Flying with fragrance

1119665_pinkYou don’t have to leave your favorite fragrance behind every time you get on a plane.

With the Classic HD Travalo model, travelers can refill a travel-safe bottle directly from a standard perfume bottle through the patented Genie-S pump-fill system. The fragrance isn’t compromised by exposure to air and decants magically from one sealed bottle into the leak-proof atomizer in a few seconds.

It holds enough perfume for about 65 spritzes and is TSA approved so no worries about making it through security. You can find Travalo at Kohl’s, Macy’s, Ulta and other retailers. Expect to pay about $15.

Midnight Promise aces the sniff test

At any hour of the day, any day of the year, a new scent is released on the market.

image002Midnight Promise, an elegant and aromatic up-to-the-minute newcomer from Bellegance Perfumes, was created by master perfumer Sarah Horowitz and fragrance designer Karen Dubin, winner of the 2013 Cosmetic Executive Women Great Idea Award for Fragrance Innovation.

Here’s their recipe for your senses: red mandarin and cinnamon for starters, followed by spicy notes of Moroccan red rose. Underneath it all, you will find exotic hints of amber incense, vanilla musk and sandalwood, balanced with fresh tones of minty patchouli and grassy vetiver.

With a preliminary spritz on my wrist, Midnight Promise smells fresh and feminine. But it had yet to pass my sniff test: wearing it to a social event and waiting for the reaction, if any, from other guests.

So Midnight Promise and I head off to a dinner party, escorted by my husband, who does not notice that I smell ravishing. When we arrive, the house is filled with the gorgeous aroma of Bolognese sauce. Would anyone notice my perfume?

Our hostess gives me a hug and says: “what a nice scent! What is it?” Those are the words perfumers yearn to hear. When we head home after a lovely evening, the fragrance is still going strong.

Midnight Promise was previewed at the 2013 Sniffapalooza Fall Ball in New York, which was founded by Dubin to attract fragrance enthusiasts from around the globe. The company sent me a small tester enrobed in a purple velvet bag to try for myself.

Manufactured in France and bottled in a pretty, boudoir-worthy bottle, Midnight Promise has a MSRP of $105 for a large, 2.5-ounce bottle.