Beauty

Fragrant Fun with Presidential Candidates & Spouses

By Michaela Carolyn Griffin / KHOU

If you read my khou.com article about April Cline and her Presidential Perfumes or visited her website, you know about the scent portraits she created for the presidential candidates - all clean, fresh and light. While we were talking about her perfumes for Hillary, Barack and John, I asked what she would do for Bill, Michelle and Cindy.

I admit I was hoping for a bit of fun (especially with Bill), so I was ever so slightly let down when April told me that she’d probably use her Barack for Bill, and her Hillary for Michelle. She believes her Barack perfume would appeal to Bill because the citrus gives it an energetic feel and the musk a “come on over” touch. She thinks her Hillary perfume reflects a “strong, yet feminine, confident, intelligent woman” like Michelle.

Okay, maybe the scents could work interchangeably - I just think the personalities are more defined than that. Plus, I don’t see Barack as a “come on over” kind of guy; he’s too skeletal-looking for my tastes. I'd want to "come on over" just to feed him a french fry or two. Bill, however, is another story. He definitely is a "come on over" kinda guy. So maybe April's Barack should've been called Bill?

For Cindy McCain, April says she would use a blackberry-vanilla scent of hers that is comforting and elegant and “just smells divine on the body.” That immediately made me think of Trish McEvoy No. 9 - with its blackberries and vanilla musk - comforting, in a yummy dessert sort of way. But it’s not something I see Cindy McCain wearing except perhaps on a casual weekend day of antiquing or shopping with the girls.

Well, April has her ideas about how the candidates and their spouses should smell, and I have mine. Only one of us is going to make any money off the whole deal - and it isn't me. But that won’t stop me from playing with the concept and coming up with my own fragrant suggestions for them.

In the interest of full disclosure, my approach is completely unscientific and based on casual observation and on fragrances I know and like. They all smell wonderful in different ways, so if you haven't sniffed some of them, I highly recommend you seek them out. And please feel free to join the perfume suggestion game in the comments section.

First up, John and Cindy McCain:

John McCain strikes me as a man who couldn’t care less about cologne, forgets it most days, and only throws some on for Cindy when he remembers to. When he does, it’s something traditionally male like Brut or Aramis, Dunhill or Pierre Cardin. Perhaps Cindy has broadened his scent horizons and he wears something totally surprising, like a woodsy unisex scent from L’Artisan (Timbuktu, Fou d’Absinthe?), but I doubt it. Though I could definitely see him wearing something from Creed, perhaps Ambre Cannelle, Green Irish Tweed, or Orange Spice.

Cindy always looks so elegant (love the french twist!). She looks as though she would appreciate a classic French perfume - something that smells chic and isn’t something that just anyone can carry off. I can easily see her wearing Patou Mille (1000), Chanel Cristalle, Y by YSL, Annick Goutal Gardenia Passion, even the sultry queen of tuberose perfumes, Fracas de Piguet.

She could also carry off the challenging and gorgeous Mitsouko by Guerlain, or a mix of Mitsouko and L’Heure Bleue, a la Wallace Simpson. Or, one of my personal favorites, the tres chic and aldehyde-rich Guerlain Liu. More daring choices might include Une Fleur de Cassie and Carnal Flower by Frederic Malle - both rich, heady florals. I don’t see her in anything run of the mill or shy. She smells expensive, and like a real woman, not a little girl.

Next time, Barack and Michelle Obama.