Perfumes are surprising. Sometimes, things that you think you wouldn't like, you end up loving, and things that, by all rights, you should love, just don't work.

One perfume that surprised me was YSL Opium. It's a very rich, spicy, strong oriental, which is not normally my style at all, but oh, it's heavenly. I get compliments when I wear it, too, so it's not just me who thinks it's wonderful. I can't wear it every day (and I wouldn't want to), but when I do wear it, it's always such a nice experience. I always shower with the scented shower gel and then put on the scented lotion and then the EDT on top of that, and it lasts and lasts. (For about a week, the shoulder strap on the drivers' side seatbelt in my car had a distinct Opium scent, from where it rubbed on my freshly-perfumed neck, so how's that for staying power?)

Another big surprise for me was Dior Dolce Vita. I normally don't like and can't wear sweet perfumes, but Dolce Vita works on me. I mean, it REALLY works on me. It's not candy shop sweet, but it's more of a softly spicy sweet, and the heliotrope (known as the "cherry pie plant") is heavenly. I find the scent of Dolce Vita to be warm, delicious, and strangely comforting, and I find myself wearing it a great deal. I'd say Dolce Vita has come close to replacing Tresor in my arsenal of scents, and that's saying quite a lot (I still love Tresor, of course). Given that I only tried Dolce Vita on a whim at the Dior counter as I passed through the perfume department, I'd say it's a very happy surprise (but I do tend to like Dior perfumes, I must admit).

And another surprise was Caron Pour Un Homme (or Caron Pour Homme, depending on where you buy it). It's a fairly simple scent, primarily lavender and vanilla. It doesn't work on me, but on Andrew.... gaaahhh. Mmmm. I would never in a million years have thought, "Now what would suit Andrew? Oh, I know! Vanilla and lavender!" I certainly never would have thought that I'd find vanilla so very appealing (I'm not a big fan, with a few exceptions such as Armani Sensi), but on him.... Fantastic. Surprise!

At the same time, Joy, which is a lovely, classic fragrance, really just doesn't work that well on me. Why not? I don't know. It's powdery and a little soapy, pleasant but not at all remarkable. It's nice, but it's very expensive and it's not nice enough for me to spend that money on it. And I don't mean that it's not worth the money (it's extraordinary perfume, so rich and so strong that it doesn't even have any base ingredients, that's how concentrated the rose and jasmine is!). I just mean that on me, it's not remarkable, and if I'm going to spend a lot of money on a perfume, it needs to be. (I DO recommend that every woman try Joy at least once; it's one of the world's most beautiful perfumes.)

And then we have Tabu. I hate Tabu. I can't stand it in the bottle, I can't stand it on me. On my skin it smells tawdry, cheap, and old. I apologize sincerely to those who like it and wear it, but I really, really can't stand it... on me...

The thing is, a few weeks ago, I was at a family party and one of the older aunties was there. She's probably in her early 70s or late 60s, and she's a very soft, lovely lady, quite gentile and the sort of lady everyone would love to have as an aunty. She came over to have a chat with me and I kept getting whiffs of her perfume, but I couldn't place it. I could tell it was an old-fashioned oriental, but that's as far as I got. I finally asked her what it was, guesing that it might be Shalimar. Based on the previous paragraph, you can guess what she told me: Tabu.

I was well and truly shocked. The perfume that on me smells like a tart's boudoir, on her was soft, delicately sensual, powdery, and truly beautiful. I was amazed, and I still am, and I've had to utterly revise my opinion of Tabu. On me (and on many others who equally dislike it) it's pretty awful, but it seems that there most definitely are people who can carry it off perfectly, and on them it's really lovely. Surprise!

So I guess the moral of this little essay, if there's a moral at all (perfume isn't especially moral to begin with, and can be very decadent), is that you just never know with perfume. What I love and wear beautifully, someone else might hate with a passion and vice versa. The perfume that I find extraordinarily beautiful, you might find utterly ordinary. One man's passion is another man's pain, and one person's signature scent is someone else's bug repellant...

Never be afraid to try new things. You never know when you'll get a surprise!