By Sandra

Red has so many meanings. It can mean love, danger, luck, romance…

I love the colour red. It is incorporated into my everyday life. My home has splashes of red, my wardrobe consists of many red pieces, some of my balcony plants and indoor plants are also red. Come to think of it, red is also important in the food plan for the week – paprikas, tomatoes, berries, apples – red makes my food more appealing to me. To me, red evokes the feeling of love, luck and harmony.

In order to make my choices this summer easier, I have been steering clear of perfume stores. Well, M. Micallef’s two limited editions for this summer – Rouge No. 1 and Rouge No. 2 – have been launched and samples found their way to me (because Olfactoria knows how I love Micallef!).

Rouge No. 2 is classified as a oriental-floral created by Jean Claude Astier in 2013 and includes notes of citrus, blackcurrant, nutmeg, jasmin, violets, orchid, amber, vanilla, labdanum and castoreum.

Behold that red bottle hand decorated with Swarovski crystals! Wow, I am intrigued just by the photos I have seen.

The opening of Rouge No. 2 is a blast of black currant and all the deliciousness that it entails. Unfortunately for me, this stage is all too short and it quickly moves to jasmin. The violets slowly dance their way into the mixture, making the jasmin much more enjoyable for me. Rouge No. 2 stays at this stage for an hour or two and then gets a bit sweeter with the amber and vanilla. It is, like many of M. Micallef’s perfumes, wonderful. Oh why oh why did I have to smell this?

The perfume is so lovely that it brings to mind Chris de Burgh’s words from Lady in Red:

“I’ve never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight,

I’ve never seen you shine so bright,

I’ve never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance,

They’re looking for a little romance, given half a chance,

And I have never seen that dress you’re wearing,

Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes,

I have been blind;

The lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek,

There’s nobody here, it’s just you and me,

It’s where I want to be,

But I hardly know this beauty by my side,

I’ll never forget the way you look tonight;

I’ve never seen you looking so gorgeous as you did tonight,

I’ve never seen you shine so bright, you were amazing,

I’ve never seen so many people want to be there by your side,

And when you turned to me and smiled, it took my breath away,

And I have never had such a feeling,

Such a feeling of complete and utter love, as I do tonight;…”

A beautiful song for a beautiful perfume. It makes me feel special for a moment in time – I am the Lady in Red and my husband is slowly dancing with me, whispering in my ear…

A perfume with such transportive powers is surely worth a try.