Year of the Snake and sexy scents

2013 marks the Year of the Snake in the Chinese calendar; the New Year of which is celebrated on February 10.

Asian astrologers and soothsayers advise to save your money this year and beware deceptions. In partnerships and projects, make sure to investigate and be strategic. People born in the year of the Snake tend to be intuitive and graceful, methodical and suspicious.

We appreciate the grace and the cunning of the serpent. Coincidentally the symbolism doesn’t stop with the New Year’s celebrations, but has poured into the world of fragrance too. The motifs, however, centre more on the snake in its mythical role in the bible’s story of original sin and Eve’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. The following scents play on the beauty of the snake and its seductive power.

OF SCENT, SEX AND SERPENTS

Kilian Hennessy’s new collection, In the Garden of Good & Evil, includes three fragrances that promise forbidden pleasures. Each of the perfume bottles in the trio is adorned with fresco-like motifs of intertwined serpents, the apple and the gate to Eden.
In the City of Sin: This is a soft, pretty fruity floral with a warm, woody undercurrent (notes: bergamot, pink peppercorns, cardamom, apricot, caramelized plum, Turkish rose absolute, incense, cedarwood and patchouli).
Good Girl Gone Bad: This fruity floral spritz is sweet without being cloying. It’s fresh but surprising, thanks to its rich but balanced ingredient combination of jasmine sambac, osmanthus, rose, tuberose, narcissus, cedar and amber.
Forbidden Games: This scent is an almost-lickable, fruity-floral gourmand (notes include apple, peach, plum, cinnamon bark, rose orpur, geranium bourbon, midnight jasmine, Madagascar vanilla, Laotian honey and opoponax).
Each eau de parfum spray, $280 each (50 ml), comes housed in its own serpent-adorned lacquer clutch, www.bykilian.com (launching in February 2013)

EVE AND EAUX

The latest in the Christian Dior Poison line-up, Hypnotic Poison Eau Secrète, continues to play on the symbolism associated with the story of Eve, the forbidden apple and the Serpent. The newest Poison, packaged in the familiar apple-shaped bottle, is a juicer rendition than its more powdery Poison predecessors. Here, Sicilian mandarin, orange and bergamot, jasmine sambac, neroli and vanilla, define the spritz. $78 (50 ml), www.dior.com (launching in February 2013)

PYTHON PLAY

Just Cavalli is the new toilette from the Roberto Cavalli house, set to debut in March. Meant to embody the free-spirited flirty woman, the smooth and juicy floral also embraces the de rigueur python by choosing the reptilian print as the accent for the soon-to-launch bottle. $66 (50 ml), www.justcavali.com