Perfume is something I have always loved - my olfactory senses are a little ridiculous, to the point that sometime leaving an empty tea mug by my bedside table can disturb my sleep! Aged 7, I was obsessed with a perfume I saw in quite a few of the houses I frequented at the time - Karl Lagerfeld's Sun, Moon, Stars, and felt ridiculously grown up when I received a bottle of it as a gift. To this day, I still have that original perfume (ahem, 20 years later!), which I have used lovingly and sparingly throughout the years. The bottle stands proudly in between my now extensive melange of bottles of all shapes and sizes and scents and memories. And that is why I love perfume - it evokes memories in a way that is so powerful - the ultimate for a renowned forgetter like myself! I have in my assemblage of perfumes, the very cheapest scents, to the damned expensive, and each has it's place in my routine, mainly dependant on my mood. But I must say, as I am getting older, as much as I completely heart the sugary tones of Britney Spears' Curious, the depths and notes in the more expensive perfumes are becoming highly apparent! Added to this that my cold skin literally pushes fragrance out it, the high-ends tend to stick around a little longer. So today we celebrate the wonders that are my two favourite high-end perfumes:
It seemed only fitting to capture these two French beauties by candlelight: Chanel's Coco Noir, and YSL's Belle D'Opium. If you have not had the pleasure of smelling these two, then I would say now is as good a time as any for you to saunter on down to a department store.  Belle D'Opium is one that I was gifted by an uncle around a year ago now, and is just stunning in visage and scent. It is a heavy perfume, lighter that the original Opium, which I found myself disliking, but heavier in feel than everyone's current fave Black Opium. Comparing the two, Black Opium is a beautiful fragrance that has added a modernity and a slight awakening to the Opium name, but if you crave something that screams sensual, then Belle D'Opium is the one for you, and is also almost a more wearable version of Tom Ford's Black Orchid, which I constantly want to wear, but it doesn't seem to work on me. The main notes throughout here that appeal to me are incidentally very perfumed ones - Jasmine, Lily, Tobacco, Patchouli, Sandalwood and Amber: very heavy, but supremely decadent. 
Chanel's Coco Noir I have lusted over for around a year now, and finally purchased it in duty free last month. This tends to fall in the same scent category as the Belle D'Opium - a beautiful heaviness to it, without being cloying. Lighter in feel than the Belle, but with slightly less sweetness to it, I find this to be the perfect almost-masculine, but still hugely femininely sensual scent! Again, the notes are akin to those of Belle, but with an addition of Rose, Narcissus and Frankincense, which is where I think the less-saccharine aspect comes into it. Absolutely stunning.
I hope you like this post :)
Ani x