We all need a hint of mint.

Discover the refreshing fragrance note in these refined (and never mouthwash) scents.

Most of us wake up every morning to a burst of mint when we brush our teeth and many of us don’t think of mint again for the day unless it’s to chew a piece of gum or remove a sprig from a slice of chocolate cake at desert. But as the crop of feminine and masculine mint fragrances taking the limelight this summer reveals, there’s another side to mint that is decidedly subtler and altogether contemporary.

James Heeley the UK born, now Paris based graphic and interior designer, would race as a boy to the fetch the mint from his mother’s garden every Sunday for their roast. But it wasn’t until he found himself walking through a field of wild mint on the Southern shores of Corsica many years later that he found the inspiration for Menthe Fraîche (barneys.com), the first of his coterie of clean, unisex fragrances. Marrying the “rounder, naughty” character of peppermint with the “sharp, crisp” notes of spearmint, as Mr. Heeley put it, Menthe Fraîche is a joyful, breezy perfume that floats on a base of white cedar, freesia and green tea.

Article by Aleksandra Crapanzano

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