Most of the Editors and Contributors of CaFleureBon live in places that have four seasons, but winter seemed like it went on for six months for those of us on the East Coast. Summer might be short lived, which is why we love to wear our warm weather fragrances year round, and nothing else will do when it's 90 degrees in the shade.

Photo: GQ Russia

I love summer!  I love the heat, the beach, the sun and the green, green grass.  I also love to walk around in t-shirts, shorts and flip flops as much as possible.  However, just because I'm dressed down, it doesn't mean that I can't be properly fitted with the perfect summer perfume.  My summertime favorite is all sunshine and warmth; Houbigant's Orangers en Fleurs.  Developed by Perfumer Jaques Flori in 2012, Orangers en Fleurs mix of rose, jasmine and orange blossom is incredibly beautiful and rather proper and it grows into this voluminous tuberose floral spray that makes you feel like you're carrying the most beautiful bouquet of flowers in your arms.  So even though I'm wearing flip flops and mowing the grass, I always feel like I've just walked out of a summer dream! –Steven Lindquist, Birthday Boy, Contributor and Editor of The Scented Hound

Cheryl Tiegs and Rene Russo dancing on a Hawaiian volcano: Photo by Helmut Newton

The Edinburgh climate is fickle and haunted. The Fox doesn’t wear citrus so any semblance of Scottish summer is celebrated with white florals, my perverse and all consuming passion.  Gardez-Moi by Jovoy (2013) is a fleur-fatale of a scent, a Helmut Newton woman, sheathed in dazzling white, a flash of libidinous thigh glowing like fire. Created by Bertrand Duchaufour for Francois Henin’s resurrected Jovoy, Gardez-Moi lavishes ylang, lily, mimosa and jasmine around the languid gardenia. Touches of raspberry and tomato leaf flicker like fireworks and ohhhh… the wistful slide into resins and pensive musks. Gardez-Moi… Keep me…My skin craves it so I acquiesce.- The Fox, Contributor and Editor of The Silver Fox

 

There’s no better way to beat the heat, than with DSH Perfumes 98 percent botanical juicy, tart and crisp Pamplemousse.  Perfumer Dawn Spencer Hurwitz plays with every aspect of citrus and needless to say, grapefruit a note that energizes and revitalizes. Its heart expertly adds neroli that tempers the citrus and brings a subtle floralcy into focus. The base brings a lovely creamy woody effect that adds dimension and creates balance made possible by sandalwood. All this layering has created a lovely citrus fragrance that is well constructed and lively. Simply said it is a pleasure to wear. Notes include: Bergamot, mandarin, pink grapefruit, Italian neroli, Amalfi lemon, pomelo, green tea and sandalwood.

Dark moist earth meets an infinite field of violet blossoms in CB I HATE PERFUME: #M4 A Room with a View, Water Perfume (2010) and they collide and embrace creating a stunning long note that seems to hold-on forever. Ionones create a sweet floral accord, and a delicate powdery quality leaves a trail. A Room with the View embodies romance that is not blinded to everyday reality, but blossoms because of it. Christopher Brosius goes beyond the obvious as he works poetry into this seemingly simple idea and taps our collective unconscious as he interprets perfume as love. Love as archetype, the spirit of being open, receptive, and transformed by love. Brosius created this fragrance after reading E. M. Forster’s book in French, and was inspired by the passage when Lucy and George first kiss in a field. In the film it’s a field of wheat, and in the book it’s a field of violets. – Valerie Lee Vitale, Editor and Editor of Soliflores Notes

 

1920s Flapper at the Beach Photographer unknown

I have always been obsessed with the Jazz Age and Penhaligon’s Juniper Sling composed by Olivier Cresp in 2011, brings Jay Gatsby’s lawn party to life. Top notes of cinnamon, angelica, orange brandy and juniper sparkle like the bubbles of one of my favorite summer drinks, a sloe gin fizz. A heart of cardamom, leather, pepper and orris keep things cool as the night wears on, and a sweet base of brown sugar, black cherry and amber helps the shot go down smoothly. Juniper Sling is chic and androgynous like the fashions of the 1920’s.

