I have a hard time wearing perfume, mainly because I sweat a lot and have this salty texture; I don’t know what it is but perfume and I don’t get along. All I know is that overly fruity scents smell sour on me, and floral scents can often smell like cat pee. Maybe I’m just special…at any rate, I’m not a fan of most perfumes because first they smell like crap on me, then they smell like nothing, so why waste my time and money on them?
I have found, however, that musks and masculine scents actually work with my skin’s natural pH. I love Tim McGraw’s cologne, but I want to smell feminine, not like a man. I want to smell romantic and womanly, inviting and soft…you know, like a lady. Not like Old Spice.
Enter Shine by Heidi Klum. I actually tried it on at Wal-Mart because it was the only tester in the perfume aisle that worked. My husband immediately turned around (he was speed-walking by the aisle, hoping I wouldn’t stop) and started sniffing the air like a bloodhound. “That smells…good, really good!” He crept in closer and smelled the front of the shirt where I had ceremoniously blasted myself. The scent is subtle but very feminine, an obvious vanilla smell with an amber musk undertone, something that I really enjoy. I found myself really enjoying the scent as well, and continued smelling my shirt as we zipped around the store, just waiting for the scent to turn on me. But it never did. Days later I can still smell it on my jacket.
I have used vanilla and amber scents before, but what I like about Heidi Klum’s Shine is that it smells like a perfume rather than a body spray. It lasts all day long without having to reapply without being a super strong scent. I like the bottle, it’s rectangular with a golden perfume hue inside, and a very romantic-looking bottle. The price is right, too- around $16 (hint hint, Christmas gift!).
Romantic? Check. Feminine? Check. Lasts without being overpowering? Check. This perfume has that woodsy vanilla smell that a more down-to-earth but feminine girl can enjoy. It just smells soft, like a candle, and makes me think of, well, sunshine. Which is exactly how I like to feel, too.