Jo Malone Fragrance

Hi All!

Another lag between posting times....oh, dear, the summer has just gotten away from me - I did make a quick trip to Boston to visit my daughter and her family for a week, and I've  managed to fly through a number of books in the last six weeks......hmmmm.....then there was all that knitting....... but still!  Six weeks without beauty chat is five and a half weeks too long, don't you think?

Today I want to talk about fragrance.  Fragrance is not, strictly speaking, 'makeup', but it's certainly part of the whole cosmetic mystique, and it definitely deserves a mention now and then.  I first fell in love with fragrance in sixth grade - guess that would make me eleven years old.  (Let's not do the math here and figure out exactly how many years ago that was, okay?  I'll just admit that it was more than forty years and let it go at that.......)  My mom always had a few bottles of cologne on her dresser, and one of my very favorites of hers was called Christmas in July.  She also owned Shalimar and Je Reviens.  I don't believe that Christmas in July is around anymore, but Shalimar and Je Reviens certainly are.  Some fragrances are timeless, and if the company that produces them stays in business, well, all the better. :)  Actually, come to think of it, most of the famous fragrance houses ARE still in business.....fragrance might just be the one thing in our beauty lives that remains constant....when I think about many of the fragrances that I wore in my youth, I realize that most of them are still available today.  Wow!  So if you want to go back and re-visit a bit of your youth, YOU CAN! :)

I started babysitting around sixth grade, and therefore had some disposable income of my own, which I promptly spent on makeup and fragrance......I started young.......one of my first fragrance experiences was with the 'splash' Jean Nate, which was billed as a refreshing citrus scent.  To this day, some of my favorite scents are strongly citrus, and Grapefruit might just be my very favorite scent of all time.  But don't make that stop you from reading on.  LOL  I could reminisce here for quite a while, talking about all of the wonderful fragrance memories I have, but I won't bore you with my past.  You can talk a walk down your own Memory Lane of Fragrance in the privacy of your own home.....it might make your heart beat a little faster to remember what fragrance you wore when you had your first kiss........I've read that fragrance is a very strong memory trigger, and that if you smell a particularly memorable scent, it takes you back to the moment you were when you smelled it.  So spritz on a little Jontue and let the memories begin!  LOL

But back to the subject at hand.  I recently discovered Jo Malone fragrance.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I first sniffed Jo Malone at Nieman Marcus several years back, and, frankly, I was NOT impressed.  This was supposed to be such an amazing brand of fragrance from London, but the first few times I tried the stuff, I could not (try to) wash it off quickly enough.  I say 'try' because, for me, once a fragrance has been applied to the skin, it's NOT coming off till it WANTS to come off, which is usually inversely proportional to how much you like it - when you love it, it seems to wear off in a matter of minutes, and when you hate it, it lasts for ten hours, and you could scrub your arm till it bleeds and the stuff will not come off!

However, I decided to try it again, and this time, I have fallen in love.  Specifically, I have fallen in love with Nectarine Blossom & Honey; Lime Basil & Mandarin; Verbena of Provence; and White Jasmine & Mint.  (Pictured above, from L to R are:  Bath Oil, Body Creme, and a small spray Cologne.)  Now, Jo Malone products are not inexpensive (Aaah, I admit it, pretty much NOTHING I love is inexpensive...does that make me 'high maintenance'?), but it lasts a good long time.  The Bath Oil on the left in the picture above was purchased about four weeks ago, I daub a small amount on my wrist nearly every day, and, as you can see, the bottle is basically still full....yes, I use Bath Oil as fragrance and not as actual Bath Oil - I don't think I've taken a bath since the 1970's.  I hate being naked to begin with, and naked sitting in the bathtub is just too much to take. 

But, I digress.  Back to Jo Malone.  The helpful sales associate at the Jo Malone counter at my local Nordstrom's (well, not entirely local - it's about a forty five minute drive - for those of you in the greater Chicago area, I'm naming the Woodfield store) was amazing.  She freely gives samples of all of the products, which is why I now can carry my four favorite Jo Malone fragrances in my handbag.  I hope that all of the Jo Malone counters operate on the same principle, but I suppose that you might come across a less-than-helpful salesperson when you shop for these products.  In any event, this wonderful woman suggested a lovely combination of Jo Malone products and fragrances for me when I told her my preferences.  Did you know that you can rub on a bit of Nectarine Blossom & Honey Bath Oil and top it with some Lime Basil & Mandarin Body Creme and have a gorgeous fragrance that will last all day?  Now you do!  And if you want, you can spritz on a little Verbena of Provence on top, and off you go, trailing a cloud of yumminess behind you.

I really recommend stopping by the nearest Jo Malone counter you can find and experimenting a little.  Fragrance speaks to each of us very differently, of course, and what one person loves, another gets a headache from.......so please, make that only ONE spritz of your favorite scent, and not fifteen.  You never want your fragrance to arrive before you do.  People should have to be in your personal space before they can experience your fragrance.  It's not an across-the-room kind of product.  At least, it SHOULDN'T be. :)