Meet our new guest blogger: Liv Hambrett

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• Liv Hambrett

Olivia Hambrett doesn’t really wear makeup, is dreadful at application (her call, not ours) and is rather poorly versed in cosmetic trends. It’s the skin care, body lotions and potions, fragrance, natural vs synthetic remedies etc side of beauty she’s interested in. She also has an impressive list of achievements including a BA in psychology, an MA in creative writing, numerous articles published in magazines and she is also the current editor in chief of the online magazine Tresspas. Which she helped create. Phew! A round of applause for this Sydneysider if you please…

When deciding on a summer scent, one must search for fragrances with the right crispness, the appropriate lightheartedness and the necessary sense of fun that summer demands of a perfume. After all, your fragrance should not only match the season or your outfit, but perhaps more importantly than anything, your mood. And summer is the season of the frivolous, fantastical mood.

Of course, you don’t need me to tell you as the weather warms, citrus, aquatic and floral based fragrances are the way to go, because you’re probably naturally reaching for them yourself. It’s no good spritzing the woody orientals on a 30 degree day, you need something cool and refreshing that will boost wilting spirits.

So, what to look for. Notes of tart lime and sweet mandarin, vetiver and marine accord, jasmine and gardenia. Go fruity with mango and watermelon or stripped back with white musk and sandalwoods. Pop the warm, spicy winter scents away for the season, they’re too cloying. Wear tropical cocktails to barbecues, coconut blends to the beach and white florals to the moonlit cinemas. Because it’s summer and because you can.

Some old faves …

In White, as its name promises, is a bouquet of all things white. Opening with lemon blossom and bamboo leaf (oh so delicate) and letting loose with an intense white floral heart of Egyptian jasmine, magnolia, orchid blossom, almond blossom and white freesia, In White keeps things light by rounding out with white musk and iris. It’s elegant and luminescent and perfect for those summer nights.

Ah, an old favourite. Nothing says summer to me more than the smell of gardenias. Call it childhood sentimentality, but the moment these creamy flowers make their presence known, summer is here. This beautiful cologne blends the creamy, one might say lush gardenia with tuberose and the intoxicating notes of cardamom and myrrh. As intriguing as a summer’s evening with an exotic stranger. 

As cool as a cucumber sandwich, Escada Signature is understated summer elegance in a bottle. It opens with lemon, nectarine and cucumber (hello freshness) and sails into a heart note of Lily of the Valley, freesia, orange blossom and rose and a base of sandalwood, musk, iris and mandarin wear. It’s light, delicately and pleasingly subtle; the kind of fragrance that blows gently on an afternoon breeze.

You say summer, I say white. White cotton dresses, white wine, whitewashed buildings in Santorini and gardenias. And the desire to gad about aboard a yacht, a la Gwyneth Paltrow in the Pure White Linen campaign. This scent is as crisp as freshly washed sheets. A huge top note of grapefruit, ice rose tea, Granny Smith apple, lilies, white freesia, white ginger and raspberry gives way to a floral heart of tuberose and gardenia. The fragrance dries down to white cedar wood and white heliotrope. So crisp it’s practically crunchy.

A few new ones to try …

I know, I know. Jennifer Lopez. But the latest in the hugely successful Glow range that was released earlier this year is an island getaway in a bottle. Water lily, orange blossom and passionflower with a dry down of musk.

If you want the olfactory experience of the Mediterranean and can’t afford a stint in the Greek Islands, then this potion is your friend. Green mandarin, fig and jasmine with a base that includes olive wood. Someone pass the vino.

Every year the noses at Calvin Klein take their old stalwart, One, and perform a little magic. The result is a new spin on the citrus classic and consistently pleasing. This year they’ve gone very cool with blue mint, lime and cucumber, a touch of green apple and a base of rum cocktail accord and driftwood. Just like drinking the beach.

Perfect for a balmy summer’s eve, Boss Orange opens with sweet apple, dances into orange blossom and white florals and ends with vanilla and dry woods. Feisty and sweet at the same time, just like its poster girl.

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Liv Hambrett

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