Text size:

Scent the most important accessory

By Julie Gordon | jgordon@am-ny.com

April 21, 2008

Aedes de Venustas, 9 Christopher St. (R.J. Mickelson)

Perfume "is the last accessory you put on when you leave the house, and it's the first thing people notice when they meet you," says Robert Gerstner, co-owner of West Village fragrance boutique Aedes de Venustas.

This season, instead of following the crowd with a celebrity-sponsored perfume or referring back to that 3-year-old bottle collecting dust on your dresser, test out something new -- and memorable.

Though Gerstner says he doesn't differentiate summer and winter fragrances, male and female or day and night, many people do lean toward lighter, cleaner scents in the warmer months.

"There are definitely things that are more natural to certain seasons, like smoky, deep rich things in the fall and lighter greener, slightly more floral things in the warmer weather," says Christopher Brosius, owner of CB I Hate Perfume Gallery in Williamsburg.

On that note, we invite you to try one of these new seasonal scents:

Le Cherche Midi 14
$38 (3.4 oz.)
This fragrance is the perfect wake-up call on a lazy, sun-drenched morning, with its beautifully calming mixture of mandarin blossoms and leaves, black currant and rose buds.

Takashimaya
693 Fifth Ave.
212-350-0100

Red Flower Champa
$48 (10-ml. roll-on),
Eco-friendly perfumistas will adore this organic, wild-crafted perfume from floral-focused brand Red Flower. Packaged in a roll-on bottle with a stainless steel applicator, the sweetly feminine Champa can be packed in any bag for quick spritzes.
Red Flower shop, 13 Prince St.
212-966-5301

Mona di Orio Amyitis
$120 (1.7 oz.),
French perfumer Mona di Orio wants people to be transformed to a magical garden underneath a beautiful sky with her latest perfume, named for the queen the hanging gardens of Babylon were built to please. "When you wear last spring's fragrance, you remember things," di Orio says. "I want to make people build their own memories." With this fresh green fragrance, her mission is accomplished.
Aedes de Venustas, 9 Christopher St.