For You, For Him: The Best Unisex Scents
"Keep it simple," is my mantra, which is why I'm such a fan of unisex scents. They're not the kind to shake you by the shoulders and announce, "I'm HERE!"
In the absence of hyper-feminine or masculine notes, you get an "Oh, that's nice" chord. And really, most days, that's all I'm looking for. Here, my top five units:
Elternhaus MoslBuddJewChristHinDao (Unfaith). What do the world's biggest religions have in common? This perfumer thinks they all have a clean, sweet sandalwood base. Pantheism and unisex? Count me in.
2 by Comme Des Garcons. I've tried to work with Japanese sumi ink derived from the soot of pine branches for Japanese brush painting. It's impossible. But this fragrance, inspired by the ink, is easy, resinous, and woodsy (and doesn't stain your fingers).
Le Sirenuse Sienne L'Hiver. The husband and wife team who run Le Sirenuse, the five-star hotel in Positano, is so charming and fabulous that you can't help but want to be them. A spritz of Sienne l'Hiver, one of their hotel's scents, is as close as you're going to get. It smells of roasted chestnuts, black olives, autumn leaves, truffles, and French straw (yes, French straw smells different).
Gap OM. God bless you, if you can find it: This discontinued 1996 fragrance rose out of the decades' obsession with all things Eastern (remember Gwen's bindi? The Tibetan Freedom Concert?), but its slightly sweet, warm, musky, incense-tinged scent is still completely modern. I have a small vial that I found at a Gap outlet, and I'm not sharing.
cK one. I mean...How could I not? It's so bubbly, with its fresh, fizzy notes of pineapple and papaya, but yet it's not smiley in an annoyingly chipper way, which is probably why dudes like it. Wear it everywhere.
Want more? Pick up the September issue of Allure, where you can read all about this fall's new crop of unisex fragrances. Happy spritizing.
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