Library of Fragrance: The smell of a thunderstorm + win £250 Boots hamper!

The trouble with perfumes today is that they can be quite samey.

Everything is fruity-sugary-appley at the moment, and it begins to be very bland.

Every two bit D-lister has a generic perfume out. And usually, in the immortal words of Mean Girls, they make you “smell like a baby prostitute”.

Who wants to smell like everyone else after all? Fragrance is so personal. It tells our story, it projects a mood, it triggers memories. It tells the world who we want to be.

That’s why I absolutely love hot brand The Library of Fragrance. They specialise in highly unique, bold, single note scents and poetic interpretations that stand apart from the usual offering and let you tell the story that you want to tell.

Read on, because there's a chance to win a £250 Boots fragrance hamper at the end of the post!

I’ve loved the brand for a while. They trade under the name ‘Demeter’ in the US, and in the past, I have shipped some of their fragrances over from America, but its much easier than that now, as you can pick Library of Fragrance colognes up in good old Boots.

They sent me their lovely variants ‘Baby Powder’ and ‘Thunderstorm’ to try recently and its reignited my passion for a brand doing something differently for once.

These are Colognes, so they’re wonderfully fresh but I also find them fairly long lasting – a few spritzes in the morning will carry you through until lunchtime.

They have some tenacity, so don’t be put off buy the word cologne. All of them are subtle and very, very clever and their aim is to provoke an emotional connection in people.

Scent range from sweets like ‘Marshmallow’ or ‘Sex on the Beach’ – just like the cocktail - and florals like ‘Cherry Blossom’ to more abstract, poetic concepts such as ‘Moonbeam’ (a mix of vanilla, chocolate, lilly of the valley, jasmine and amber).

There’s even what I suspect may be the holy grail for some minimalist devotees – ‘Clean Skin’ (which is a mix of lemon, white rose, bergamot, peach and vanilla).

All of them are bold and exciting. There’s even a ‘Gin and Tonic’ spray!

Baby Powder

This is the one I used to be obsessed with and shipped over from America, so its nice that its much easier to get hold of now.

It literally smells like what it says – no other way to describe it. Its sweet, clean and fresh – and deeply comforting, even though that may well be a childhood regression thing!

It might sound a little odd to some, but imagine how delicious newborns smell after a bath and you’re
halfway there.

It’s the global second best seller in the Library of Fragrance range, which means there are an awful lot of people out there that like this a lot!

I use it when I want to smell good in a very natural way - not necessarily perfumed, but just clean and fresh and wonderful. Its almost like an anti-perfume, but it just smells amazing.

I use a lot of Johnson’s Baby products anyway (Baby Oil to moisturise and deep cleanse my face, Baby Shampoo to wash my make-up brushes, Baby Wipes when I need to clean something in a rush). I've always loved the scent of them.

This is the finishing touch to smell clean and fresh.

Thunderstorm

Is such a stand out scent to me.

One of my favourite scents in the world is the air after a storm. Its so vibrant, electric and alive.
I’ve often wished it could be bottled – and now it has been (welcome to the future, people).

This scent is utterly exhilarating. It takes you on your own private journey where the world is new and shiny and bright – there are ozonic, metallic, sparkling notes, a fresh meadow-sweetness and that electric, aldehydic charge.

Its green and fresh without being cloying or at all earthy. There is a dry, mineral note to it. It smells a bit wild, natural, free and dangerous.It smells like new beginnings.

I love it beyond reason and have been dousing myself with it all through the working day to give me a pick me up. To me it has the wow factor. And its such a unique smell as well. My new favourite!

These wonderful, unique scents are only £15 for 30 ml at Boots, and are currently on a 2 for £25 offer, so go stock up – I know on payday I’m planning to add the Thunderstorm and Jasmine ones to my personal collection!

You can currently vote for these fragrances to win a Fragrance Foundation Award, and they richly deserve it for doing something different.

So if you want to live in a world where scent is personal, unique and heart-stoppingly beautiful, cast them a vote here. It will only take a minute and you can be in with a chance of winning a £250 Boots hamper as well!