I've been rewinding a bit these last few weeks thanks to Prescriptives Calyx Sheer Exhilaration.

Calyx was one of the first scents I loved all by myself, uninfluenced by anyone else's taste or fragrance history. Its exotic, outrageously lush notes snared me as I passed the perfume counters in The Bay, or maybe it was Simpsons? at Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, ON (I was on my lunch break from my high-school summer job at Kmart -- don't ask). Jungle-and-sweet-flowers, I thought, knowing less than zip about perfume notes or classifications.

I'm unsurprised to find what drew me years ago was a blend of sparkling grapefruit and mandarin (hello citrus obsession), plus passionfruit, mango and guava, the fruit of my childhood in the Caribbean. Calyx Sheer Exhilaration ($50 CAN/$38.50 US), a limited-edition brighter, lighter, spritz-all-over summer version is even better, fresh, exuberant and happy. And it has delightful lip gloss friends, super-sheer shimmery shine in mango, pink grapefruit and guava ($20 CAN/$14.50 US).

See how everything gets better after high school?

Prescriptives Calyx Sheer Exhilaration is at Holt Renfrew in Canada and at prescriptives.com in the US.