When I talk to people about their history with fragrance, they almost always mention their mother’s perfume. The person’s gender doesn’t matter, either.
Sometimes the mother's perfume stands as a point of contrast. For instance, in last week’s post Erin mentioned her mother’s love of heavy orientals, while she likes fresh and green florals and chypres. I didn’t get the impression she specifically intended to call out the difference between their tastes, or that it matters to her, but it does show how we might define ourselves in part by how we’re different from our mothers.
Sometimes talking about a mother’s perfume is a way to luxuriate in a memory — or call one forth. I couldn’t wait to smell the Prism Parfums reissue of Revlon Moondrops because my grandmother wore it, and I miss her. (Really, though, the taste of bread and butter pickles reminds me more of her.) A few years ago, someone read my review of Lucien Lelong Indiscret and contacted me because she was eager to smell it to see if it would help recall her long-dead mother. (She later reported that it didn’t smell familiar, but her mother may not have worn it often enough.)
My mom ran through bottles of Cachet, Jontue and Toujours Moi, and briefly flirted with a bottle of Jovan Frankincense and Myrrh (anyone remember that one?). As a girl, I saw Lanvin My Sin near her sink and I remember hearing her talk about Charles of the Ritz, but I bet it would be the Jontue I’d remember best, since she wore it with a liberal enough hand to come home one day in the 1970s complaining that her boss had asked her to tone it down. Probably the biggest role my mother’s perfume played was to set the example that perfume was something to be enjoyed.
But, what about the perfumista? We’re fragrance magpies. We’re probably not destined to be remembered for one particular scent. For those of you with children, maybe you’ll be remembered for your passion for perfume and for an ever-changing carousel of good smells instead of a single fragrance. That’s not so bad, either.
How did your mother’s fragrance influence your love of perfume?
My mother didn’t/doesn’t wear perfume on a daily basis, so my first association was that perfume was for nights out (and that also meant that my brothers and I had our choice of Swanson TV dinners). I loved watching my mom get ready. Her perfume of choice was typically Chanel No. 5 or L’Aimant by Coty. I loved the L’Aimant bottle – a solid pink spray bottle that reminded me a little of a genie bottle. I bought a vintage bottle on ebay and gave it to my mom recently thinking it would bring back great memories. Funny, because she didn’t have the same recollection of wearing that fragrance and no longer had any interest in it. So said bottle is now on my dresser. I don’t often wear it as it is very powdery, but when I take a sniff, I am transported back to childhood. I’m not sure where my inclination to wear fragrance every day came from as my mother (at age 89) will only wear fragrance on certain occasions.
Loved reading this!
I agree!
What a great story! Your mother clearly thought of perfume as something special, and maybe that’s what was communicated to you.
My mother wore some sort of “Lily of the Valley” scent. Every spring I am triggered into nostalgia for living inside a body tiny enough to fit in a plastic laundry basket full of warm yellow laundry before sharing a stack of honey sandwiches. It is a lovely feeling, a deep dive into a sensory closeness tinged with a sadness at the thought that this, this very life can be missed. For some reason we think there should be more to life than Lily of the Valley and honey sandwiches.
Don’t forget the warm yellow laundry!
Seriously, though, your comments shows what the best kind of fragrance memory can do.
My mother’s favorite perfumes were Catherine Deneuve ‘Deneuve’ EDT or Channel No. 5. I think she liked Channel because Catherine Denueve was the model on the ads.
But, her “everyday” scent was the original Chloe. I haven’t smelled Denueve in so long that I couldn’t possibly tell you what it smelled like. When I ran out of it, they had discontinued it and it now sells on Ebay for a few hundred bucks and I don’t trust that it’s anything like the original.
I keep a bottle of the old drugstore Chloe inside my nightstand. Even though its ultra chemically smelling, when I get the whiff of neroli and what I think is sandalwood, that’s my Mum to me.
Once in awhile when I am wearing one of my own faves, Acqua di Parma’s Iris Nobile, I think of her too. Like Mother like daughter?
I love the thought in your last few sentences. That’s wonderful!
I remember Deneuve, but I don’t remember what it smelled like. It gets raves, though! How fabulous that you keep a bottle of the old Chloe around to remember your mom.
