SPRING IS IN THE AIR!

Just take a whiff. Los Angeles in the spring smells like: wet concrete (we’ve had a ton of rain!); fresh-cut lawns (especially in Beverly Hills), lemon-flowers, orange-blossoms and jasmine (really—it’s part of why we live here); and, midday, a zillion exotic food-trucks (chipotle, chilies, garlic, curries, jerk spices, cilantro, limes). There’s absolutely nothing wrong with our air-quality, at least from an olfactory perspective.

We all know that the fragrance industry endured major blows in 2009, but many analysts comment that buying fragrance today is an affordable way of enjoying couture. And a stop at SCENTBAR, founded 5 years ago by Franco Wright and Adam Eastwood, is still LA’s most sweet-smelling rite of spring (8327 Beverly Boulevard, www.luckyscent.com).

SCENTBAR offers a dizzying menu of artisanal fragrances. Each month, the website features the  “Lucky Seven” scents for that month, as well as a Lucky Stars astrological guide to choosing your new favorite. You can also create your own fragrance profile online by answering a series of questions; the pro’s at the SCENTBAR then will email you recommendations, based upon your answers.

Some of the most interesting offerings defy the generic trends. For instance, new for Spring, 2011: “Not A Perfume” by Juliette has a Gun. (Yes, the brand name alone may be enough to make a sale.) Unlike so many products in every category which get excited about their natural ingredients, and their complex, subtle ingredient menu, “Not a Perfume” brags that it is 100% synthetic, according to the maker Romano Ricci, and contains only ONE powerful ingredient: Ambroxan, a lab-made substitute for musky, whale-sourced (ew…) natural Ambergris.

If you’re in more of a farmer’s market, pie-baking mood, you might be moved to grab “Rhubarb”, a unisex, sourish-green-fresh selection by Commes de Garçons, Sherbet,

Series 5.

But most apropos for California Girls: “Mulholland”, new from Keiko Mecheri. Inspired by the far-out, good old days in Laurel Canyon, this golden-amber scent opens with bright, sunny, citrusy notes, then dries down to a smoky memory of patchouli and incense.

LADIES OF THE CANYON – Yeah, Joni had the vibe in 1970.