Dolce and Gabbana Pour Femme Perfume

After being mentioned in my December favourites post a few days ago, several people contacted me wanting to hear a bit more about my all time favourite perfume.
The scent of Dolce and Gabbana Pour Femme was created to encapsulate the essence of the Dolce and Gabbana woman. "Passionate, sensual and seductive, confident and aware of her own beauty" are the words plucked from the online description and I think I'd agree with that, it is definitely a bold, sensually feminine perfume.

Coming in a sleek, understated but stylish bottle, Pour Femme is classed as a soft oriental fragrance. With light top notes of mandarin, raspberry and neroli that melt away into heart notes of jasmine and orange blossom the initial scent is light, crisp and slightly floral but this mellows out into a beautifully scent that sits on the skin with a soft vanilla and sexy sandalwood hint.
I have been so impressed with the longevity of this perfume. I use around three ...spritzeseses... in the morning and that small amount is enough to keep the aroma all day without it fading to nothing or distorting into something smelling any less beautiful.
As you may have guessed, this little bottle of beauty doesn't come cheap at £57.50 for 50ml but after one waft of a sample vial almost a year ago I was hooked and it really has become my signature scent so I think it's worth every penny :)
Have you smelt Pour Femme before? Is it the sort of fragrance you would be drawn to? What is your favourite scent?
Annie xx

Lush Scents Ponche Perfume

Every year around November Lush host their annual fragrance party and release a selection of five limited edition perfumes sharing the scent of some of their most loved products and all Lush fans get over excited to see which will make the cut.
Ponche was a limited edition shower gel launched last year as part of the Christmas range and brought back this year due to popular demand. It also happens to be one of my favourite Lush scents of all time!

Inspired by a buying trip to Mexico last year, ponche is inspred by a zesty Mexican Christmas punch. I'm talking blended orange, cinnamon, buchu, petigrain and a splash of tequila so as you can imagine, the scent is warm, fruity and full bodied. It terms of wear I have been really impressed. A light spray in the morning and I've found that I can still smell it late afternoon thanks to the high concentration of essential oils (10%).
For a 30ml bottle the cost is £23 which for a high quality perfume is very reasonable. Also in the collection is Calacas at £25, Rose Jam at £30 (this came out last year and smells divine!), Snow Fairy at £25 and Snowcake at £23 all of which are gorgeous smells and equally as high in quality.
The perfumes are available *here* for another couple of weeks or until stock runs out and are online exclusives.

Which scent would you be most likely to go for? I might have to add Rose Jam to my collection if money allows :P

Annie xx

Paco Robanne 1 Million Perfume Review

Perfume is a real passion of mine, I find it magical how a certain smell can transport you to a different time or place and bring back memories that you didn't even know you still had. Fragrance is the one thing that bypasses the rational part of your brain and trick you into the emotional response that you associate with getting a waft of a familiar smell. Clever eh? Fragrance training at work has also heightened my love for perfumes and their makeup and its definitely something that fascinates me.

My beloved perfume collection is pretty extensive and when I was approached by new website Essential Fragrances I jumped at the chance to try out a fragrance that I've heard lots about but never experienced before. Step forward Paco Robanne 1 Million(*)!

1 Million is marketed as a fresh spicy leather fragrance and I would stand by this. It has top notes of fresh fruits and blood mandarin which quickly melt on the skin into warm heart notes of musk and rose. These lovely warm smells are then held to the skin using base notes of warm leather and amber and settle together into a warm but fairly sweet oriental group scent ( my favourite!). One of the things that I've loved the most about this fragrance is just how long lasting the scent is. It settles quickly and becomes a signature smell almost instantly and stays smelling the same day long and well into the evening.
Whilst marketed as a male fragrance and I definitely wouldn't complain if I had a boyfriend who smelt as lovely as 1 Million, I think that the sweet tones to the fragrance make it a very wearable as a female scent too, especially if you aren't into the typical floral scents that are marketed for women.

The packaging itself is fairly masculine; a gold ingot shape with a thick glass back to it and its definitely very striking. The one thing I have noticed though is that the bottle is fairly heavy which I think is from the bulkiness of it but when a fragrance is sat on a dressing table this isn't a problem.
Paco Robanne 1 Million retails at £39.50 for a 50ml bottle and is available *here*

Have you ever had a sniff of 1 Million? What do you think? What sort of smells do you usually go for?
Annie xx