![\"Agonist](\"https:\/\/nstperfume.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/agonist-flora.jpg\")
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Who\u2019s ready for spring? Winter doesn\u2019t usually bring me down. Short days are all the better for reading while wrapped in a quilt, and I love fires and big pots of soup. But this year, by mid-February, I\u2019d had enough. Please, I thought, no more walking on sodden ground. No more bicycle commutes that end with me slopping my wet clothes into the bathtub and shivering until the furnace kicks in. No more gray sky, gray earth and gray attitude.<\/p>\n
Today, it\u2019s still rainy, but seemingly overnight the daffodils have shot up, and some even have buds. On my walk to the grocery store last week, I passed through clouds of daphne and osmanthus. Best yet, it stays light past six o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n
These days call for a change in fragrance. Instead of warming orientals and other viscous, amber-tinted perfumes, I\u2019m ready for the smells of spring. Sometimes, that means a rich hyacinth or narcissus, like my springtime standbys Guerlain Chamade<\/a>, Annick Goutal Grand Amour and Parfums de Nicola\u00ef Le Temps d’une F\u00eate<\/a>. But more often, a sheer floral beckons me, something as chiffon-like as that first almost-warm afternoon when you contemplate opening a window. So, I looked forward to sampling Agonist<\/a> Floralust, described by the perfume house as \u201cwind of jasmine, freesia and magnolia.\u201d<\/p>\n Perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin<\/a> developed Floralust, and its notes include pink pepper, bergamot, freesia, rose, magnolia, ylang ylang, jasmine, cardamom and musk. In short, it\u2019s an easy background sort of fragrance, the kind you might spray on lampshades, sheets, and your wrists when you don\u2019t want to draw attention to yourself, but want to smell nice.<\/p>\n Floralust\u2019s first whiff is of juicy citrus, more like wet orange blossom than bergamot to me. Right away, pink pepper gives structure, and a middle-of-the road musk \u2014 not too clean, not too itchy-woody, not animalic at all \u2014 adds a sheer foundation. Within this framework is a fresh bouquet of magnolia, freesia, rose and ylang ylang. It smells as if the vase is across the room, and no one note stands out. A sliver of cedar seems to waft in and out, but that might be a trick of the pepper.<\/p>\n Floralust lasts about half a day and should be office and baby friendly. Agonist lists it as \u201cunisex,\u201d and I love smelling florals on men, but macho types might seek out a springlike vetiver instead.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s about it. Floralust doesn\u2019t try to make a statement, and while that\u2019s its greatest asset, it\u2019s also a drawback. For the fragrance\u2019s price \u2014 $195 for 50 ml \u2014 a perfume shopper with a budget might wonder what she\u2019s getting that\u2019s all that different from what she\u2019d find on department store shelves for less. Light florals with shots of pepper and musk aren\u2019t exactly unicorns.<\/p>\n What sheer springtime florals do you like? Byredo Flowerhead<\/a> and Chlo\u00e9 L’Eau de Chlo\u00e9<\/a> come to mind. Anything else?<\/p>\n Agonist Floralust is $195 for 50 ml. For information on where to buy Floralust, see Agonist Parfums under Perfume Houses<\/a>.<\/p>\nPossibly of interest<\/h2>\n