Whenever I go to Hawaii, I take with me perfumes that I consider my tropical perfume wardrobe. Over years I kept finding more and more perfumes that I thought would be suitable for that purpose. So, each next time I had more and more contenders for my attention (and my body) on those tropical retreats.
This year I think I went a little bit overboard when packing perfumes for the trip: even not counting samples I brought to test (and didn’t!) and shared perfumes, I had more than three perfumes per day of my vacation. Considering that our “social life” (i.e.: visiting restaurants and any indoor venues) was extremely limited and our current physical shape didn’t support the twice-a-day beach visits routine we used to follow when we felt stronger, even two perfumes per day would have been a stretch. But I have so many perfumes that wait their time to join me on a trip, that I couldn’t bring myself to pare down the set. The picture below doesn’t show new samples brought for testing that I didn’t even unpack (I’ll do a post about them later, once I finish testing) and a couple of perfumes that I forgot to bring for the photo shoot.
Last year, longing for a tropical vacation that we had to cancel, I did a post on my typical perfume selection for these trips. This time in Hawaii I wore seven out of nine perfumes that were featured in that post (I didn’t re-read it until I started writing this one): Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess, Ormonde Jayne Tiare and Frangipani, L’Artisan Parfumeur Traversee du Bosphore, Parfums DelRae Bois de Paradise, Byredo Bal D’Afrique and Yosh Ginger Ciao. I don’t have much new to say about these perfumes in addition to what I wrote last year (I still love them all), but I want to share that on this trip, for the first time, I smelled Ormonde Jayne’s Frangipiani side by side with live plumeria and realized how complex Frangipani was while prominently featuring this note.
In addition to these, I managed to wear Diptyque Volutes (EdT), our shared perfume for plane flights (I decanted it into a tiny roller ball bottle, so we can use it discreetly without bothering fellow-travelers), Moroccanoil Hair & Body Fragrance Mist, which together with Bronze Goddess spent the whole vacation in the fridge, and Serge Lutens La Dompteuse Encagée, which I wanted to try in tropical surroundings – and yes, I still want to get it, even though I confirmed my initial impression that its longevity in a humid hot weather wasn’t great. My vSO wore Atelier Cologne Orange Sanguine (love-love-love it) and three of Tom Ford‘s perfumes (I don’t envision any of them in his full bottle collection, but they were fine as the after-the-sunset wear).
The next time I go to Hawaii, I will probably bring that exact line-up, because all of them are gorgeous in tropical weather, and each of them deserves more skin time. I don’t need any more tropical perfumes! And yet, I’m still curious… Do you have any favorite perfumes that are especially great in hot weather?
Images: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
That’s a lot of perfumes considering that my standby staples are Chanel No.19 EDP and Chanel No.5 EDT. Occasionally, I bring Atelier Cologne Cedrat Enivrant although it does require frequent application (I don’t do my usual 8 sprays in consideration of my fellow travelers).
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Yeah, I was thinking about your “ascetic” travel routine as I was packing my trip :) It would be interesting to see what others do. It’s good that we can ask them this Saturday (after I check that we haven’t done it yet).
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My favourite tropical perfume is Frangipani and it’s nice to know smelling the real thing highlighted how complex it is. Interesting.
I always associate your Hawaii trips with Ginger Ciao.
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Ginger Ciao is an ultimate tropical vacation scent! In addition to smelling good (which is subjective, of course), it blooms in hot humid environment.
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I finally thunked my decant of Ninfeo Mio this holidays. Sadly I don’t love its Basenotes, but would wish for more fig scent in it. I also like Aromatics Elixir in the heat, but just a tiny spray
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I also prefer Ninfeo Mio’s opening. Probably because of that I never went for a bottle – even though I liked that color.
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My tropical vacation scents are Guerlain Terracotta, Monyette Paris and Kai. Hopefully some day I will make it back to Hawaii, when the dreaded mask requirement is dropped.
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I hope this will get better soon: it is absolutely not fun to fly in a mask.
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I had a big bottle of Azuree Soleil, long discontinued, that I always decant for beach trips and I’m down to the last precious dredges. I may have to hunt on Ebay. Picking fragrances for trips is my favorite part of packing (and takes the longest). All your picks sound good! I do find I always take a lot more than I end up wearing.
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When I take all those perfumes, I do not plan to wear them all. I just want to have options :)
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So sensible that most are samples and decants Undina, for some reason in my head you were lugging all these full bottles.
I love an aquatic floral and think they are perfect tropical wear. Currently Britney Curious, Gucci Bloom Acqua di Fiori and Saskia by Grandiflora are my top picks.
Also loving both Guerlain AA Nettare di Sole and Lys Soleia, Bronze Goddess and Annick Goutal Songes. Sometimes I take Amouage Ubar into the heat and it becomes something even more spectacular.
Portia xx
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:))) No, even with my excessive packaging 20+ full bottles would have been an overkill :)
Many years ago, while wearing Ubar to hot yoga, I discovered that It was spectacular in hot and humid environment.
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WOW! Ubar in HOT YOGA! That would have been amazing.
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If I ever went to Hawaii I would happily take that selection with me – I love your beachy choices in particular – Frangipani, Ginger Ciao, Bronze Goddess. And how exciting to get to smell live plumeria! Pleased to see Volutes get its moment on the plane – I was wearing that the other day.
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