spritz
Hermès: Barénia Pleine Fleur
I once asked the perfumer Christine Nagel what she wished the world smelled like, and her answer was, “Soft. The world needs softness and tenderness. There’s so much unhappiness in the country. But I’m only a perfumer.” Lucky for us that she is, because she’s created a soft, sensual variation on her successful scent, Hermès Barénia, called Barénia Pleine Fleur. Thanks to my 1,103-day Duolingo streak, I can translate that to “full flower”—impressive, except that Hermès says it means “full grain,” a reference to Barénia leather. Be that way. The original scent’s oaky citrus blend is lifted here with white lily and orange blossom. For Nagel, perfume also carries an emotional quality, and this one is a voluptuous, luminous beauty that could melt your heart. ($182; hermes.com).
Style
David Mallett: The French Pin
Thanks to the Row and Chanel Métiers d’Art shows, the French twist is back, which is ideal if you live with a hairstylist but tricky if you’re on your own with just your clumsy hands. Watch a YouTube video or two and you can master it, I promise, especially if you don’t aim for shellacked perfection. Besides, that tight shape looks dated, so embrace the loose pieces. What holds it all together is an excellent French pin (which resembles a U-shaped tuning fork) and a few bobby pins. David Mallett has just created an especially graceful one in a tortoiseshell-like finish that’s actually a soft cellulose acetate—the kind of thing you can toss in your beach bag and slip into your hair on the way to lunch or cocktails. It joins Mallett’s new boar-bristle brush and a pair of handsome combs, the sort that makes you long for a proper vanity table to display them on, like a film star. ($60; david-mallett.com )
