Save or Slurge- How to Smell Like a Queen

I know I said that the next in this series would be on shoes, and it's a capital crime to dangle shoes in front of someone and not deliver, but today I am guilty. I thought to myself that after our discussion on soap there is something that goes on the body, unfailingly, before any garment: Perfume!

If you're like me you get lovely images of crystal bottles and delicate gold liquids swirling in your head at the mere mention of the word. Perfumes in the 18th century were, of course, all made from natural ingredients, such as flowers and animal secretions; things like roses, jasmine, orange blossum, and sandalwood. They would come in bottles like the Wedgewood one pictured above.

For true oppulence you can own a perfume created from the personal preferences of Marie-Antoinette. The Palace of Versailles sells it (or at least was in 2007 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011802066.html), and going under the name of Sillage de la Reine, it sells for $10,500 per crystal bottle, or $450 per small phial in the giftshop. Hard to compare to a splurge like that, n'est-ce pas?

Need something a little less expensive? You could try L'Occitane's Rose 4 Reines eu de toilette spray, which retails for about $40.00 instead.

Of course rose water is not all that hard to make, and can be done at home if you would prefer.