Rose is having a moment in women’s fragrance, and it’s not just in the dusty memories of hand creams worn by the elderly baby sitters of our childhood.
A key champion behind rose’s resurgence, Aerin Lauder has introduced Rose de Grasse ($185), a fusion of three roses, as her first women’s fragrance in her new premier collection, and Evening Rose ($110), flecked with cognac, in her signature collection. Rose has always been Lauder’s own signature.
“Mixing it with other unexpected ingredients makes it innovative and relevant,” Lauder says. “Modern women are drawn to how a fragrance makes them feel, and rose has unlimited personalities.”
Hers are among several new fragrances that reinterpret classic summer blooms and fruits to capture the spirit of summer 2015. Bonus: Some of these fragrance’s vessels offer multitasking twists.
1: Lilac Path is second only to Evening Rose for childhood time-travel scents in the Aerin Fragrance Collection. While all draw on classic fragrance notes — Iris Meadow, Waterlily Sun, Gardenia Rattan, Amber Musk and Ikat Jasmine — each opens into a thoroughly modern finish. $110, http://www.aerin.com.
2: Mixing your own signature scent on vacation becomes easier with Fred Segal’s The Blend custom fragrance blending mini-kit. Slender vials of four oils from the Blend’s full-size kit — Clean Musk, Tropic Bloom, Amber Vanilla and Citrus Zest — are boxed up as a cute, affordable way for consumers to create their own traveling fragrance lab, fun for tinkering during your summer reunions. $29, http://www.sephora.com.
3: Trail a fragrance without it veiling your body, or fading in heat or humidity, with Lisa Hoffman Beauty’s new Vibrant Collection fragrance bracelets. A charm holds Hoffman’s signature fragrance beads (Tuscan fig, Madagascar orchid, Japanese agarwood). But even without the scent, the bracelets capture the bohemian feel of summer, especially stacked. Bracelets, $65, http://www.lisahoffmanbeauty.com.
4: For the intensely pigmented bottle alone, the new Valentina Pink turns heads. Then there is the scent: rose mingled with peony, sparkling with strawberry and toned with Cashmeran wood, ambrox and praline. Like the bottle, the result is a heady whirl of energy to help you seize these summer days. $112, http://www.nordstrom.com.
5: Picture a fine-dining soda fountain, but for perfume. The iconic Thierry Mugler Angel now is available as The New Star, a refillable objet at Thierry Mugler Source fountains in specialty stores nationwide. Though it’s eco-chic, it’s actually a revival of an 18th century tradition of refilling a treasured perfume bottle, rather than discarding and buying another. The New Star is $150 with complimentary engraving at mugler.com refills are $95.
6: Summer fruits such as rhubarb, kiwi and watermelon leap off the picnic table and into the bottles of Dolce & Gabbana 3 L’Imperatrice, combining with bright pink florals and a musky base for one part whimsy, one part seduction. $54.99, http://www.fragrancenet.com.
7: Like a crisp white wine sipped on the porch of a national park lodge, Arcadia, the newest unisex fragrance from the U.K. brand Rouge Bunny Rouge, balances woody vapors with fruity flowers, hot metallic and dry mineral notes. $129, http://en.rougebunnyrouge.com/.
8: The flask-style bottle is the first clue that L’Occitane Cedrat is a part of a recently launched men’s collection, but women are just as likely to fall for its citrus embrace. $58, http://www.loccitane.com
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.9: For an outdoorsy air, 80 Acres Verde Eau de Cologne derives from California’s McEvoy Ranch, one of the largest U.S. producers of estate-grown, certified organic extra virgin olive oil. Appropriately, this offers uncomplicated notes of freshly cut grass, olive fruit, tomato leaf and basil. $38, http://www.mcevoyranch.com.
10: Acqua Di Gioia by Giorgio Armani had us at cool mint and warm brown sugar. Then it tosses in zest of Italian lemon with hints of jasmine, dew of peony, and traces of pink pepper and cedar wood, and we’re transported to a villa overlooking the Mediterranean. $71.99, http://www.nordstrom.com.