For chic men and women who appreciate luxury
Hermès has an extensive scent line for fragrance lovers. This holiday season, Tutti Twilly d’Hermès takes center stage. Created by in-house perfumer Christine Nagel for Hermès girls, it’s a floral-fruity eau de parfum with ginger blossom, lychee, and sensual musk notes. The lantern-shaped bottle designed by Florence Manlik sports a lychee-red color gradient, while Carine Brancowitz designed the silk ribbons hand-tied around the neck. Each silk twilly is unique, making this an even more special gift.
I also recommend Un Jardin A Cythere, an eau de toilette that stars one of the hot notes of the moment: pistachio. The latest in Hermès’s Jardin series, this is a surprising garden that is neither green nor floral but… blond. It’s the result of an olfactory quest through Greece that led to Kythira, a picturesque island that has inspired many artists.
While Terre d’ Hermès is the house’s classic for gentlemen, H24 is Hermès’s olfactory expression of the contemporary man. Bright and radiant, it’s a daring blend of nature and technology. This botanical is fresh in the opening, leading to an aromatic heart of clary sage, electric narcissus, invigorating rosewood and a base of warm, metallic Sclarene. And the aerodynamic, refillable bottle designed by Philippe Mouquet is crafted from recycled glass, while the box is composed of recycled fibers.
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Hermès is located in Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati. Hermès fragrances are also available at Rustan’s The Beauty Source.
For lovers of New York City: bond no. 9
Bond No. 9 is finally available in the Philippines at Rustan’s. Inspired by New York City, the mostly genderless scents are categorized into Downtown and Uptown.
Downtown includes Chez Bond, a fresh, citrusy fragrance that’s perfect for work or the gym. Madison Square Park sports a Barbie-pink bottle and a Sex and the City vibe. “A lot of young, hip New York people like it,” says Marlyn Ferrer, divisions manager for fragrances.
A downtown bestseller is Greenwich Village, an instantly appealing gourmand with vanilla, citrus and light florals. Lafayette Street in Little Italy is a sexy amber that’s good for date night.
High Line, an old railroad park converted into an elevated garden, emits the scent of wildflowers and green grasses. Nolita is a ladylike classic with freesia and tangerine. Tribeca is a sexy floriental with cacao, hazelnut and caramel. Gold Coast is a soft and sweet rose. FiDi, named after the Financial District, smells like money.
Going uptown, we have Astor Place, a fresh spring floral. Madison Avenue is the shopping district of New York, so it’s a fashionable fruity-floral with apple, rose and praline. Nomad, inspired by NYC’s wanderers, is a sensual oud with fruits and amber.
Bond No. 9’s Signature Scent is a pure perfume that’s a seductive blend of eastern woods and western florals. Founder Laurice Rahmé is a Frenchwoman who brought the artistry of perfume to New York. “After the riots, she said, ‘I'm going to make a fragrance about peace,’” according to Ferrer, so she did and won an award for The Scent of Peace, a bestseller made For Her and For Him.
“You cannot leave New York without partying,” hence New York Nights, a festive combo of flowers, sandalwood, coffee and caramel. Hamptons is a weekend scent with its beachy vibe of lush florals and woody musks.
One of Rahmé’s fave spots is Dubai, which sparked Dubai Gold, a luxurious blend of notes like saffron, brandy, ginger, amber and patchouli.
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Bond No. 9 is exclusively available at Rustan’s The Beauty Source.
For the girly girl: Good girl blush
Carolina Herrera’s new Good Girl flanker Blush is right in step with the popularity of Barbie and the color pink, so it’s perfect for Barbie girls out there. A creamy, powdery scent formulated by star perfumer Quentin Bisch, it features peony, vanilla and ylang-ylang handpicked by women in Africa. Since ylang-ylang is a seasonal flower, during its off season Carolina Herrera supports the African women with educational classes and entrepreneurial projects. Even the face of the fragrance, model Karlie Kloss, runs a nonprofit called Kode with Klossy, a free computer-coding camp for girls aged 13-18 in the United States. So not only will you smell pretty in pink, you’ll also be helping empower females of all ages.
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Available at Rustan’s The Beauty Source, Rustans.com and leading e-tailers.
For the nature lover: foreste di seta
Salvatore Ferragamo has added two more fragrances to its Storie di Seta collection, which tells exotic silk stories via different scent profiles you can layer. Cieli di Seta (Silken Skies) is a spicy-fruity scent with notes of black pepper, blueberry, silk and musk, but the standout for me is Foreste di Seta (Silk Forests), a unique blend of clary sage, walnut, Ferragamo’s exclusive Filo di Seta (Silk Thread) accord, and Madagascar vetiver. Fresh and green yet soft and sweet at the same time, it smells as silken and ethereal as what a forest fairy would wear.
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Available at Rustan’s The Beauty Source, Rustans.com and leading e-tailers.
For the socmed darling: fame parfum
Paco Rabanne’s shimmering-silver Fame now rises in a black and gold bottle — black because the inspiration for Fame Parfum is Paris by night. Legendary nose Alberto Morillas and two other renowned perfumers developed this scent — an evolution to an addictive fragrance. While the original Fame was as delicious as a mango milkshake, Fame Parfum has a hypnotic effect thanks to its creamy incense and bewitching jasmine sourced from three different exotic locales: Grasse, India and Egypt.
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Available at Rustan’s The Beauty Source, Rustans.com and leading e-tailers.
