My life in perfume

I love smells. Of roses and lilacs and bluebells. Of bread and welshcakes cooking. Of memories. Memories of people or places, times or things. And I love to smell good.


Blue Grass by Elizabeth Arden was my first perfume of choice. Introduced to it by my mum - and for some reason I associate it with my godmother too - I loved its light floral scent. Aqua Manda, another floral but on an altogether different note, came next seeing me through university. Inevitably Charlie - the 'perfume for the modern young woman' - took me through my working days.

I would have preferred Je Reviens - another of my mum's favourites - but Charlie was in my price range. And somewhere along the line I flirted with Estee Lauder's Youth Dew as worn by the elegantly glamorous woman I babysat for and longed to emulate but which was totally inappropriate for a young innocent such as I.

Another Lauder perfume, Beautiful, graced my wrists for a few years but these days, always on my birthday and Christmas lists you'll find Chanel No. 5. Their Allure is a good night-time perfume but for daily wear I stick with No. 5. At least until I run out.

The only problem with No. 5 is that I can only smell it on me when I'm washing dishes. And, I suspect, nobody else can smell it on me unless they get very close. Which raises the question: for whom do we wear perfume?

I like it when I'm in a shop and I get a sniff of something lovely as someone passes by (although my 'oh you smell nice' comments are greeted with a variety of not always positive responses) although some are just too over-powering and chemical. 

Husband rarely notices when I wear perfume but I will sometimes sniff my wrist just to inhale the scent for my own pleasure. So I guess I wear it for me. 


Whoops, I nearly forgot to mention those heady university days when I wore Brut - because, hey, this was the 70s and we weren't bound by gender specifics. And doing a little bit of research for this post I discover that my favourites are all old: No. 5 1921, Je Reviens 1932, Blue Grass 1934 and even Youth Dew 1953. I also discovered that Blue Grass, which I thought was no longer made because I can't find it in airport duty-free shops is still available. Looks like my Christmas list is about to become longer.

So what do you wear and for whom do you wear it?