Deneuve is a well-balanced chypre that’s softer than Silences. Very nice, but too expensive now on ebay.
Thank you! I’m lucky to already have a few good chypres in my collection.
My mother always wears Jontue (yes, you can still find it!) or White Linen, so these always remind me of her. Like me, one of my grandmothers was very fond of perfumes, and I always think of her when I’m wearing something vintage. She loved Wind Song, L’Aimant, Emeraude, Jardins de Bagatelle and Shalimar. And in later years, she developed a fondness for Yves Rocher, which I shared with her. We both had little stashes of goodies from the YR catalog.
Well, now I’ll be on the lookout for Jontue! And Wind Song–that was a good one. I loved the TV commercials with Prince Matchabelli.
My mother wore Emeraude when I was little. Later she graduated to White Linen. I misunderstood what she told me one time on the phone and got her a bottle of White Shoulders instead. She was disappointed, to say the least. After a while, she gave me the bottle of White Shoulders. 🙂 I am sure there were some others, but they are not coming to mind at the moment. She may have had some Shalimar as well.
Oh my gosh, White Shoulders and White Linen are practically opposites! That’s hilarious. The Emeraude would blend nicely with Shalimar.
When I was very young she wore White Shoulders and Chantilly. She starting wearing Tea Rose sometime in the 70s along with Cristalle and Diorissimo little later. I lose track, but she stopped wearing scent for years until she smelled something I was wearing and remarked on it. Now, she wears Debut and Bois des Iles parfum.
Sounds like your mother was an elegant lady! Which was clearly passed on to you.
I’ll second this!
She has great taste! I could live on Bois des Iles and Debut if I had to.
My mother wore Bal a Versailles for years, then switched to L’Air du Temp, and then to Coco. Then she stopped wearing scent on a regular basis for a while, and only recently became interested again when I fell down the rabbit hole and pestered her with various samples I thought she might like. She tried Coco again and didn’t like it, and I’m guessing she wouldn’t like Bal or L’Air anymore either, even in vintage formulations. I thought for a while that she might get hooked on Coromandel or the Gucci EDP from 2002, but mostly she just likes everything I wear and is frustrated that they smell differently on her.
My mother wore l’air du temps for years, it was her signature scent and actually I hated smelling it on other people, feeling they were unduly misappropriating it. Years later, reformulations later, and with other life challenges in between, I have encouraged her to try other scents, Frangipani is her new signature scent. What has that meant for me? I don’t want to be recognized by my perfume, but I understand the comfort of one…
This could be a whole new post: Perfumistas who coach their mother’s perfume selection.
I’ve done that!!
I’m sure you’re not alone!
Oh, please. Do this one.
She seems to have really liked the complex old scents. I love it, though, that you two can now share your love of perfume.
I think my love of scent skipped a generation! My mom isn’t into perfume at all, although she does wear White Diamonds from time to time. That said, she’s probably had the same of bottle of it for YEARS! LOL!
My grandmothers enjoyed scent more. My maternal grandma (aka Ma) wore Gloria Vanderbilt and Wind Song, and enjoyed getting a new supply at Christmas. My paternal grandma (aka Granny) wore Chanel No 5, and smelling it today is like having her close by again…it truly was her signature scent.
I do remember getting a bottle of Shalimar from my Granny when I was quite young, and I didn’t appreciate it then. I love it now!
My kids will definitely remember that Mom LOVED all things perfume…there won’t be a signature scent! 🙂
You’ve got to love a grandmother who give a kid a bottle of Shalimar! She must have had some Gypsy Rose Lee in her blood.
My mom and grandmother were the same! It’s funny how a love of perfume can skip a generation like that.
I have a theory that a lot of characteristics skip a generation. When I was in my teens, I remember my grandmother telling me how her own grandmother understood her a way her mother never could.
My grandmother once told me that I understood her in a way her daughters could not. But I think that’s because she liked to bar hop and so did I. Said sentiment was shared on such an occasion after a few drinks! lol
My mother is 95 and entered hospice care last week. It’s been a long journey for my sister and me these past few years. She wasn’t a really warm person, my sister and I are fond of saying she “pickled sour” but I do have some young memories of her always having a bottle of Arpege or My Sin. She has an empty bottle of her mothers’ Windsong still tucked away,
Then I remember her Halston years, that wonderful bean shaped bottle that felt so perfect in the hand. Her clothes closet smelled 100% Halton. Later I would begin to bring her bottles back from trips and she particularly enjoyed Fendi Theorema. Now we are back to a little bit of Taboo that I have bought online for her these past years.