For the classic man: coach green
After the original Coach for Men and Coach Blue comes Coach Green, a fresh, aromatic take on the original DNA. Inspired by nature in the midst of a fast-paced city, Coach Green opens bright and citrusy with refreshing kiwi and bergamot. Herbal rosemary and geranium follow, drying down to woody cedar and earthy oakmoss. Housed in a dark-green bottle, it’s topped by a gunmetal cap that evokes the iconic designs of Coach. With its classic fresh, green and woody profile, Coach Green is a safe bet for nearly every guy on your gift list.
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Available at Rustan’s The Beauty Source, Rustans.com and leading e-tailers.
For the edgy younger guy: Phantom parfum
A darker, more grownup version of its predecessor, Phantom Parfum — now in a refillable, matte-black bottle — features natural ingredients like French lavender, Madagascar black vanilla bean and Haitian vetiver. However, sweet and aphrodisiac vanilla is the star, balanced by strawberry-like rhubarb and resinous tolu balsam. Phantom’s global ambassador is Charlie Heaton from Stranger Things, which clues you in to the vibe of this fragrance: the cool, edgy, younger guy who likes to party and gets the girl he sets his sights on. Suited to December’s cooler weather, Phantom Parfum is the ideal date-night, clubbing and holiday party scent.
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Available at Rustan’s The Beauty Source, Rustans.com and leading e-tailers.
For the yogini/tea lover: korres white tea
White tea was an indulgence for the past aristocrats of China, and is still a precious blend for the tea connoisseurs of today. Eco-conscious Greek brand Korres has captured its sweet, delicate and fresh scent in White Tea, an eau de toilette that evokes the Mediterranean countryside with a crisp, citrusy top note of bergamot, also known as “prince’s pear,” while a floral heart with freesia evokes the flowers that bloom there. It’s a beautiful, meditative, peaceful scent.
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White Tea is one of 14 consciously crafted Korres fragrances available at Beauty Bar.
For the lady who loves roses: all of me
Narciso Rodriguez, known for his incredible musk fragrances (I’m a fan of Narciso For Her, Musc Noir and Musc Noir Rose), has created a new scent that fuses beautiful florals with his musk expertise. All of Me pairs precious centifolia rose with bold geranium bourbon, a note usually found in men’s fragrances, resulting in a feminine perfume with an addictive trail. The heart of musk is composed of six different musk notes that adapt to the wearer’s body chemistry to create a second-skin quality that’s unique to each wearer.
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Narciso Rodriguez is available at Rustan’s The Beauty Source.
For bathtime: mfk scented body products
Did you know that Maison Francis Kurkdjian offers his iconic scents in bath and body products? I got the Baccarat Rouge 540 shimmering body oil last year and it was such a fabulous way to wear possibly the most popular scent of these times in a different format. This year his fresh, clean, energetic scent 724 is also being offered as a scented body oil, as well as the feminine A La Rose. MFK fans can literally bathe in their fave scents with soaps in the new Aqua Media fragrance, iconic Aqua Universalis and classic Aqua Vitae, followed by a scented body oil and then the actual fragrance on top to make it last the whole day. Plus, these bath and body products are great ways to gift MFK without breaking the bank.
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Maison Francis Kurkdjian is available at Rustan’s The Beauty Source and Adora.
For the goddess in your life: burberry goddess
Who says gourmands can’t be elegant? Burberry Goddess smells sweet and delicious yet not too foodie with its trio of vanillas given a unique twist of lavender. The vanilla is collected by hand, then the beans spend five to seven weeks drying under the sun before being stored in wooden boxes to mature and develop their mouthwatering aroma. Goddess is also notable for being Burberry’s first refillable fragrance, contained in an archive-inspired bottle modernized with a gold medallion.
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Available at Rustan’s The Beauty Source, Rustans.com and leading e-tailers.
For the flower lover: Gucci Flora gorgeous Magnolia
Magnolia is one of my favorite florals, because it smells similar to our calachuchi. Gucci highlights this feminine, heady scent in the new Gucci Flora Gorgeous Magnolia eau de parfum, housed in a new elongated bottle crafted from lacquered purple stone glass and featuring a new take on the house’s distinctive Flora pattern, first created by artist and illustrator Vittorio Accornero for Gucci in 1966. To enhance the sweetness of the magnolia essence, a dewberry accord has been added for fruity juiciness. Patchouli essence then grounds the scent by balancing freshness and sensuality. The sillage or scent trail also features sensual blond woods and an addictive coconut accord, while jasmine sambac absolute lends warm greenness and musk adds sexiness.
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Available at SM Beauty and perfume e-tailers.
For the home: Diptyque’s holiday collection
For the holidays, Diptyque has taken “flame” as its central motif, conveying it in the artwork for the holiday collection, and celebrating the 60th anniversary of its emblematic candle, first created in 1963. The stars of the collection are three new, limited-edition classic candles decorated with colored flames. Scents evoking wintertime include Sapin (Pine Tree), a fresh, delicate perfume that brings warm memories of a Christmas tree; Délice (Delight), with its mouthwatering dried fruit-and-vanilla accords; and Coton (Cotton), which uses tonka bean to render the softness of cotton, wrapping you in a gentle embrace. Other highlights are the new dinner candles made of molded, scented wax; the giant Ambre (Amber) candle with real gold coating its vessel for a look that radiates luxury, and the Baies (Berries) giant candle, featuring the scent that embodies the very soul of Diptyque.
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The Diptyque boutique is in Central Square Mall, BGC. Diptyque is also available at Rustan’s, Adora, and online at www.trunc.ph.