Victoria Beckham’s Portofino ’97 Perfume Is Our Latest Fragrance Obsession

2 min read

My evaluation of whether a perfume is pleasant is applying it at work (of course, in an appropriate amount that won’t trigger headaches) and observing how many colleagues come to my desk. But my last trial run was so significant, I had coworkers asking to borrow the scent to fragrance themselves.

The standout perfume, Portofino ’97 by Victoria Beckham, is a fresh and comforting scent that turned the Harper’s Bazaar office into an Italian coastal village. Although the fragrance was the fashion designer’s inaugural perfume for her self-named beauty line, I’ve only recently incorporated the perfume into my fragrance repertoire. I’m a big fan of the brand’s shimmery body oil in the same scent, but there’s something about the perfume itself that has a more powerful, captivating effect on the skin.

Drawn from Victoria’s romantic trip to Portofino with her husband David, the scent is bright, marginally sweet, and fresh—just like an Italian vacation, or even the first summer day after a gloomy winter. At the core of the fragrance is vetiver and patchouli, which impart an earthy, watery quality that transports you to Portofino. Then, you encounter amber (though traditionally not a sweet note, I believe it gives a gourmet-like ambiance to the perfume), bergamot for a touch of Italian citrus, and spicy black pepper for an understated, tangy kick.

As the warmer weather season unfolds, I’ve become enamored with wearing Portofino ’97 whenever and wherever I go. It provides me a lively surge of energy for a day at the office—but it also serves as an ideal summer evening scent, considering the black pepper and amber add a sultry warmth that can still penetrate the mugginess and warmth.

I’m not the only Bazaar editor frequently spraying this fragrance. The other day, I was sitting at my desk when I caught a whiff of something familiar. It turned out that our senior designer, Sarah Olivieri, had just sprayed Portofino ’97. I immediately identified the vivid scent and decided to reapply it myself, which, as expected, attracted coworkers to my desk.