A Rose by Any Other Name .....

..... does not smell as sweet. Shakespeare was wrong.

I have stolen downstairs in the middle of a wind-tossed winter's night to tell you all about my gift, while polishing off the sad remainder of a box of Turkish Delight ...

DH has spoiled me terribly, and by that I mean he has actually spoiled me far too well, and has been most wickedly extravagant on things that I cannot return to the store. One of the things he gave me, having consulted with Destructo Boy, was a bottle of this:

And oddly enough, the topic of perfume and men's buying of it had just been a topic explored by my Twin Ania both on her blog, and her Facebook page.

After a misspent youth wearing Opium and Obsession, I achieved some subtlety, and grew up into the très très chic scent that is Caleche by Hermes. I have worn nothing but Rose perfume for about the last eleven years or so. Firstly Crabtree & Evelyn's 'Damask Rose', until they stopped making that and replaced it with the somewhat inferior 'Evelyn Rose', which I have continued to use even though I live in the provinces where it is impossible to find; it looks as if it is going down the same forlorn path. I have also used the RHS Rose perfume, which, again, is proving somewhat challenging to find.

My DH and Destructo Boy, knowing all this, went on a mammoth hunt through everywhere they could think of, and the closest thing they could find was this 'Very Irresistible' by Givenchy, which says it uses 5 types of rose in its manufacture. Bless their cotton socks, I love them dearly, and I so wish that I could say that this smells of roses. But it doesn't. It smells like expensive French perfume.

And now, so do I.