Three people asked me what perfume I’m wearing today

I’m used to talking about perfume. I do it for a living. (I’m a beauty writer, which means I cover everything from skincare to makeup to haircare to scent, but if I had to pick a favourite topic it would be a close-run thing between skincare and fragrance, but depending on the day, fragrance would often win).

So while I’m used to talking endlessly about scent in articles like this, I tend not to have so many unprompted chats about it just during the course of a normal day. Except yesterday. No fewer than three separate people started a conversation with my about my perfume. They wanted to, variously: a) tell me I smelled nice and b) ask me what perfume I was wearing. Total strangers, each one of them.

And that perfume was La Flâneuse. It’s not normally the kind of scent I go for. I know it’s not a fashionable, but I’m a real floral fan. When it comes to perfumes,I love a spicy rose, or a watery gardenia, or a bouquet of white flowers all vying for my attention. La Flâneuse is different. It has some beautiful flowers - there’s a powdery Jasmine, and a fresh Orange Flowers at the heart - but it’s really all about the sandalwood. 

Its perfumer, Serge De Oliveira, has a particular passion for woody notes - and when we commissioned it, we wanted something that would be like a cashmere sweater in a bottle, but not wintry and snuggly - more in the sense of something luxurious but understated, that feels like part of you, rather than overpowering you. In fact, it contains a trio of woody notes: elegant Cedarwood, sophisticated Sandalwood and enigmatic Cashmere Wood, but it’s the Sandalwood that really ‘sings.’

The magic, for me, though, is in its different phases: when you first put it on it feels almost fresh; a burst of fig giving it an uplifting burst of outdoorsiness, like the sun suddenly streaming through a window. But when the flowers really emerge, some time later, it feels somehow luminescent, almost like the scent is shining out. The dry-down, when the woody notes get their moment, is softer, like throwing the cashmere on at the end of the day. But throughout all the shape-shifting, it retains an elegance, and a sophistication, that is totally addictive. 

There's a Travel Spray of La Flâneuse now, so I’m taking it with me everywhere. It’s one of those perfumes that don’t come along very often, but somehow you just kind of always want with you. And funnily enough, the name La Flâneuse actually means a woman who wanders the city, or as the Cambridge Dictionary says, “someone who walks around not doing anything in particular but watching people and society.” Sounds like the perfect way to spend a day. And if compliments on your scent are also forthcoming? Ideal.