95 is old old. So spray with abandon!
Yes, spray with abandon! Hoping that you will find peace with moving your mom to hospice. Take care of yourself.
Yes–I’m here to echo Laura’s sentiment: do take care of yourself!
I have so many friends who are now caring for their parents–or at least one of them. Memories can be bittersweet sometimes.
Thank you for the kinds thoughts
I have always wanted a fragrance that would sum up bittersweet. The older I get, the more I realize bittersweet pretty much sums it all up.
Like Joni Mitchell sang, I could drink a case of you, my darling, you taste so bitter and so sweet…
You hit me where I live by quoting Joni Mitchell. Yes, so bitter and so sweet.
Interesting because I consider Arpege the ultimate ‘ideal mother’ scent – so warm and embracing. I consider my mother’s choices – Joy and No.5 to be in sync with her not-so-motherly temperament!
Isn’t it interesting how No. 5 and Arpege share certain characteristics–aldehydic, floral–yet they feel so different?
So interesting! Arpege was my great-aunt’s scent, and she was a very formidable, take-no-prisoners woman.
But Arpege is so gentle! At least, to me it is. There’s something kind of great, though, about a tough dame in a dainty perfume.
I’ve never owned it and really can’t remember how it smells. Now I really need to go check some out! Especially as you and I, Angela are close to being scent twins.
Vintage Arpege is a different fragrance from the new Arpege, and it’s the vintage I’m thinking of. The new Arpege has a lot more muscle.
Thanks! I’ll troll ebay then for a bit of vintage.
Oh gosh. I never think of Arpege as gentle. It may have to do with how my particular bottle (a ’70s mini of extrait) has aged, but its florals are reeeeeeally overripe, and the base is wonderfully woody and… upright? Of great architectural strength?
But it may also have to do with how soft and clean-musky No. 5 is on my mom.
My mum owned Chanel no 5 extrait at some point – a gift? – but ever since I remember has been convinced that anything other than body lotion is too dangerous (you might get it wrong and gas people) and that most perfumes turn to cleaning product on her. I absorbed those beliefs as a child, which probably delayed my fall down the rabbit hole by about 20 years.
Until it was discontinued she wore Fidji lotion and smelled lovely, then she switched to L’Air du Temps lotion which is pretty close.
Lotion is a great way to wear fragrance, but I have to laugh at your mother’s warnings! I guess 20 years of delay probably saved you a good deal of money, though.
Angela, thank you for this wonderful post!! I absolutely loved reading everyone’s posts. Looking forward to coming back later and reading additional posts! My mom was never a perfume wearer. But she was an Avon lady for years. So from my early childhood I remember many scented Avon goodies scattered about the bathroom. Certain lily of the valley fragrances take me back to my youth. I also remember be admonished in my early twenties for “wearing too much perfume.” For the last 30+ years, I’ve been very conscious of what I wear around her. I will definitely hear about it if she can smell it. So I suppose it’s a good thing we’ve lived thousands of miles apart forever! ???? My kids will probably remember me as having a “perfume problem”- LOL.
Avon had a lot of popular perfume! Sweet Honesty, Cotillion, and Bird of Paradise are etched in my nostrils (hopefully not literally).
My mom was actually the person who introduced me to fragrance. She always had several bottles from different perfumers. I remember Nina Ricci scents, Estee Lauder scents, a few French fragrances that could only be specially ordered at the time (my mom had connections where these fragrances were brought back from France for her). I remember how I would sneak in my mom’s bedroom before school and spray to my heart’s content. Good memories. She was the one who bought me my first bottle of perfume; L’air de Temps by Nina Ricci. That was the beginning of a perfumista in the making.????
L’Air du Temps! Perfect, and a great gateway perfume.
My mum patronized the neighbourhood Avon Lady, but bought mostly bath stuff, with I think some ginger product being a favourite. Years later she talked about Tuscany Per Donna, although it didn’t ring any bells for me. I bought her a bottle a few years ago, but don’t know whether she wears it much or maybe just like to have it .
