Glossier: You

The Ultimate Comfort from a “Skin Scent” That Smells Like Makeup and Memories

I received a little foil sample of You with a Glossier skincare order and was immediately hooked—I'm several bottles in by now! This is a gorgeous, soft, sexy musk with makeup powder notes that lean fun and youthful, rather than elegant.This kind of soft-sweater scent is what you might remember lingering around the house when your parents went out and left you with the buzzing anticipation of being babysat by a glammed up teenager.

I’m reminded of playing around in the bedrooms and closets of my older cousins. I saw them as having such an impressive aura of coolness and glamor. Left in their charge, you knew you might get to play with makeup or get your hair and nails done some fabulous new way—these are some of our earliest influences for how we develop a personal style. It was always exciting when they were getting ready to go out on a date, or just to play in the same room while they chatted with a boy on the phone, letting me listen in and rummage through their love letters.

But don't mistake all this for meaning that You smells like an immature perfume. It's perfectly grown-up, but it just somehow feels like a very pure kind glamor—a casual, friendly sexiness, instead of straight up hormonal, you know? It's not bombshell sexy, it's cool girl sexy, or the platonic sexiness you wear to hang out with your friends and just feel confident.You is a subtle, elusive fragrance that mastered the art of the “skin scent” perfume. It makes all the sense in the world that it was dreamed up by a skincare and makeup brand, because You feels very much like an extension of that world. It's like a final dusting of face powder, a last swipe of highlighter or a clear gloss over your lipstick. And even once the “clean girl” trend is over, I fully expect this one to stand the test of time as an icon of the minimalist scent genre.