Reunited And It Smells So Good: Michel Germain Deauville

Ten years ago, in a perfume shop in the Bahamas, my father and I fell in love with the same fragrance - Deauville pour Homme by Michel Germain. We were smitten at first scent, but the price tag seemed a little inflated. So when we re-boarded our cruise ship, we searched the duty free store. No luck. When we returned to Philadelphia, my dad left no department store unturned - but he always left empty-handed.

Apparently, the Bahamian saleswoman hadn’t exaggerated Deauville’s hard-to-find status. So Dad and I cursed our inner bargain hunters, until he discovered Deauville during a routine trip to Bloomingdale’s a year later. Dad snatched it up, not caring how much it cost. I, on the other hand, was a poor college student. I barely had the funds to keep my gas tank filled, so I hit up my typically generous mom for a loan. She refused, not understanding why a 21-year-old girl would want to wear men’s cologne. So I was forced to satisfy my Deauville cravings by stealing a spritz from my dad when I happened to be home from school.

For the past nine years, a bottle of Deauville has been perched atop my dad’s dresser. You’d be hard pressed to find a bigger fan of the fragrance than Papa Spoiled Pretty. And while I have always had a soft spot for the crisp clementine, spicy white pepper, French white thyme, pipe tobacco and amber oak moss notes - over the years, Deauville sorta regressed to the recesses of my mind. Until a few weeks ago, that is.

While bargain hunting at TJ Maxx with Mama Spoiled Pretty, I spotted several bottles of Deauville pour Homme on a display right by the registers. You know, the shelves full of goodies that beckon to you - their siren song impossible to ignore? Anyway, I picked up the Deauville box, examined the familiar packaging, and the price tag said…$9.99! Does it get any better?

Since then, Deauville has been perched atop my dresser (like dad, like Daneen). Mr. Spoiled Pretty is a little weirded out by my affinity for men’s cologne (he calls it "nasty"), so I was excited to learn that Deauville pour Homme has a lady counterpart, Deauville French Spa. I’m not sure how French Spa’s Italian Bergamot, black currant, gardenia, lotus, white wood and musky notes relate to the cologne, but I’m eager to find out.