As you may have guessed from the title, I’m totally blaming the pregnancy hormones for this one. Whether or not they are actually culpable remains to be seen but it feels slightly less shameful to rest the responsibility upon my ever-increasing levels of hormonal angst.
Some women eat coal, crave the taste of rubber and leather… me? Well, I just want to smell like all of those things instead. You can keep your girly florals, sweet fruits, and vomit-worthy vanillas… give me all of the MAN SCENTS.
Were my pockets big enough, I’d carry the above candles around with me 24/7, pausing regularly for a sniff before continuing on my way. My Jonathan Ward Woodstock candle, which I picked up whilst scouring the shelves at T.K. Maxx is the least masculine of the trio and perfect for the season, reminding me of a dampened but very-much-alive forest floor… woody and aromatic.
My Mum picked up the Rigaud Cuir de Kyara candle for me after spotting it nestled on a tabletop at her local Emmaus in France. She said that the smell of pure, unadulterated leather “nearly knocked her head off” and thus, knew instantly that I would fall in love with it. She was right. It’s a blinder and I’m now obsessed with finding other candles from this Parisian brand.
Finally, and thanks to a Zuneta/Amazon bargain, I’m pleased to finally be able to add this Malin + Goetz Vetiver candle to my collection! I haven’t been able to walk past the display of M+G candles in Liberty for ages without stopping to sniff this one in all its earthy, woody and downright sexy glory.
But my obsession with man-scent doesn’t just stop at candles. Oh no! It gets far more serious…
I bought L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Tea for Two during their Summer sale a couple of years ago and it was love at first sniff but recently, I just can’t get enough of it and have upgraded to a massive 100ml bottle in order to get my fix. The perfect blend of smoky embers, honeyed tobacco and warming ginger to keep all thoughts of frostiness at bay this Winter.
Ahhh, Molton Brown… I remember when I first came across your distinctively delicious Re-Charge Black Pepper scent (now called black peppercorn) a few years ago whilst staying at a hotel in Basel. To this day, I kick myself for being good and not stealing all the hotel toiletries, it just felt too naughty to take the ones that I hadn’t actually opened to use during my stay! Instead, I scoop up other people’s spoils on eBay and long for the candle version!
My final fragrant craving is one that Mr. L is less than impressed with. He can cope with sharing most of his scents with me, infact… many times, we purchase a fragrance under the certain knowledge that we’re doing so in order to share the bottle (it makes a £70 splurge so much more palatable split two ways). My desires to wear his smells-just-like-a-freshly-wet-shaved-man Floris Santal*, however, are falling on deaf ears. I’ve been allowed a quick spritz, twice. Only twice. I actually think that might constitute domestic abuse.
Are there any “boy” scents that drive you wild? And, question is… are you wild enough to wear them?
* press sample
I need to smell Santal, stat.
Congrats again for pregnancy hormones (or rather…on your pregnancy!) x
Being 7 months pregnant, rubber smells really appealing to me but not enough to eat it.
I have worn men’s fragrance before like JPG Le Male and Joop! Jump. They seem to smell better than women’s ‘sporty’ fragrances which should be the alternative to floral.
Robert Piguet’s Oud. It smells different on everyone but is a pretty masculine kind of scent, it’s highly suggested you spray on wrist to sniff instead of paper (for some reason the scent turns flat when sprayed on paper), it works best when warmed with body temperature say after 5-10 minutes!
Tobacco Vanille Tom Ford for me – I love masculine smells, and I am not even pregnant LOL
I wear Eternity for men on a regular basis. I’ve loved the scent for many years!
Could it mean that you are expecting a dear boy?… (just my funny instinct :-))
I really love some masculine fragrances. They represent this less girlie side of me, giving me a stronger persona, away from pink confections (that I also love at times!).
I love my Encre Noir by Lalique (for men), maybe the best vetiver in town; serious and meditative, it’s an all year round classic for me (and inexpensive online!).
I have those other unisex versions, that oscillate between masculine and feminine, eg Musc Ravageur by Frederic Malle, Egoist by Chanel (not the platinum), Chergui by uncle Serge, and Bulgari Black.
Lots of kisses from Greece!
I wear Spicebomb by Viktor and Rolf, and I am not pregnant!
Atelier’s Vetiver Fatale – it’s gorgeous! I wear it to meetings – it’s my power fragrance.
I love smoky, male scents and I’m not with child. I have several by now-defunct The Morbid The Merrier which I love. I think it’s because my natural smell is quite sweet so I want to put some ooft into that! x
I’m the same when I’m pregnant, so many perfumes just go bad on me. As for mens scents I love to wear, I really adore Pleasures for men, it’s summery and fresh and not too masculine. Tea For Two is on my “to try” list 🙂
I wear ANYTHING that I think smells good. I crossed the divide between men’s and women’s scents a few years ago and whoo that makes me happy! I’ve never been a lover of florals or very ‘girly’ scenes, so when I discovered that I can wear things that smell like leather and wood and rubber and spices it fills me with delight.
I adore Tea for Two – it’s a hunk of smoky woody loveliness, yum. I also love L’Artisan’s Dzing! which smells like a circus and a horse stable all at the same time – sweaty horses, leather and hay.
If you like massively spicy scents, what about Lubin’s Idole edt? That’s got rum and spices and mahogany and is generally yum. Really nice in cold weather.
But there are classic women’s fragrances that are butch as all hell, too! There’s an incredible ‘green’ spiky leather chypre called Bandit from Piguet (best known for their white floral Fracas). It was created in 1944 by an amazing woman called Germaine Cellier. Fantastic stuff, but as bitter as anything and can be an acquired taste – don’t buy a whole bottle blind!
And Lancome did the most gorgeous leather scent called (duh!) Cuir. It came out in 2007 and smells like handbags. Really expensive handbags. I don’t think you can still buy it on counters but keep an eye out on ebay and in discounters because it’s really nice stuff.
A boy one? Bulgari Black – rubber, vanilla, leather. Allegedly it’s Angelina Jolie’s signature scent.
Oooh and look at what Angela Flanders makes in London! She has one that smells like whisky and it’s the bomb…
🙂
Its funny that you still like scented candles and fragrances during your pregnancy because some pregnant women do not like any scent at all (just like me when I was pregnant). Now that I am not pregnant anymore and began using different fragrances, I do not have the guts to try masculine scented fragrances. But I would like to try scented candles with masculine scent so that my husband will like it too.
I’m not so big on leathery/amber/resinous/benzoin scents myself, but I’m even less of a fan of most blatantly ‘female’ fragrances. My signature scent, such as it is, is D&G L’Amoureux, which is unisex but still ‘technically’ for men, and my second cologne/perfume ever was Burberry The Beat for Men, which smells so deliciously wintry to my nose and mind! A lot of my other fragrances tend to be on what I would consider the unisex side, with hits of prickly nettles, shocking spices, creamy fig, burning woods, fresh teas, bright fruits, etc… you’d never catch me wearing something like Flowerbomb!
Oh my goodness, how did I not know you are expecting?! Many, many congratulations!! xx