It sounds like you are blazing the perfumed way for your family’s DNA. Nice!
My mom rarely wore makup or perfume, but when she did, she subscribed to the “Go big or go home” school of thought by wearing bright blue eye shadow and several blasts of Opium. This was in the late ’70s or early eighties I guess, so she was right in style. She finally ditched the blue eye shadow, but stuck with Opium.
Your mom sounds awesome! I subscribe to the same school of thought, but have dialed back my makeup with age 😉
What big perfumes do you wear these days?
I started wearing perfume in the 80s and that’s still my favorite style of perfumery. The sillage monsters of that era – Poison, Paris, Fendi, Obsession, Opium – are in regular rotation at my house.
Descriptions like “soft-spoken” immediately kill my interest, and as an introvert, I’ve often wondered if I prefer to let my perfume do the talking for me. Or is it that as a 5’10” tall woman I feel they’re a better fit with my stature (along with heels, chunky jewelry, and bright lipstick?)
I guess those are questions for another post, though I suspect the answer is simply that it’s what I grew up with, thus what I gravitate to – bold, full-bodied, unapologetic.
I bet she’s still wearing Opium because she can’t smell it anymore! There’s no way to not see blue eye shadow.
Bright blue eyeshadow. Hahaha, yes I remember those days! mothers, aunts, teachers, cashiers…everybody was into huge amounts of blue eye shadow and huge amounts of perfume. And during a certain period also huge shoulders. 😀
And the hair! Don’t forget about the hair!
Ah yes the big hair…
At school I wanted to do a lip sync performance of Janet Jackson (think 80s Janet, not 90s Janet), and of course I wanted to dress and look the part too: big shoulders and big hair.
But my hair is very very straight, heavy and smooth. No amount of hairspray could give it the necessary volume.
So glad I could compensate lack of big hair by wearing very big earrings. 😉
Nice substitute to go with the big earrings!
There are two stories of my mother with perfume while I was young. One was a bottle of YSL Opium perfume (the brown bottle with tassel) given by two of her siblings when I was born. And my paternal grandparents brought her Jovan Musk to the hospital when my younger brother was born – which still surprises me as they were Indiana Quakers!
My mother rarely wore perfume while I was growing up because my father detested perfume. He was very vocal whenever I (as a teenager) got in the family car after spritzing on my Jovan White Musk or Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers. I think part of this was because his mother-in-law DROWNED herself in Pavlova, Arpege and Lanvin. If my Grandma Wohl hugged you then you smelled like her for the rest of the day. There are probably other reasons but I remember being very wary of wearing anything scented around him until my mid twenties.
Now my mother has a collection of different bottles from my journey down the rabbit hole of perfume addiction. And my father does a better job of tolerating them.????
Thanks for sharing. Great memories!
The story about the Indian Quakers cracks me up! Things must have been wild at their Friends’ hall.
Oh what a lovely post.
My mom wore Opium and my father gave me Byzance…
My grandmother loved perfume and gave me many bottles… I also have a cousin who is mad about perfume and was her favorite granddaughter. My cousin sprayed some perfume on my grand mom when she died… incredible.
Now my children look at my perfume box in amazement and have their Minnie Mouse perfume which they spray alll over the house!
It’s in your family genes!
Both my parents wore scent when I was little. I remember bottles of Old Spice for my dad, and my mom had a bunch of stuff from Avon… I remember Timeless and Odyssey. She also used Jean Nate splash in the summer. For whatever reason, though, they had stopped wearing scent by the time I was in junior high school.
Whenever I read about Jean Nate the theme song from their commercials in the 70s/80s gets stuck in my head. I wonder why your parents stopped wearing fragrances so suddenly? It’s like the plot of a mystery novel! lol
I’ll never be able to forget those commercials, either!
It almost sounds like they thought fragrance was okay, but didn’t really have a passion for it. You picked up that part!
I am one for whom “the mother’s perfume stands as a point of contrast.” My mom has never worn perfume. My sister doesn’t either, nor does my mother’s sister or her daughters. I have very vivid perfume memories from my childhood, however, which I have always assumed is true of perfumistas – and, conversely, not true of those who aren’t.