I’m a huge fan of the tropics and would relocate if my family would join me. Aftelier Perfumes’ 100 percent natural Parfum Privé (2007) makes me feel like Liliuokalani, the last queen of Hawaii before it obtained statehood.  Mandy Aftel's mouthwatering perfume, was originally created for own use, but we are so glad she shared this liquid jewel with the rest of us. The invigorating top notes of bergamot and pink pepper rest on a lush heart of orange blossom and  one of the finest osthmanthus notes I have encountered with a breathtaking apricot-like aroma. As if it couldn’t get even rarer and precious, it represents one of the only opportunities to smell real ambergris in the 21st century, an experience all perfumistas should put on their bucket list. – Nancy Knows, Sr Editor and Editor of MakePerfumeNotWar

"Lace" by Tama Blough

Summertime is a great time to put Hermés Eau des Merveilles (2004), composed by Ralf Schweiger,  in the perfume rotation. It's one of the first salty perfumes I ever smelled, and I loved it right away.  It creates a great aroma of sun-soaked, lightly perfumed skin without smelling like suntan lotion, making it a nice variation on the standard beach scent.

Chanel No. 5 can be a lot to wear when it's hot. How about changing it up with the popular Chanel No. 5 Eau Premiere (2008). A lighter, more citrusy take on the modern classic can put you in an elegant frame of mind even when it's sweltering. I have a great big bottle, and spray lavishly any time I just want to smell divine but not overwhelming.

Linden is a note that personifies summer to me. Rather than a delicate floral, bright citrus, or beachy aroma, linden smells like a dry hot meadow. I can hear cicadas in the trees, and see the tiny grass seeds and pollens floating in the sun-warmed air. April Aromatics Unter den Linden (2011) by Tanja Bochnig is my newest linden find, and it's a great one. After the initial opening of green, slightly flowery linden, it dries down to pure sun-dried grasses. Evocative and lovely. – Tama Blough, Managing Editor

 

Vogue Italia: Summer Beach Ellen Von Unwerth

Summer is not my favorite season. I overheat easily and the smell of sweat soaked bodies in overcrowded subways overwhelm my senses. I would rather be anywhere else then spending summer in the city, aka the concrete jungle. I haven’t had a vacation since Justin Timberlake sang "Summer Love", but the place I would go would smell exactly like Ormonde Jayne Frangipani (2003). Unlike our colleague,TheSilver Fox, I detest BIG white florals and adore citrus. Through the magic of Linda Pilkington and her partner in perfumery, Geza Schoen, Frangipani manages to bridge both genres seamlessly. Combining tuberose, plumeria and magnolia in one perfume is a brave move as they can behave like divas and usually elbow each other for attention. In Frangipani, they are arrayed in sheer summer dresses and walk arm in arm, as the sound of their lilting laughter carry the light scent of linden on the ocean breeze.  A burst of tropical lime at the top and the scent of ripe peach greets them as the aromas of plums and smoky vanilla hide seductively under their shimmering skirts.-Michelyn Camen, Editor In Chief

For our Summer Love Fragrance Draw

WORLDWIDE Merci Francois Henin, Owner of Jovoy Paris for 50 ml of Gardez Moi

WORLDWIDE Danke Tanja Boching of April Aromatics for 7 ml  rollon of Unter den Linden (not shown) ALL NATURAL

 

WORLDWIDE With gratitude to Mandy Aftel of Aftelier Perfumes for a large sample (not shown) of Parfum Prive ALL NATURAL

WORLDWIDE To the always generous and ever lovely Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for one dram  roller ball oil of  DSH Perfumes Pamplemousse

 

EU and USA: Lots of love to Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne for 50 ml of Frangipani Eau De Parfum 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USA and Canada ONLY: Cheers to our  gracious friends  from Penhaligon's 50 ml of Juniper Sling

To be eligible to win one of the six above fragrances,  (the first year two natural pefumes made our list) leave a comment with your thoughts on Summer and please list any or all of the six fragrances you would like to win which must include an all natural perfume and note counry restrictions) and where you live. Draw closes June 23, 2014.

Note: Houbigant's Orangers en Fleurs, CB I HATE PERFUME: #M4 A Room with a View, Water Perfume, Hermés Eau des Merveilles and Chanel No. 5 Eau Premiere are in our top ten summer fragrances for 2014 but they are not being offered as part of this draw. Congratulations to Tanja Bochnig;April Aromatics is now available in the USA at luckyscent.com

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like Cafleurebon and use our RSS option…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.