Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic Welcome to our new weekly column on the YOU magazine website, www.you.co.uk Below you will find the current question and our advice, with a list of where to source the products mentioned. To look at past columns, click here. And for lots more solutions to your beauty dilemmas, visit Q&A, just click here.
June 28th, 2009: Sexy Summer Scents
Q I've been reading the section in one of your books on perfume and I notice that you mention nothing about wearing scent to attract a man. I was working in an office two years ago alongside a guy I really liked. He kept asking what I was wearing, which was Burberry Weekend - it's actually driven a lot of men I know crazy! So could you please give information on scents to attract the men in your life - I'm looking for something really sexy..!
A Of course perfume has traditionally been used to attract the opposite sex. It’s a combination of factors, we think. The scent itself, how well it suits you (of course) and also, crucially, how it makes you feel – Sarah remembers many summers ago inhaling the peachy exotic notes of Mitsouko by Guerlain that she‘d dabbed on her décolleté, and suddenly feeling, well, romantic….(And yes, Burberry Weekend is lovely, too…)
Here are some of our recommendations for ‘sexy’, light-the-blue-touch-paper-and-retire scents, which in our experience - and that of women who’ve let us in on their secrets! – seem to be man-magnets.
First of all, Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan, which Jo thinks is the most sensual fragrance ever created: lots of warm, exotic woodiness and lashings of amber, which has traditionally been used in fragrance for its seductive powers. (Find it on-line at www.boutiqueperfumes.co.uk for £58).
We both love Guerlain Shalimar –and it’s adored by lots of men we know (Jo’s husband actually buys it for her, which is very sweet, considering how many bottles of perfume we get sent each year by beauty PRs). It’s hypnotically sweet and powdery and very grown-up, and men find it swoon-worthy. (Beware of putting on too much, though, because it does have a touch of ‘painted lady’ about it…!) Guerlain Shalimar Eau de Parfum, from £27, is available nationwide.
If you can get hold of a bottle, try Tabu: it’s a classic Oriental laced with bergamot, jasmine and amber and although it’s been tinkered with a lot since its 1932 launch, it’s still pretty smoldering; find it on-line at www.theperfumeshop.com
Editions Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur is pretty hot stuff, too: actually intended for men (according to Liberty buyers), it’s been described as an ‘elegantly depraved oriental’, which has sensual depths of cloves, vanilla, cedar and tonka wood. Find it at Liberty in London, £75 for 50ml, www.liberty.co.uk, and Les Senteurs,
You may be noting a theme coming through here: most of the ‘sexy’ fragrances we’ve mentioned are orientals - and its here we recommend you start, if you’re looking for seductive scents. But we’ve one last recommendation that’s a Floral, rather than an Oriental: Chanel No. 5. (£74 for 100ml) Not for nothing is it the fragrance most bought by men for women (and not just because it’s the only fragrance most of them can name…). Find this just about everywhere, but a reliable on-line source is www.boots.com
Of the latest ones, we think Lulu’s soft, alluring Time (£34.26 for 50ml) deserves a very honorable mention – unlike some other celebrity offerings, which are truly terrible (we had to mark them for the UK Beauty Awards –oooph!).
For more recommendations for sexy fragrances, and some of the greatest writing about perfumes we’ve ever seen - do check out the book Perfumes: The Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, rrp £20, but currently £12 from www.amazon.co.uk
We  . . .
The perfect brow pencil: Arch de Triumph by Soap & Glory, £7.50, from www.boots.com. The sheer brilliance of Ms Marcia Kilgore is sometimes almost depressing. She gave us the prototype of this eyebrow arch-er over tea one day – and we never want to run out, ever! It’s the perfect colour for pretty well everyone – a soft taupe – and, surprisingly for such a chunky pencil, you can sharpen it to do lots of little fine lines. It’s double-ended: the pink end is designed to stroke under your brow to enhance the arch, but you could use it anywhere really – we’ve been known to fill in our vertical forehead furrows with it…..£29.95 for 206g from victoriahealth.com
WHERE TO FIND PRODUCTS:
 Mitsouko Eau De Parfum by Guerlain £28.42-72.00 and is available nationwide in stores and online at www.debenhams.com
 Serge Lutens Ambre Sultan £58 for 50ml is available online at www.boutiqueperfumes.co.uk
 Guerlain Shalimar Eau de Parfum £27-72.00 and is available nationwide in stores and online at www.debenhams.com
 Tabu £7.99 for 115ml is available online at www.theperfumeshop.com
 Editions Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur £75 for 50ml is available online at www.liberty.co.uk
 Chanel No. 5 £70 for 100ml is available from Boots stores nationwide, and online at www.boots.com
 Lulu’s Time (£34.26 for 50ml) is available online at www.lulusplace.co.uk
Beauty Bible Beauty Clinic - Archive
June 21st, 2009 - Eyeliner Tricks
June 14th, 2009 - Natural Suncare
June 7th, 2009 - Anti Ageing Skin Care
May 31st, 2009 - Natural Nail Polishes
May 24th, 2009 - Body Polishing
May 17th, 2009 - Rosacea
May 10th, 2009 - Manky Feet
May 3rd, 2009 - Makeup Makeover
April 26th, 2009 - Facial Hair Removal
April 19th, 2009 - Teen Skin
April 12th, 2009 - Swimmers Hair
April 5th, 2009 - Make-up For Damaged Skin
March 29th, 2009 - Are Sunbeds Safe?
March 22nd, 2009 - Weak, Flaking Nails
March 15th, 2009 - Puffy Eyes
March 8th, 2009 - Camouflaging Red Cheeks
March 1st, 2009 - Hair Colouring in Pregnancy
February 22nd, 2009 - Thinning Eyebrows
February 15th, 2009 - Acne
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