Move over Ralph Lau­ren, Dol­ce & Gab­bana and oth­er pur­vey­ors of gla­m­or per­fumes. The next rage in fra­grance may be Eau de spi­der mon­key.

The rich and famous have turned the public obsession with their lives into a highly profitable industry, with 37 celebrity scents flooding onto the market in the past 3 years and no sign of the trend coming to an end.

We went out to a big family birthday party last night. It wasn't a wild party or anything, but certainly an event, with a hired venue, catered dinner, loads of brightly coloured balloons, and a live jazz trio.

While getting ready to go, I had my husband help with a few things, like jewellery. Finally, when I had everything ready I said, "Ah, time for the perfume." Jokingly, I then turned to my husband and said, "Got any suggestions, then?"

I say "jokingly" because he's got a fairly unsophsticated nose. He can almost never recognize a perfume by the scent, let alone pick one by name, but he surprised me. He answered, "J'adore, definitely."

He has, in the past, commented that while most perfumes sort of smell the the same to him, he can recognize that J'adore is a complex fragrance, and he can detect some of the subtle layers of scent in it. Perhaps that's why he remembered it, or perhaps it was just a lucky guess. I mean, I wear Tresôr regularly and he knows the name of it, and he knows the name of Diorissimo (which he'd never suggest because he doesn't like it) and Opium...

Anyway, I thought it was a splendid idea,and I did, indeed wear J'adore. I wore it layered, with the gorgeous scented cream going on first, and then the eau de parfum on top. When I woke up in the morning, I could still smell the lingering, delicate basenotes...

So maybe I'll ask him more often and see what he says. I let him pick my jewellery sometimes, and occasionally my food, so why not my perfume? Even if it was just a lucky hit, it was a great suggestion. (He, by the way, wore his favourite and mine, Caron Pour Un Homme.)