Ja-Very Fragrant Evolution

Apparently, this blog has helped me change and evolve so much, I've started purchasing men's fragrances. On one of my lunch strolls through the Upper East Side (excellent shopping when you have time), I came upon a fabulous sale at The Body Shop. Of course, I didn't plan on buying anything and was largely unimpressed until I spotted one lonesome $9 bin in the back of the story. Man, was I excited. A bin-ful of $9 eau de toilettes? I live for such things, even though again, perfume/fragrance is one of the many things I do not usually wear. This is partly because they tend to be expensive, and partly because I'm allergic to everything. I start sneezing the second I get a whiff of anything even remotely fragrant or funky.

I have a couple of fragrances I do like though (more on that later), and can now include The Body Shop's Javari Eau De Toilette in that very select "collection" (I don't know if 4 or 5 bottles count as a collection). I had no idea this was a men's cologne until I looked it up online to see what other fabulous reviews it must've gotten.

Javari is a very warm, spicy scent. The description says: "The Far East is the muse for this spicy fragrance with hints of black pepper and ginger." I agree with the ginger notes, but I don't know about black pepper....my nose would've caught on already. I'm not well-versed in perfume terminology, so that's about all I can tell you in terms of what kind of smell it is. I love how this settles into your skin nicely so that if someone were up close (ahem, not that I have anyone that close to me lately...), it would be a distinct fragrance but not at all overpowering - it's the kind of fragrance that can just become a part of you. I tend not to love perfumes that leave a trail 2 blocks long behind them, so this suits me perfectly.

I had a sweet ol' friend in elementary school who once told me I always smelled of spicy cookies. In college, I apparently had a distinct smell too, which I finally told Sania was baby powder, Sunflowers, and Aqcua Di Gio. I'd like to think Javari is a more sophisticated version of that combination, but also with the same spicy cookie fragrance, less sweet and definitely more sexy. I wish they made more scents like this for women that weren't all musky and flowery. It's on par with Curve for Men which is oh-so-much-better for a woman like me.

Javari also doesn't have any chemical notes in it at all - in fact, it makes you smell like you picked some exotic fruit off a tree in some tropical orchard in a Far Eastern/South Asian countryside and rubbed it all over yourself and then walked into a room with incense burning (not the overpowering ritual kind, the pretty-smell kind) and absorbed all the right notes that are both sexy and homey, and always subtle. Also a great deal for the bottle size, on sale or not. $9 @ The Body Shop (sale item, and possibly on the verge of being discontinued)