Greetings, fragrant friends! I hope you’re all staying safe and staying home during this unprecedented situation.

I miss my friends, and my workplace, and my subway rides on the 2/3 train when I make my “to do” lists, and cocktails at local bars, and visits to perfume stores, and I’m as scared as everyone else about the coronavirus itself and this pandemic’s effect on the economy (not to mention our collective mental health)…but there must be a few silver linings to this giant cloud, right?

One plus is that I have more time to blog, since I’m working from home but not spending 2-1/2 hours commuting every day, so here I am!

Another is that I’m taking this opportunity to visit my perfume cupboard and my sample drawer every day and choose something that I’d never wear to the office—something too bold, too sweet, too diffusive, something that isn’t quite “me” but that I do love to smell once in a while.

I’ll be posting weekly lists of some of these non-office-appropriate fragrances here, with links to past reviews if I’ve written them. Please let me know what you’ve been wearing in your own semi-isolation!

Here we go:

Les Parfums de Rosine Ballerine No. 5

Okay, I did wear this—applied sparingly—to work one day last month. But last weekend I pulled out my bottle and spritzed myself with abandon, because I love a good rose-and-vanilla “fleurmand” and this one makes me smile.

My review on Now Smell This is here.

Calvin Klein Reveal

I don’t think Reveal was a particularly successful launch for Calvin Klein, but it’s one of my favorites from the brand. In my review from 2014, I wondered, “Will female customers fall for the unisex salty (and non-fruity-floral) top notes? Will they stick around for the more commercial woody-gourmand hints in the dry down?”

Read the rest of the review here!

Viktor & Rolf Dancing Rose and Salty Flower

Viktor & Rolf’s higher-end “Magic” collection includes a beachy floral (Salty Flower) *and* a fleurmand rose (Dancing Rose), and I wore both over the past week. They’re colorful and fun, and I’m glad I have sample vials of both.

You can find my NST review here.

Anna Sui “Classic”

It’s also the perfect time to revisit old favorites. Anna Sui’s first fragrance may feel too powdery and boudoir-ish for the office, but hey, I make the rules in my own “home office” space.

I’ve somehow never reviewed this one, but you can find it at the Anna Sui website. (And check out the price: $44.)

Lolita Lempicka Minuit Sonne

Back in the early 2000s I did wear the original Lolita Lempicka to work, but I usually reserve it for weekends nowadays. This is the “Midnight” version, which is even more anise-y than the original. Good memories, with a deeper twist. And I still love the bottle design.

For some Lolita Lempicka info on Now Smell This, see here.

Other good-smelling things I’ve enjoyed over the past week include LUSH Night Bloom Soap (above, purchased at the post-Christmas sale) and a sampler set of tealight candles from Keap (review to come soon on NST).

How about you?