In my house we had Ysatis, Flora Danica, and Chanel No 22 powder – all gifts, not mine, but I was the only one who used them. I also remember what I smelled on my friends’ mothers (one wore Lagerfeld Chloe, Emeraude and Tabu) or saw on their dressers (the wealthier ones had Chanel No 5, Oscar de la Renta or Giorgio.) Another friend’s “artsy” yoga-practicing aunt had a black bottle of Shiseido Zen.
I also remember being intensely jealous of girls at my middle school who could afford Gloria Vanderbilt (I never did scrape up enough babysitting money for a bottle of my own) and in high school of those who donned Lauren and YSL Paris (a girl in my Spanish class radiated clouds of Paris and I loved sitting next to her.) My sister’s friend had a souvenir bottle of Devon Violets that I fiercely coveted.
I recently learned my maternal grandmother loved L’Air du Temps and I bought her a vintage bottle 2 Christmases ago. But I’d never have known she wore perfume. If she did it was drowned out by the heavy scent of drugstore makeup and Noxema.
My paternal grandmother ostensibly wore perfume, at least as evidenced by her bathroom bottle displays, but never smelled of it. Instead I associate her with the smell of baked ham and Parkerhouse rolls, which she always seemed to have in the oven when we visited. However, she gifted me with my first bottles – Bill Blass and Perry Ellis for Women – which as a young teen I wore to the last drop.
My other maternal aunt, who played a big part in my childhood, was a perfume enthusiast, though (I remember her telling my mom I needed a bottle of Avon Sweet Honesty when I was about 8.) I have to assume it’s due to her that classic fragrances like Shalimar, Opium, and others were intimately familiar to me before wearing them as an adult.
I don’t associate her with any specific perfume, though – she just always smelled good and liked to talk about perfume. I remember her telling me I absolutely had to try DVF Tatiana, and years later commenting that my choice of Fendi (which I wore in high school) was rather mature for someone my age.
So to her I attribute the passing of the perfumista legacy: “not destined to be remembered for one particular scent… remembered for [her] passion for perfume and for an ever-changing carousel of good smells instead.” May we all be so fortunate as to bestow such gifts.
What a wonderful perfumed history! Your comments almost makes me want to draw a family tree, only with bottles of perfume instead of dates.
Love your perfume history, Kpaint! And funnily enough, I don’t associate my paternal grandmother with perfume either but with pot roast and soft, cakey butter cookies that she made (and took the recipe to the grave with her).
Wonderful family history! I loved reading it.
Thank you for this post. It is nostalgic as is brings pleasant associations of my mother who died around this time of year. I always thought she had good, classic taste. I do not recall her earlier worn fragrances. I remember in her later life she wore Nina Ricci L’Air du Temps & Je Revien by Worth. They smelled so good on her. (Not so much on me.) It is a nice memory of her style and grace.
I’m glad the post brings up happy memories. Maybe it’s a good time to spritz some Je Reviens on a handkerchief and keep it in your bag.
My mother definitely loved scent. When I was quite young, she had a Fabergé cologne gift set (Aphrodisia, Woodhue, and Tigress) on her dresser, but she moved on to Ambush by Dana, which she wore for a few years until she fell hard for Youth Dew. She wore YD well, I must say; she was a curvy, blue-eyed brunette (Liz Taylor’s coloring), which to me will always be the right type to wear YD. After more than a decade of perfume monogamy (almost; I recall an occasional waft of Crèpe de Chine) with Youth Dew, though, she moved on from oriental spice to green chypre with Norell, which was her signature scent for the rest of her life. Fragrant memories!
Oh my! Fabergé. My Mom had the same trio. I remember being fascinated with the Tigress bottle and especially the cap. Being so tactile, I picked it up all the time and loved touching it..lol.. She also had numerous bottles of Avon fragrances so I think that was the beginning for me; I remember my sister and I were able to pick our own bottles out of the catalogue; such ladies we were. My Dad bought Mom a bottle of Chanel No.19 for Christmas; my sister and I would sneak in their room after they would go out and spray the Chanel on ourselves. Swoon. Thank you for this post Angela! Such great memories.
I know that trio and that bottle of Tigress! To this day, I wish I had a bedroom patterned like the Tigress bottle.
