We smelled dozens of fragrances and I was somewhat horrified to learn that my favorite of the bunch was Jennifer Aniston's new perfume. While I like the idea of blindly sampling scents, I'm no fool: I know that the bulk of their pricetag comes from marketing. If the fragrance industry is going to funnel so much money into endorsement deals, packaging design, and PR, out of spite for these practices I'm not going to buy a new perfume on smell alone.
One of the conversations the Sensorium prompted between Usha and me was about the transportative power of scent. Petite Cherie reminds me of college; Kiehls Coriander is what I wore my first year of teaching middle school. Calypso St. Barth Mimosa conjures up memories of visiting New York City, because I bought it during a trip here back in 2002. When Shawn and I separated and I moved out, I only had room to take one fragrance - a tiny Juicy Couture roll-on - and I rarely wear it now because it reminds me of sad times. Do certain fragrances take you back to a specific time or place in your life?
9 comments:
I don't wear scents all the time - mostly just for dates and other celebrations. So perfume always signifies "YAYAY something special and fun is happening!"
I'm like Julie, I don't wear perfume on a regular basis, just for special occasions. Because of that I definitely don't want to buy an expensive perfume.
I don't know if it still exists (maybe only in women's restrooms), but the perfume Exclamation! reminds me of my grade school days. It was the first perfume I ever owned :)
Absolutely! I have vivid memories of my parents (Mom = CK Escape + Dad = Old Spice) giving me kisses in the morning while growing up. And the B & BW Warm Vanilla Sugar stirs up memories of my kitchen in Japan....
What a cool event! Although I don't really understand the logic of spiting perfume marketing practices by refusing to buy a new perfume based on scent alone?
I am terrible about wearing perfume...I think I'm afraid of applying too much, so I never use it. I do have a solid perfume from Lush that I absolutely love, but it doesn't remind me of any specific time, except perhaps where I was the day I first bought it (Atlantic City!).
Julie, I like that the practice of applying perfume, because you don't do it every day, signifies a special event!
SweetLaundry, if I smelled exclamation it would take me waaaay back to my days of reading Teen magazine (as a 9 year old). I used to wear the tester strips for that one out!
Staci, smelling Revlon's Charlie reminds me of my mom! Does the BBW scent remind you of your kitchen because you had the Warm Vanilla Sugar hand soap?
JG, I know, I'm weird - what I meant to say was I wouldn't buy a perfume if the bottle or ad campaign turned me off. I suppose I could decant it or whatever, but when 96% (or some other insanely high number) of the cost of a perfume isn't the perfume itself, I'm not spending all that money just for the 4%!
Body Shop White Peach and Bath and Body Works Cucumber Melon lotion remind me of middle school, Polo Sport reminds me sooo much of high school, and Estée Lauder Beyond Paradise reminds me of college.
How I love Chloé and L'Occitane Jasmine Green Tea. Glad I've progressed :-)
Yes! We had it in our kitchen. But I can't remember how we procured it, whether I brought it with me (doubtful since I'm not ordinarily a fan of anything vanilla) or if someone sent it. I'll randomly get messages from my old roommate saying she smelled it somewhere and was instantly taken back!
a few things-
-Bobbi Brown Beach, simple bottle, fabulous and perfect scent.
-I wont even smell Marc Jacobs "bang" because of that god-awful image of him in the ad! Marc should take a hint from Bobbi
-Gucci Envy always reminds me of a particular trip to the beach with my mother. I love it.
I would have loved this event, perfume is my favorite and I actually never leave the house without it!
Ralph Lauren romance reminds me of when I moved to NYC over 9 years ago. I didn't have the money to buy it but was at an event for work and it was heavily discounted. In the process of weeding out our apartment, I threw it away. Old spice reminds me of my dad eons ago when he and my mom had date night ( they have been divorced 20 years!) I tried to associate a scent with my wedding day but it didn't work..I used a bottle of the fresh perfume and I just could really smell it. When I wear it now it still doesn't have a memory association but I guess these things take time, right ?
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