One of the hottest fragrance brands around is Marc Jacobs. It has wonderful unisex fragrances that smell masculine on the men and feminine on the women.

Marc Jacobs Rain perfume is a biggie. Something unique and gorgeous, when you want something distinctive.

I tried a myriad of Marc Jacobs fragrances. One or two at a time and they are all wearable, gorgeous scents that last throughout the day and into the night.

Each scent has its own characteristics.

My marc jacobs perfume reviews are pretty useful if you are looking for a scent as a gift for someone special.. or for yourself. One rather interesting fragrance is Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume. It tickled my fancy as I don't remember real daisies having any scent.

Why would you wear perfume in the first place. There are many reasons.

1. To mask body odour
2. Because you love the smell
3. Because whoever gave you that bottle would be offended if you didn't use it.
4. Because everyone wears perfume.
5. To attract the opposite sex

The last reason is an interesting one. Scents and sexual attraction elaborates on how scent attracts the opposite sex.

Please note, the fact that the human body secretes pheromones does not mean you can skip bathing daily. Stale sweat breeds bacteria which will create a stench. Pheromones or not, someone who doesn't bathe is more likely to repel the opposite sex.

Fragrance for the day can be tricky. Especially if you work in the office.

When I was pregnant with my first kid, going to work was torturous. Not because of the work itself or the people, but because of my highly sensitive sense of smell and the accompanying nausea.

Everytime I washed my hands with the scented soap in the washroom (meant as a perk, I guess), I came out feeling sick until the fragrance wore off. Everytime my colleagues walked past, especially the ones wearing musky, or sensual perfumes better for the night, I nearly threw up. Even those wearing acceptable day perfumes, but overdosing on them made me sick. I quit after 2 months because I felt too sick to work.

Ever been the lift when some expensively attired woman walks in wearing overpowering  fragrance. I guess it is meant to attract the men, but most of us stuck in the lift with her would be gasping for breath. Especially if she spritzed on way too much scent.

For day, the best thing to do is to wear something light an inoffensive. Especially if you go to work in the office. Calvin Klein Eternity Moment is a great choice. That is light, uplifting and not the least bit offensive. I'll source around for other suitable office perfumes and let you know in future posts.

Avoid wearing seductive night fragrances in the office. Also, day perfumes and night perfumes should be worn accordingly. Scent gets stronger in the heat, so the heavy night perfumes may be wonderful in winter or at night but in summer and during the day, for the sake of the people around you, stick to the lighter fragrances. Even at night, in summer, spritz on your seductive night fragrance lightly on just one pulse point. That would be enough to carry you through the entire night.

I've tried several fragrances from Lancome.

Namely, lancome miracle perfume, lancome tresor and poeme lancome

I tried tresor a long time ago. The scent was soft and very feminine. A scent a woman might want to wear for herself for its comforting floral scent. Sweet, but not saccharine.

Lancome Miracle Perfume on the other hand is very strong. Sweet, heady to the point of being overpowering if you use a little too much.

Lancome Poeme on the other hand is a balance between the two. Euphoric and sweet, but not overpowering.

All 3 fragrances are floral sweet, with no hint of candy or fruit. The sweetness fade over the day to reveal a womanly warmth.

Jasmine is a delicate white flower with a sweet euphoric scent. Yet when the oil is extraction, its potent seductive scent makes it the king of the oils.

In fact, jasmine fragrance is used as an aphrodisiac. Cleopatra made that her signature scent. When she visited her lover, Mark Anothony, the sails of her ship were perfumed with jasmine.

Many perfumes contain jasmine perfume notes today. A notable scent is thymes goldleaf.

Yet when it comes to seduction. Yes, scent plays a part. At a baser level. Never underestimate the power of pheromones. Hands up, how many women like to wear your husband's t-shirts or smell his comforting scent on his clothes when he is away. Like it or not, male pheromones attract women, female pheromones attract men.

As for other bottled fragrances, these are more for yourself. Pick a scent to please yourself. A guy who wants to attract women or a woman who wants to attract men would be better off using pheromones instead.

Disclaimer: This is not to encourage you to avoid baths. Please don't think that avoiding the shower would boost your pheromones. You'd only stink as the bacteria in your old sweat breeds and you'd end up repelling the opposite sex.. and everyone else, instead

Perfume is a great gift for anyone you care to splurge on. If everyone else gives a bottle of perfume, you could be different by giving a solid perfume.

Surprisingly, these aren't very common. They are so practical as they don't spill and if put into a jewelry like a locket or brooch, they would make doubly wonderful gifts as well -- HINT HINT to any perfumer out there. A perfume presented in a brooch or pendant would make a wonderful birthday or christmas gift.

Until someone gets the hint, there are perfume sticks and ointment jars that are wonderful for travellers. They do not spill. That alone makes them wonderful to bring with you where ever you go. Especially those in handy sizes that fit into a purse. Those are my favourites.

Pleasures estee lauder fragrance now has variations of this delightful fragrance. Not exactly versions per se as though they share the same name, the scents are very different from one another. No doubt, they are feminine florals but the notes are completely different.

Last week, I spritzed on Estee lauder pleasures intense. I was pleasantly surpried by the decidedly sultry fragrance. Definitely oriental. Something on might wear at night. It was by far the best of the lot at first whiff and beyond that. It smelled delicious nad very sexy.

Today, I spritzed on Pleasures delight on my right wrist and Pleasures exotic on my left. Both were floral but delight was delightfully woody, or musky, though still sweetly floral. Delight was light, pleasant and comforting. It gave the feeling of warmth. Great for the office. Actually, it is kind of like the sort of scent I'd like on a guy but hey, I liked sniffing it. Must be the patchouli.

