This is a product that takes me back to when I was a pre-adolescent, just discovering the world of beauty, along with trainer bras and a game called spin the bottle. There was one thing that stood out in my mind – besides being kissed on the cheek by a boy called Ben (an outcome of said spin the bottle game) which was a body spray called Impulse 02. Every girl in our group had to have one; if you didn’t produce a can of this out of your PE bag after double netball, you were basically committing social suicide.
Its fresh, citrusy smell wasn’t altogether unpleasant and as the first beauty product I ever purchased, I still look back on it fondly. Yet just a few weeks ago, almost 20 years later, I found another body spray that’s taken its place in my heart. Well it was never going to compete with Tom Ford after all …
For years, the body spray seems to have been viewed as perfume’s poor relation (not a perfume, yet not a deodorant), yet the gorgeous scent of Tom Ford Neroli Portofino All Over Body Spray (a brief escape to the Riviera with Italian bergamot, Sicilian lemon and lavender) makes this a delightfully decadent treat to pop in your handbag. As the weather gets warmer, a few spritzes of this cooling spray makes the odour resulting from spending 30 minutes in a sweaty tube carriage highly more pleasant – but less cloying than a full-strength EDP. It’s just a shame this wasn’t at my disposal to make my fellow classmates jealous back in the mid-90s …
by Viola Levy
Tom Ford Neroli Portofino All Over Body Spray £42. Available at Harrods
