From Hong Kong to Paris: 4 of the world’s best destination scents
There are many reasons for wearing a particular fragrance – certain scents can instantly take you back in time to a particular memory, or remind you of a person or place. It is nothing new for a fragrance nose to bottle up a memory, and yet each time it is done, it boggles the mind how many different chords each note can strike.
We are particularly enamoured with these scents – both classic and new – that so beautifully transport us to the destinations that have inspired the compositions. If you ever need a reason to wear a scent, think of its transformative powers: a mere spritz of your favourite fragrance can lift your spirits, instantly.
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Le Labo: Bigarade 18
At a time when Hong Kong is engulfed by turmoil, this new scent is especially poignant for all that it stands for. Le Labo’s founder harked back to his memories “of Repulse Bay where I lived when I was a child in the early ’80s, strolling through the hallways of Repulse Bay Hotel that was lined with fragrant lilies and citrus trees”.
As part of the brand’s City Exclusive collection, this fragrance – available only in Hong Kong – is inspired by the city of light.
Bigarade 18 (fun fact: bigarade orange is also known as Seville or bitter orange, so that should give you a big hint about what the scent is like) is a fresh citrusy breeze, courtesy of neroli flowers, riding on deeper sensual notes of tonka and musk as well as cedar.
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Lanvin: A Girl in Capri
There are many summer scents out there that try to mimic the idyllic paradisiacal scents of the Mediterranean, but we are particularly taken by this because of the special way it blends the budding petals of the grapefruit flower and Capri’s Primofiore lemons, which makes the scent smell evergreen and brimming with joy and youthful zest. It is, quite simply, lovely.
Diptyque: Tam Dao
An oldie but a goldie – Tam Dao embodies the very essence of Southeast Asia. Inspired by the holy forest of Indochina, it comes with contemplative notes that are reminiscent of the sandalwood fragrance of the temples there.
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Hermès: Un Jardin sur Le Toit
When perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena created this scent for the Garden Fragrances collection, he thought of “a garden that answers to no one, a cheerful garden, watered with light”.
Little did we know that his garden also exists in the heart of Paris – on the rooftop of the Hermès building on 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The olfactory notes are, of course, inspired by the garden’s apple and pear trees, as well as a scintillating hint of magnolia.
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These garden fragrances evoke memories of different places and times, from Le Labo’s Bigarade 18 and its echoes of Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay to Hermès’ Un Jardin sur Le Toit, which is redolent of the fashion house’s rooftop garden in Paris