Perfumes that bring back happy memories….
*This is a collaborative post
It’s amazing how smells can instantly transport you back to a specific moment in time.
When I think about some of the crucial moments that have happened in my life, I can not only picture the scene, the people who I was with and the emotions that I felt, but I can also remember the scents – specifically the perfumes and aftershaves that I or the ones I loved were wearing that time. So much so, that when I buy perfume online or smell those scents again in the present day, it’s like someone has whisked me straight back to that moment.
As I’ve got older, the scents I have worn myself have changed considerably and some of the ones that elicit the strongest of emotions are the ones I would smell on other people.
Early Perfume Memories
I remember as a small child being fascinated by my Mum’s perfumes, all lined up in grand glass bottles on her dressing table. Despite the fact that her bedroom was supposed to be completely out of bounds, I would often creep up when she thought I was playing in my room and sit in front of her dressing table mirror, rummaging through her jewellery box and spraying a small amount of her perfume on to my wrists. I was probably about 8 years old, when I accidentally spilled an entire bottle of Tresor all over her bedroom floor. My Mum was furious, she shouted a lot and I cried like I’ve never cried before. The Mum guilt obviously soon kicked in because we had lots of cuddles a later that night and once she’d calmed down, she wanted to make sure I still felt loved and safe. The house certainly smelled nice for a while!
My Mum is sadly no longer with us, but whenever I smell Tresor now I can picture Mum getting ready for a night out, remember the waft of perfume that would linger long after her and my Dad left the house and smelling it on my pillow after she’d tucked me in at night. It’s a warm and happy memory, and the emotions are so strong.
My Teenage Years
In my teens I remember buying my first ever bottle of perfume on the way back from our girls holiday to Lanzarote. I was somewhat obsessed with Dolce & Gabanna Light Blue – a fresh floral scent that now always reminds me of holidays and the beach.
When I went to University, my scent of choice changed to be Emporio Armani She in its signature gold bottle. It was one of those perfumes that everyone would ask me what it was or say I smelled nice, and only needed a tiny spray to last the whole day. When I first met Mike and he was wearing the male equivalent ‘He’, it felt like fate! I remember sitting behind him in our Financial Accounting lectures and being totally distracted by how good he smelt (not that I needed much to distract me from Debits and Credits to be fair!)
Mike and I didn’t get together until many many years after our University days, so when my Dad got some Emporio Armani He for Christmas one year, it wasn’t half confusing to experience that familiar scent in our home!
Our Present Day Scents
These days, both of us have changed our perfumes and aftershaves of choice, and I always wonder whether our scents will create the same kind of memories for our children. Will my girls smell them in years to come and be taken back to these moments we spent at home. just like I do now with Tresor?
Mike now wears Tom Ford Black Orchid or Tom Ford for Men and I love the smell of the bathroom when he’s left for work in the morning, the scent lingering long after he’s gone – its really fresh but masculine.
So what do I wear now? Well now my perfume of choice is Jean Paul Gautier Scandal with its iconic legs bottle making quite a statement on the dressing table at home. What’s funny now that I have children of my own, is that its now MY children who are creeping into my bedroom when they shouldn’t be. Now its my girls who find these bottles fascinating, always desperately trying to get their hands on it whenever my eyes are turned. I guess some things never change!
What are your perfume memories?!
