I love to watch other people shopping for perfume. I can’t usually do it for more than a minute or so without feeling invasive, but I’m always interested in the comments I overhear at fragrance counters. The main problem (aside from the risk that the person will suddenly realize I’m listening) is that I have to refrain from making suggestions. This is difficult, especially when a sales associate is relentlessly pushing the latest release rather than finding out what the person really wants, or worse yet, when the potential customer is standing alone and looking around anxiously for guidance.

Sometimes I wish I could recommend a fragrance line that’s not sitting right there on the shelves at Sephora or the department stores at my local mall. There seem to be plenty of women who have a favorite perfume and are looking for something along the same lines — something fruity and tart, for example, or a soft floral blend with some vanilla in it. But they also want a slightly more sophisticated or less commonplace alternative, and they’re not finding it at their usual retail destinations. I thought of those women when I smelled the two latest releases from the indie brand MCMC Fragrances. MCMC’s perfumes are directed towards a relatively small audience, but they’d probably also be appreciated by the desperately-seeking-something shoppers that I’ve watched from the corner of my eye…

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