Pleasures exotic was confusing. Floral at first, then it began to smell like sausages and greasy food. Then it stank of cat's urine. I know that different scents develop differently on different people, but this was ridiculous.

Actually, exotic is a light fragrance that is easily overpowered by all other smells. I had a greasy fried sausage in my lunch bag and a greasy, fishy smelling salmon in batter snack in another bag which I carried in my left hand, which I smelled everytime I tried to take a whiff of pleasures exotic on my left wrist. Only when I finished my food and threw away the empty bags could I actually smell pleasures exotic, which by then, had developed in to a light euphoric scent that was simply delicious. 9 hours later, exotic smells wonderful. Great as a day to night scent that really lasts.

Pleasures estee lauder perfumes are very wearable scents. The only thing the variations have in common are that they are floral/fruity, light, delicious and very wearable.

One way to cheer yourself up on a gloomy day is by wearing a cheery perfume. The happiest one I know of is aptly named. A burst of sunshine with grapefruit, bergamot and lemons in clinique happy perfume is a great way to cheer yourself up.

Besides citrus notes, that fragrance has boysenberry, honeysuckle, freesia and Hawaiian wedding flower. The fragrance smells yummy. Like the orange juice with honey I used to drink as a kid. Whenever I wear Clinique happy, as in the original version of the scent, I think of my childhood, which was a very happy one.

Like all successful scents, Happy has spawned other Clinique Happy fragrances which I've yet to try. Should go on a perfume spritzing spree one of these days to check those out.

Most women wear perfume presumably to attract men. Does this work?

I doubt it. Clinique Happy is a fragrance you would want to wear for yourself. Maybe you might attract a guy with a sweet tooth.

I'd assume that Beautiful Sheer would be similar to Beautiful Perfume estee lauder, one of my all-time-favourite fragrances.

Well, the only thing Beautiful Perfume and Beautiful Sheer Perfume have in common is in name only. Scent-wise, they are worlds apart.

Beautiful Sheer perfume review

Beautiful Sheer perfume is supposed to be sweet spicy. I spritzed some on my wrist today. It isn't so much sweet spicy as saccharine plasticky. The scent gave me the image of pink bubbles. Blech. It is nothing like the original. At first whiff, I hated it. I spritzed on Beautiful Perfume on the other wrist and sniffed that to get rid of the Beautiful sheer bombardment on my nose. Scent wise, cuttingly sharp Beautiful sheer beats Beautiful perfume flat.

30 minutes later, Beautiful Sheer still smelled sickly sweet and sharp with strong plasticky notes. It features unusual notes. I'd give it credit for that. Mimosa, ginger and linden blossoms. It has none of the fruity notes of Beautiful.

Yes, in an earlier post, I said I like scents that smell different, but by different, it still has to please my fussy nose.

7 hours later, Beautiful sheer finally faded into a fresh, sheer scent. Like freshly cut grass, but sweeter. It smells good at the end of the day but terrible in the first 3 hours.

Beautiful Perfume Review

In contrast, Beautiful perfume smells wonderful at first whiff. Straight away, you get the bouquet of fruit and floral with oriental and woody notes blended so well, no particular note really stands out.

What you get is a harmonious whole that is floral, citrusy, warm and sultry. It is a versatile scent you can wear from day, well into the night.

The scent is fuller than most fruity florals today. Not too strong, yet not too mild. This is a great signature scent for a woman who wants to feel beautiful.

8 hours later, the woody scent is stronger. Though the scent is warmer, the floral and fruity notes remain. It is still uplifting and delicious. This scent is as lasting as sheer but a lot more pleasant to wear. Here is where you can get both versions of Estee Lauder Beautiful Perfume.

I tried out both fragrances today. Spritzed Chanel Coco Mademoiselle on my left wrist and Chanel Chance on my right.

Here's my Coco Mademoiselle review

At first whiff, the scent was fruity, floral and heavy. A feminine scent that was too overpowering initially. 5 minutes later, I could smell the oriental notes. I was pretty sure it was ylang ylang or dark jasmine oil. Chanel Coco Mademoiselle perfume was positively sultry,

It softened half an hour later into a lighter, sweet scent with sultry undertones. All woman. Very wearable for the day. By night fall, it faded to a faint, woody musk.

Turns out the top notes are orange, bergamot, middle notes are jasmine and rose while the bottom notes are vertivert and patchouli. Vertivert was that smoky, woody scent I detected at the end of it. Popular in musky men's colognes but spices up women's colognes.

Chanel Chance review

The first whiff was refreshing - grapefruit and candy I think, Not overpowering like ademoiselle. The scent was fresh. Girlish. Happy.

Half hour later, it warmed into a more womanly scent. Certainly an everyday, non offensive scent you can wear to work.

Even at the end of the day, the fruity, cheerful notes were strong enough. Still refreshingly uplifting. By nightfall, it fades to a sweet, fruity musky fragrance still close enough to the first whiff. The top notes in this scent are lasting.

The fragrance notes for Chanel Chance are hyacinth and citron. That accounts for the grapefruit candy scent that lasts. 

Middle notes: vertivert and Iris.

Base notes of amber and patchouli. I think Amber provided the womanly warmth.

Top notes:

Personally, I think both are nice. but too common. Guess it is because they are new and everyone seems to be wearing them. Chance smells too much like many of today's perfumes. I like something more unique, The classic, Chanel no. 5 is still my favourite Chanel perfume.