This Christmas was the first since I embraced the pursuit and understanding of fragrance as a hobby, and my nice family rose to the occasion! In addition to the early gift of Penhaligon’s Blasted Bloom, Fragrance Friday: Blasted Bloom, I was given several other beautiful scents. I’ll save those for later Fragrance Friday posts! The most fun I had, though, was that my three children (two teenagers and one young adult) suggested that they too would like to receive some fragrance!

My daughters chose their own: one asked for Lili Bermuda’s Coral, which she has occasionally borrowed from me. It suits her: bright, fresh, sunny and cheerful. The other asked for Dior’s Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet, after carefully trying on several scents with me at a department store, in her characteristically thoughtful fashion. Her choice suits her too: fresh, young, ladylike but with a sparkle.

What to offer my youngest, a teenaged boy who plays sports year-round and routinely uses Irish Spring soap and Old Spice deodorant? Something of quality but not too cutting-edge, not too mature. Something light and youthful, which he can also afford himself when he starts to use real after-shave (he rarely needs to shave at all right now). Davidoff’s classic Cool Water felt right, and his big sisters agreed. So that’s what we got for him, and he loves it. He feels very grown up.

It was a very merry Christmas!

Photo: http://www.telegraph.co.uk