Our “Recommend Me a Perfume” thread is open this week. You can use this space to find perfume recommendations, to share your discoveries and favorite scents, and to ask any questions about scents, aromas and flavors. Or you can just tell us what perfume you are wearing.

How does it work: 1. Please post your requests or questions as comments here. You can also use this space to ask any fragrance related questions. To receive recommendations that are better tailored to your tastes, you can include details on what you like and don’t like, your signature perfumes, and your budget. And please let us know what you end up sampling. 2. Then please check the thread to see if there are other requests you can answer. Your responses are really valuable for navigating the big and sometimes confusing world of perfume, so let’s help each other!

To make this thread easier to read, when you reply to someone, please click on the blue “reply” link under their comment.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

Since 2024, I’ve spent about six months in Ukraine, much of it traveling along the eastern and southern border. Sometimes, when I share photos of markets, sunlit streets, or old facades still standing proud, I get the question: Where’s the war?

We’re used to the stock images: bombed-out buildings, women crying before rubble, soldiers caked in mud. But war doesn’t always look like that.

War is the grinding exhaustion of nights spent listening for air raid sirens. It’s planning your day around the threat of missiles. It’s the constant worry for your family’s safety. It’s losing your home and scrambling to pay rent somewhere else.

And sometimes, war is a photograph of a talented teenager who will never get to grow up.

Veronika Kozhushko—Nika—was only 18 when a Russian missile struck Kharkiv in August 2024. She was already recognized as a gifted young artist—writing poetry, painting, exploring graphic design. Friends called her fiercely intelligent, endlessly curious, deeply woven into the city’s literary and art scene. She had plans. She had promise. She had so much life ahead of her.

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Saltivka smells of linden and roses. If you’ve heard of Saltivka, you might think this sentence is absurd. Saltivka—a sprawling housing estate  on the edge of Kharkiv—was once home to half a million people. That was before February 2022, before war made it one of the first places to burn. Northern Saltivka, just kilometers from the Russian border, became synonymous with devastation. I remember sobbing in those early days, watching images of bombed buildings and bloodied playgrounds loop across every screen.

But today, in June 2025, Saltivka smells of linden and roses.

I have stopped crying at ruins. After three years of traveling across Ukraine, my senses have dulled to destruction. But when I arrived in Saltivka and inhaled the scent of linden blossoms, something shifted. The air was thick with molten sweetness. I met Natalia Mykhalchenko, a writer from Donetsk who now calls this neighborhood home. She led me through the streets: shattered schools, boarded-up buildings, rocket-scored walls. And amid this, the unmistakable scent of roses.

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This spring, I’m drawn to perfumes that feel like sunlight on skin, crushed petals underfoot, and the air just after rain. Whether you’re looking for a small indulgence or a new signature, here’s a bouquet of fragrances across different budgets—each one capturing a facet of spring’s beauty.

Budget-Friendly Beauties (Under $50 / €45)

Zara Waterlily Tea Dress (Zara Emotions)
Sheer chiffon in pistachio green. Neroli and bergamot give it sparkle, while waterlily floats just out of reach. It promises afternoon tea but wears more like morning dew. Still, it’s pretty and uplifting while it lasts.
Price: ~€30 for 100ml

Yves Rocher Green Tea
Crisp as a pressed shirt and twice as clean. Citrus and tea leaves open with a brisk snap, then glide into sheer musk and water-light florals. No bitterness, no fuss—just the scent of being freshly rinsed. Minimalism in a bottle and that’s exactly what I crave sometimes.
Price: ~€19,99 for 100ml

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Цієї весни мене тягне до парфумів, що пахнуть сонячним світлом на шкірі, розчавленими пелюстками під ногами та повітрям одразу після дощу. Якщо ви шукаєте невелику розкіш чи новий підписний аромат, ось букет весняних парфумів на будь-який бюджет — кожен із них передає окрему грань весняної краси.

Zara Waterlily Tea Dress (Zara Emotions)
Шифон у фісташково-зеленому кольорі. Неролі й бергамот іскряться у вступі, тоді як водяна лілія ледь вловима, немов примара. Обіцяє післяобідній чай, а звучить як ранкова роса. Красива й піднесена — поки триває.
Ціна: ~€30 за 100 мл

Yves Rocher Thé Vert (Зелений чай)
Свіжий, як щойно випрасувана сорочка, і вдвічі чистіший. Цитрус і чайні листки звучать дзвінко, а потім розчиняються в прозорому мускусі й легких квітах. Жодної гіркоти, жодного ускладнення — лише аромат свіжості. Мінімалізм у флаконі, саме те, чого іноді так хочеться.
Ціна: ~€19,99 за 100 мл

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