Apart from perfume (obviously), one of my greatest passions is travelling – you can’t beat boarding a plane, turning off your data roaming and exploring the world. Call me a geography geek, but I have a world map at home and cross off the places I’ve been to. It’s cool – I only have 176 countries left on my go-to list! So here’s just a snippet of my perfume passport diary, which holds some of my favourite memories…
Reykjavik, Iceland – November 2016
It’s 17 November. My birthday. After an evening under the northern lights with my boyfriend (which we only saw for about two seconds and felt a bit disappointed), we set off to go quad biking up a mountain. I quickly spray Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey Pure (£38 for 30ml or £61 for 50ml), my signature scent, a divine mix of rose and orange blossom, while Phil wears his fave Paco Rabanne 1 Million for him (he was wearing it when I first met him, and I’ve forced him to wear it ever since). On the quad bike, the views are spectacular, dotted with little igloos and snow-capped mountains in the distance. We’re going at a million miles an hour because Phil’s an adrenalin junkie, and my face freezes following a battering of snow. Finally, we get to the top of the mountain, overlooking a blue lake straight out of a fairy tale. We walk hand in hand to the edge of the mountain to enjoy the view. He starts playing our favourite song on his phone, gets down on one knee and proposes to me. A truly magical day…
Lake Como, Italy – September 2015
Bellagio, Lake Como, a place where you feel as though you’re in an Italian film. You look to your left and there’s a wine stall, while to your right there’s a cheese shop and in front of you are cobbled streets, which lead to the lake. I’m wearing Armani Si (£52 for 30ml, £73 for 50ml, £99 for 100ml or £120 for 150ml), which I also wore the night before, for my cousin’s hilltop wedding in a local wine district. The notes of rose, bergamot and vanilla are sweet and sophisticated, and complement my surroundings perfectly. I see a local pizza stand (when in Italy, and all that) and get the largest size – it’s treat day! I stroll along the lakeside with my takeaway box, sit down on my blanket by an array of bright pink flowers and eat the most delicious pizza of my life. A dream couldn’t top this.
Bocas del Toro, Panama – June 2012
I’m on my gap year in Costa Rica, which borders Nicaragua and Panama. My mum calls from the UK, telling me not to cross the border because Nicaragua has no British embassy and there are ‘too many pirates’ in Panama. So, of course, with my four new friends, I cross the border to Panama, equipped with my giant backpack and medical bum bag. Where are we headed to? The party island of Bocas del Toro. We reach our hotel via water taxi and get changed for the night ahead. I spritz on Juicy Couture by Juicy Couture (£37 for 30ml, £50 for 50ml or £69 for 100ml), with its notes of pink passion fruit, rose, watermelon and crème brûlée – the perfect combo for a night out on an exotic island. We get to the club, which is a little hut on stilts in the water and jump into the sea while the music blasts and makes the water ripple. Luckily, no pirates in sight…
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