Tocca- Margaux

Tocca has made an art form out of producing easygoing perfumes that are unapologetic pretty and feminine, fitting for the pretty bottles and boxes. Again and again, Tocca has proved it is possible to make wearable and incredibly well-priced fragrances while never insulting the nose and the wearer. They're nice in the best and most flattering sense of the word. Margaux is the newest addition to the line, and it has an even more romantic theme than usual, starting with the name.

Margaux is the addressee of a love letter, the beloved and desired. She's beautiful and not just in the eye of the beholder; she's also approachable and kind, effortlessly chic without even knowing it. She dreams of a white wedding, with six bridesmaids and a flower girl, but they're all barefoot in a beautiful meadow, wearing wild flowers in their hair. Margaux seems to go through life unscathed, not even by the envy and cynicism of others. And she smells good doing that.

Margaux, the perfume, is just that. A gentle oriental floral that doesn't let any one flower note take center stage and steal the show. Despite the presence of gardenia and jasmine, this Tocca fragrance isn't a heady white flower and it never tries to play the sultry card. The most dominant accord here is violet-heliotrope-cashmere wood, but don't think Dans tes Bras. The vanilla-musk base keeps Margaux from going in that weirder and more edgy direction; instead there's an almost milky-gourmand quality that's soft and comforting. This is where white takes over the color scheme in various textures and variations:  antique lace, whitewashed salvaged wood, old love letters on a yellowing paper. Margaux is pretty and satisfying, with Tocca's typical longevity and polite sillage. It works now at the tail end of summer and will make a great back-to-school or office-friendly scented gift.

Notes: blood orange, bergamot, cassis, gardenia, jasmine, violet, cashmere wood, musk, benzoin, vanilla and heliotrope.

Tocca- Margaux ($68, 1.7oz) will be available starting October at select department stores, Sephora, Luckyscent and tocca.com. A press sample was sent for my consideration by PR.

Photo of Christina Lindberg via Stirred, Straight Up With A Twist. And, yes, I know that the Swedish model was mostly famous for posing nude, but I like this photo and the doe-eyed look that's still so innocent.