Perfumes: The A-Z Guide

Strange really, to have a book about perfume. Obviously a book can't capture the fragrance except in words.
I'm slightly addicted to the basenotes website though, which is also 'just words', and I think this witty book would be a great read. I've read snatched passages in the bookshop and always have to go home via the nearest perfume counter.

Perfume that is really ME

I'm on a mission to find a perfume that I feel is really ME. Almost every time I walk past the House of Fraser store I pop in and try a new fragrance. But they are all so samey-samey, too floral, too much jasmine, too acidic, too overpowering, too weak. I wore Clinique Happy for a while, but now it smells too young. Aromatics Elixir is lovely for evening, but doesn't work for day. Penhaligon's Malabah is gorgeous, but strictly not for the office.

The only one I really like is YSL rive gauche, a total classic. But I can't wear that, because my mother used to wear it when I was a child, and a whiff of it sends me hurtling into the past, watching her put her make up on before going out.