Mary Goodstein, a writer in Santa Monica, says she’s tried everything, but keeps coming back to Sung by Alfred Sung (a citrusy floral). “It’s fresh. And it’s the only fragrance I’ve ever worn that actually gets compliments.”
Glynis Costin, fashion editor at Buzz magazine, wears Chanel No. 19 (with jasmine, rose, iris and ylang-ylang). “In this business,” Costin says, “I get to try 9 million bottles of perfume, but No. 19 is what I wear. It’s fresh and not too overpowering. Sometimes I switch over to Gio [a green floral from Armani]. But that’s it.”
Those who aren’t in the fashion biz have their own ways of home-testing fragrance for free. Whenever Angela Friedman, an insurance broker in Culver City, buys makeup at a department store, she asks for a mini vial of perfume. “I try a lot of new fragrances that way,” she says. “But I have to be swayed, because I’m very loyal.” She’s worn Chloe, Paloma Picasso and Dune ever since they came out.
Although Friedman swears she’s budget-minded, she’d never buy dime-store perfume. “It’s unmistakable, that sweet-sour overpowering smell, like rotting flowers. It amazes me that a lot of young women have perfect skin, perfect bodies, they’re at the high point of their beauty--and they smell horrible, because they’re wearing cheap perfume.”
Some young women, like bi-coastal pop singer Debbie Gibson, are into vanilla from twee little shops. “I never buy big brand names,” she says. “I like wandering into perfumeries and having a vanilla scent made up for me. It’s so personalized.”
That’s what magazine editor Annie Gilbar has been doing for 10 years at Fred Segal Scentiments in Santa Monica. “I have my own French vanilla formula on file there,” she says. “My friends know me by this scent; I buy it once a year. It’s subtle and comforting--and it doesn’t walk into a room before you do.”
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Vanilla and Vanilla Apricot eau de toilettes are the second- and third-best sellers in L.A. for fragrance-maker Comptoir Sud Pacifique (available at Fred Segal). No. 1 is Fruits Sauvages (a blend of citrus, bergamot, blueberry, mango and musk).
The company plans to introduce White Flowers (jasmine, gardenia, rose) in the fall. On that note, Estee Lauder’s Pleasures (a fresh floral due out in August) is causing a stir, via inserts in magazines. “It’s the first scent strip I’ve been excited about in eight years,” Feliciano says.
Still, many women can relate to Paddy Calistro, a writer in Santa Monica, when she says, “I have never in my life used up a bottle of perfume.” She grew up with a mother who liked strong fragrances, “Estee Lauder Youth-Dew and Wind Song by Prince Matchabelli,” she says.
“Surprisingly,” Calistro says, “my 7-year-old daughter loves perfume. She pours it on, just like my mother. I think the urge to douse skips generations.”
Commiserates Sussman: “My 7-year-old son wears Tiffany for Men.”
The children may be carrying on a California beauty tradition: the desire to smell clean and fresh, no matter what it takes.
Styling by DONNA DEANE
