Excuse my casual humble brag, but at this point in my beauty career my fragrance collection is something of a treasure trove of far-flung destinations. A bottle of juice can transport you anywhere in the world depending on the ingredients. I can go skiing in Aspen on Monday, with hints of juniper and cedarwood, sip an Aperol spritz by the Mediterranean on Thursday with a blend of mandarin and sandalwood, and go dancing at an underground Parisian nightclub, with notes of sparkling champagne and smokey Gauloises by the weekend. But until recently, my perfume armchair travel had never taken me to the one place I most desire to be during the depths of winter: the desert, under the scorching sun with wide open landscape and knobby cacti dotting the horizon.
Luckily, the team at Frederic Malle, one of my favorite luxury fragrance brands, offered me a chance to explore the type of scenery that inspired legendary perfumer Dominique Ropion during his development of the brand's Desert Gems collection. It took less than an hour of exploring the Paradero grounds to understand how the drama, serenity, and glorious heat (I visited in winter, so I was more than happy to bake outdoors) of the desert could inform the newest, and intensely alluring, Hope eau de parfum.