Sounds like you and your sister had a lot of fun together! 😀
From your description, I feel like I know her! Funny how scent does that.
My mother bought me several perfumes when I was in high school, so she was my original enabler. 😉
I don’t remember her wearing perfume, but I was fascinated by her stoppered bottle of Aucoin Magnolia, from New Orleans, which I managed to track down on ebay.
What did you think of the Aucoin Magnolia once you smelled it? Did it bring back memories?
I found two bottles, actually. One is the same bottle she had, empty but not cleaned out, and it smelled the same. The other, an even older vintage (20s or 30s, probably), has a small amount left and is just insanely rich with all those forbidden notes.
Neither of us ever wore it, but it’s a memory of a time and place.
Nice!
I’ll add my thanks for this post, Angela, along with all the touching responses.
Both Mom and Dad were fragrance people, though for Mom I think it was for special occasions only. She always favoured coral lipstick so these two things became intertwined in my mind as both perfume and coral lipstick were signals that they’d be having a night out.
I recall her having White Shoulders and Chantilly. Dad bought her Chanel No 5 extrait every year for their anniversary. I’ve recently wondered what happened to them all, there’s no way she finished a bottle a year!
We continued to celebrate their anniversary after Dad passed and the last year before Mom left this world I got her a bottle of Eau Premiere and she wore it every day after. This is bringing a tear to my eyes just writing about it.
These are really beautiful memories.
These are really beautiful memories.
I agree!
Oh, such a touching memory. I love how fragrance and lipstick are interwoven, too. Thank you for your story.
Perhaps like Marilyn Monroe she wore her Chanel No 5 to bed at night? 🙂
Very thoughtful of you to continue the tradition and introduce her to Eau Premiere. Cherish the memories!
My mother only used to wear scent for important evening occasions out. Most probably no 5 or Joy – both rather aloof… Also at one point Gucci Envy. Perfume was a no no for everyday wear – I remember her impressing upon me that perfumes were *dangerous* and liable to make one stink without realizing it. And this applied to scented creams and lotions too. If I really liked a scent she was sure to find it ‘too sweet’ and be repelled by it. On the other hand she did buy me a perfume at Duty Free that we both liked – Dior’s Dune. I wore that for ‘special occasions’ as a teenager but when I smell it now it just makes me feel desolate! I don’t think my dad wore much (if any) scent – but the first time I smelled Farenheit I had a flashback of him in his leather jacket with his motor bike 🙂
I love your story because it shows how powerful fragrance can be in a family! How interesting, too, that she thought of Dune as “safe.”
Thank you for this post, Angela! The comments are a treasure-hall of memories.
I have my mother to thank for introducing me to Guerlain – she wore Mitsouko and Jicky (she bought them on her business-trips to Paris), and they still are my favorites. I also remember Femme, Estee, and original Chloe. Funny, I remember these perfumes, but I don’t remember actually smelling them on my mom – she used to be an under-applier. She still wears perfume, but doesn’t give it much thought – anything ‘nice’ and not too sweet – and tends to over-apply, so yes, now I’m the one coaching her perfume selection.
I wonder if it’s less her under-application and more her skipping among scents that waters down your memory of her fragrance? It sounds like you both learn a lot from each other!
My mom wore Cabochard, Opium, Miss Dior and Ysatis back in the day. A true perfumista. I always wore her perfumes, the more forbidden the better, lol, and never tried to differentiate myself in this camp, because, well, it would not have been clever. Five years ago she had cancer, and went through chemo and radio with the help of perfume reviews and samples. You guys were crucial to keep us sane and cheerful during that hardcore year, and I’ll always be grateful! (She is super healthy now, btw.) My late and beloved aunt influenced me even more, though. When I was a little girl, she had a treasured bottle of Joy Extrait which she would dab on me when we went out to watch a play or to the movies. Also wore Jolie Madame, the perfume I ended up wearing on my wedding. In the eighties, she got a bottle of Rumba, and that was the dope. Rumba will always transport me to Copacabana in the late eighties, walking back to her tiny flat from a Brecht play in the irrationally warm summer nights, enjoying a lime gelato as I tried to pick into the strip clubs, her voice explaining me some relevant lesson about life. Rumba is perfect for this week’s challenge. Will be wearing it on Friday in her honor, the woman who could work some serious sprays of Rumba in Rio summer nights!
