Is there a fragrance that is sentimental to you?
I don’t think so! There isn’t a scent that I wear and really takes me somewhere (as in a memory or moment I’ve experienced).
— Christine
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Estee Lauder White Linen. I purchased it on the way to my honeymoon and while I was never wild about the fragrance (and no longer own it and I’m not even sure if they still make it), ever time I smell it, it takes me back to May of 1980 and my honeymoon. The other fragrance with strong sentimental attachment is White Shoulders. My mom used to wear it and I always thought the woman on the bottle was my mom!
Bond No, 9 Chinatown was my favorite to wear for special events, like plays and concerts. In recent years I’m less loyal and more experimental with what I wear, but Chinatown always brings back good memories of nights out.
Of fragrances I currently use? No, not really. Although Maison Margiela Beach Walk DOES bring my mind back down to the Jersey shore.
But *truly* sentimental? Only an OG bottle of Karl Lagerfeld Chloe can get me there!
Geoffrey Beane’s Grey Flannel, my father wore it and he passed at a young age.
Not for me per se but my daughter says Viva la Juicy reminds her of me😉
No. I’m not a terribly sentimental person.
Nautica cologne. My best friend wears it and it reminds me of the first time I met him.
Tresor by Lancome. My sister wore it when I was growing up.
Chantilly Lace. My mother’s bedroom always smelled of it because she was given a set including some weird jar filled with scented seashells by my dad.
The smell of laundry mixed with cigarette smoke that sometimes wafts around busy residential spaces reminds me of the hospital where my brother spent a good deal of his life.
Scent is definitely related to many memories for me, even if it’s the flowers in my mother’s house, the scent of fresh bread in my grandparents house, the smell of cold air and snow during winter vacations, the scent of the sequoia trees I grown to love in California, the smell of old books (my mom was a librarian), the smell of train rails (my grandfather was a train station master), the scent of old furniture (my grand-grand mother house), the scent of a new baby (my little sister), the scent of electronic pieces, etc.
Fragrance wise, it’s Armani Code for Men. The signature fragrance for a special man in my life for 5 years, the first time the scent of a man captivated me. For me it’s memory of passion, of stable adult love (not childish young coup-de-foudre)… that fragrance doesn’t smell the same on other men, but when I smell those notes is brings me back so many memories.
Not surprisingly, I have tons of memories from the first fragrance he gifted me, Givenchy Hot Couture. He always told the story that it took him 4 hours in a store to decide; I don’t know if it’s in the end true or not (but believable, as he was extremely picky with anything). To this day I have smelling that fragrance on others or from the bottle, but smells amazing on me. There’s no romantic memory to that fragrance, it actually remind me of parties at university and Christmas parties at my first two workplaces.
And because I can’t stop, the third would be Versace Chrystal Noir, the only fragrance I took with my when I moved to US. To this day, each time I smell it, brings me back to a small studio in a car away Eastern European country.
And because it’s me… how could I forget… Bleu de Channel, the only fragrance my brother wears… brings me memories of him, our childhood, our first vacation abroad to London, the struggles we had together at university, how far along and apart we got.
And Avon Pur Blanca… I don’t think that fragrance exists anymore, but each time something smells of freesias, peony and lotus, I think about my mom. In order to provide for us, besides her main job, she tried multiple things, including selling Avon. Pur Blanca is the first fragrance I remember her using, I also used it in highschool.
Yeah… loosing the sense of smell would be awful to me.
Yes, there are quite a few fragrances that are sentimental to me. When my eldest son was born, my husband got me Fidji by Guy La Roche – which I love to this day and when my second son was born, he got me YSL’s Yvresse – and I still love that too.
One of the first places we went to when we visited Rome was a perfume shop and again, my husband bought me the Laura Tonatti Anni Ventri Rose perfume – which is stunning.
Chanel No 5. Still my top two and I wore them almost exclusively in my 20s and 30s. I use to wear vanilla scented lotion and it tempered No 5 (and stretched it on my college budget) but now love it on its own. I dated a guy who didn’t like it and tried to get me to wear seriously sweet perfumes. I sampled so many and that it how Chanel Coco came along.
I have so many memories of those two. I own many perfumes but my Guerlain’s and Chanels are my faves because they just have the ability to take me back.
I also own a bottle of Hot Coutureand wear it sometimes. My stepsister had it and when I visited her in Vegas, I wore it since I forgot mine. In 2002, I danced with Matthew McConaughey at a club (we were invited by her friends who knew some of his friends). I really didn’t know who he was an he was really sweaty and kept shaking his wet hair. I was so worried I’d smell like BO but nope, HC held up. So every time I wear it, I think of him super sweaty and Vegas.😂
I had some difficulty thinking of one, until I remembered Orange Sanguine from Atelier Cologne! This smells EXACTLY like my grandparents’ (and mom’s) kitchen when I was a kid. We lived in Phoenix, AZ; and had an agreement with our neighbors. They had citrus trees, and we could use the fruit to make juice.
And Orange Sanguine smells like our kitchen did after a session of orange juice making! 😉 The first time I smelled the perfume, I felt like I was back on the kitchen counter (at age six), helping my mom, and reveling in the lovely smell!
My mother always wore Oscar de la Renta EDP every Sunday to church. Just once a week though- too expensive to wear more than that! She doesn’t wear much perfume anymore, as she is a bit sensitive to scent as she’s gotten older. But every time I smell it, I am instantly transported to the backseat of my parents’ car on the way to church!
Any fresh honeysuckle scent takes me back to childhood and the flowering bush outside our front door. I also have a strong emotional response to a realistic orange blossom, too… and the ecstasy of first smelling it as I passed by orange trees in bloom as a child-almost not believing that anything could smell that good.
Guerlain Samsara
That is a good one. I got a bottle last year and it finally smells decent on me!
Which bottle do you have, with the bees or the red one? For me the story with Samsara is emotional and sad.
Ralph Lauren’s Safari has been a favorite perfume since high school but it doesn’t remind me of high school, or anywhere. Rather the scent makes me feel relaxed in this academia meets warm sun and crisp linen kind of way that I like. Back then I made do with samples and minis because it was pricy, and it wasn’t until a few years out of school that I finally got a bottle. Then it got discontinued. Now whenever Mom sees a bottle in a closeout store she gets it for me. I don’t know if anyone else has done this, but have you ever had something in your head that you need to pick up and you do but it doesn’t register that you’ve already purchased it so the next time you see it you get it again? Consequently you end up with a dozen cans of tomato sauce (guilty) or whatever before you realize what’s happened. Anyway, thanks to Mom I have an entire drawer full of bottles of Safari. It’s a good thing I really like this perfume 🙂