Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Scents and Sensibility

When you hear the words 'Polo', 'Georgio', 'Eternity', I'm sure your brain comes up with very specific images as mine does. Junior high dances, trips to the drugstore to buy illicit eyeliner and perfume knock-offs, etc. Smells of perfumes I've worn can conjure up those days like nothing else. 'Beautiful', 'Sunflowers', 'Tresor', 'Gio'. (That last one had to be given away after unfortunate associations with my first pregnancy nausea.)

Today while putting on my perfume, I decided to make note of my current fragrances. I'm not tied down to just one, but there have been a few favorites over the years and the ones I have now are definitely "me". I think perfume descriptions are funny because they sound so delicious, but it's really impossible to guess what it will actually smell like, or how it will smell on you. I've always liked Clinique's 'Happy' and love how it smells on others, but it quite literally stinks on me.

Several years ago we traveled to China with my family and found 'Les Belles Almond Amour' in the airport duty free shop. I fell in love with it and it has been my true favorite ever since. Very hard to find, but so worth it. This is my Sunday, date night, special occasion perfume. Another good one is Coco Chanel, given by Rob on an anniversary. It's a very mature and heavy scent, so it's reserved for cooler temperatures and grown-up occasions.

My everyday wear is Brown Sugar & Fig from Bath & Body Works. This is the lotion/body spray/body wash scent I use most. My Christmas present last year was Burberry Brit. I loved it in the store and tried it on several times. I still really like it and wear it frequently, but I don't think I'll buy it again. Just not the most 'me'. Funny how some scents are like that.

And funny how a specific scent comes to be tied to a person. Rob could never wear Obsession because that's what my dad wore all during my teenage years. And there are certain colognes worn by ex-boyfriends that are off limits. I like to smell the perfume bottles in my mother and mother in laws bathrooms. I loved to smell the bottle of 'White Shoulders' in my great grandmother's room, even though I think she rarely wore it. I love it when my girls sniff my perfume and tell me which one I should wear.

What scent are you wearing now? Do you agree with its description? What scents turn you off? I myself don't like Gardenia AT ALL (another pregnancy casualty). Word to the wise: put your (and your husband's) favorite scents in hiding during the first few weeks of sickness to avoid collateral damage. As you can see, smells were a 'scentsitive' issue. haha.

7 comments:

Joseph said...

I like cologne, but hardly ever wear it.

I feel like between scented body washes and deodorant I smell strong already. My kids love to put my Right Guard on their tummies and/or wrists.

Sometimes on Sundays I'll put on aftershave, but I feel like I can barely breathe the smell is so strong.

Thx for a fun post.

Mary Anne said...

Mommy wore Chanel No 5 for special occasions. Maria got us all some for Christmas. I almost never wear scents though. My mother-in-law gave me some Coco Chanel though. I haven't worn it but I think I'll try it sometime after such rave reviews.

John doesn't wear stuff either. I really like the smell of Arm and Hammer Clean Burst detergent. I hope that's what we smell like most of the time.

In teenage days me and by sisters wore Exclamation! Which strikes me as bizarre now since I think none of us wear perfume now (except the Chanel No 5 on special occasions, of course)

Random side note: We watched Sense and Sensibility 2 nights ago.

Marisa said...

When I was pregnant, I wanted to die whenever my husband would put on deodorant or cologne. Something about that "manly" smell made me gag. :D

klchristensen said...

Dear Flori
I know you are a lotion potion girl. I love that about you and because of it I think I should give you something like that for a gift but then I remember that some smells just don't go on a person the same as another and so I don't give perfumes or even scented anything or at least I try not to because every nose is different so they say. I love White Shoulders also it is something I wore in high school but I don't any more it seems to young yet your great grandmother wore it so maybe it is not to young. Right now I like a fragrance from Bath and Body called Japanese Cherry Blossom. I like flower scents dad likes bitter herb and earthy scents. I have a hard time when he wears those because they are not my favorite smells. Funny. I don't have a lot of perfumes but I did find a good resource for the more expensive perfumes and soaps. TJ Max has some marked down perfumes I have gotten there before. Love all you smelly southern people our there Love Mom

Mariposa said...

I can't even think about cherry blossom lotion without getting all gaggy. I love "light blue" by dolce and gabbana, and stopped a woman on the tube to ask her what she was wearing! The receptionist at the doc. wears it too, but it smells infinitely more delicious on her than it ever did on me (does that make me sound like a weirdo?)

Tillie has taken to smelling my armpits lately when I reach over to buckle her in the car. It makes me laugh, but I gather she got it from me--i love smelling seth's deodorant!

Marisa said...

hi! I'm so sorry! I should have mentioned that I stumbled onto your blog via cjane's community. your post just brought back waves of remembrance of my nauseated pregnancy days, so I had to comment.

anyway, thanks for the compliment and stopping by my blog. it's nice to "meet" you. :)

Charity said...

My favorite is called Soul by Curve. There is a his and hers and they are both great. Very earthy with bamboo and something else (I can't remember because I'm out!) Nathan and I both got some one Christmas from my sister. His bottle (he found more! so not fair, granted I didn't look very hard as I have several others) says "Truth, Love, Passion, Hope" I like the sound of that.

My other favorite that I currently have, and you can get a whiff of on Sunday, is Still by Jennifer Lopez. It has a light sweet smell, and actually reminds me of vanilla.