Fragrance is divided into basics types or families.  Once you figure out what notes or combination of notes appeal to you, you can narrow down the fragrances you sample to just a few, making perfume shopping infinitely easier.

Fresh or Citrus scents are those  with clean notes like citrus fruits, lavender, green, or marine. These are the fresh scents that we associate with healthy beauty.
Oriental scents are spicy with earthy notes like amber, resins, vanilla, musk, or patchouli. I’m partial to orientals – I love the richness of the amber or musky notes. Orientals appeal to men or women.
Woody or chypre …read more

Burberry’s The Beat for men arrived today. I’ve been wanting to smell it ever since I read and then wrote about it last week.  The combination of wood and pepper notes sounded very intriguing.

I wasn’t disappointed, it does have an interesting combination of notes. The first thing that I smelled was the black pepper. It comes on very strong like actual fresh ground pepper. I smell so many floral or fruity or sweet scents – the pepper is a welcome change. Leatherwood and Vetiver Bourbon add a distinctive woody note. Violet rounds it out. After the lighter notes lift, …read more

Another fragrance that I had the good fortune to sample lately is NOU. Pronounced N-O-U. The signature scent of Como & Brigante, NOU was created by Claude Dir, known world-wide as the creator of perfumes for Gucci, Hugo Boss, and Bijan DNA.

Fragrance notes include: Verbena, Mandarin Zest, Chinese Ginger, Cinnamon, Vanilla Orchid, Pink Roses, and Purple Iris Root.
After wearing it for awhile, what stands out the most is the spiciness of the Ginger and Cinnamon. It definitely has a sexy scent – complex and grown-up, this is nothing like so many of those sweet celebrity fragrances out there now. It …read more