Oh, how I love your story of Rumba! So wonderful. I feel like I’m there. I swapped away my bottle of Rumba a while ago, but this Friday I’ll find something similar to wear in you and your aunt’s honor.
Oh Angela, that’s touching. Thank you.
Second this. Thanks for sharing, Solanace.
My father would buy my mother a bottle of Evening in Paris whenever he didn’t know what else to give my mom, and she had an entire drawer full of it. It’s funny that I can’t remember at all what it smelled like. She would also buy the occasional roller bottle of Cotillion or maybe its body lotion, because that was the only way to get rid of the Avon lady in or little village who would drop in unannounced and stay all evening. Now my mom is almost 91 and she wears Organza most days, although I bought her a pretty silver atomizer with Moonlight in Heaven (is that the right name?) by Killian for her 90th birthday.
Lovely! How funny to think of drawers full of Evening in Paris, too! I love that she is 90 and wearing a deluxe By Kilian.
Oh Angela, I love this post! I agree with some of the above comments that love of perfume must skip generations…my mother was a pretty no-frills sort of a lady, and never was one to wear much fragrance, makeup or anything else traditionally “girly”. She did have a bottle of something that I wish I could remember…it was a beautiful gardenia scent that I believe was by Jovan? It certainly would have been a drugstore brand, as we didn’t have much money growing up. I don’t remember her ever wearing it, though. I probably wore it more often than she did by sneaking sprays of it before I left for school ha ha. My mother did, however, buy me my first bottle of perfume, which was Babe by Faberge and which I didn’t really appreciate at the time, but wish I had now. My grandmother, on the other hand, although she also never had much money, loved perfume, and would save her pennies to buy a single bottle of Shalimar in pure parfum once a year. She said that in the end, the parfum was the best value because you needed to apply less and it lasted longer. I remember going with her once to Bigelow’s (our downtown department store in my hometown) and being dazzled by the beauty of the cosmetics and fragrance department. To a girl who grew up poor in a working class upstate New York town, it seemed glamorous beyond anything I’d ever imagined. I felt like I was in heaven. I also remember her buying a Coty lipstick on this same trip (this was in the early 80’s, when Coty was still a “better” brand that had its own counter at the department store) that had the most beautiful engraved gold case. She also enjoyed scented dusting powders, and I remember seeing Cachet, Wind Song and Emeraude powders in her bathroom. Thinking of all this makes me really miss her, and brings back some great memories. She was such a warm, sweet lady who, despite her straitened circumstances, loved little luxuries in her life and would budget to obtain them. I really think of that first department store trip with her as the beginning of my fascination with fragrance and all things beautiful and feminine.
What a wonderful example to have in life! I wish I’d known your grandmother just to hear of her. And, Babe! That was one of my first perfumes, too. I wish I could smell it now.
Jovan Island Gardenia, I remember that one.
What vivid and beautifully written memories. I can relate to your story having grown-up in a mill town where most were wanting. I escaped into the world of glamour by reading fashion magazines.
I also remember Babe. I wanted a bottle of the perfume but had to settle for the scented deodorant 😉
My mom is a bit of a hippie, at least when it comes to makeup and perfume. Of course, she’s beautiful and doesn’t need any ornamentation, so the natural look suits her really well. I can’t think of a single perfume she owned or owns that she ever wore more than once, it just wasn’t her thing. I associate her more with the scents of nature than anything else–the dogwood tree in the garden, rain in early May, shortbread cookies in the oven.
Her mother, on the other hand, was very much into perfume and makeup and performative femininity. Maybe that’s why my mom is so perfume-averse! She was a powerful woman, way ahead of her time, a painter, musician, and theatre director. I absolutely cherish the memories I have of my maternal grandmother and almost all of them have something to do with her makeup and fragrance collection. I was in complete awe of it as a child. Every visit to her big old Victorian house on the river would start with me rushing upstairs to sample one of her big oriental fragrances, or a dusting of body powder. She would let me play dress up with her old gowns and furs, we’d play at having tea time, everything was very glamorous with her. She wasn’t the best mom from what my own mother has told me, but boy was she a fabulous grandma.
I always gravitated towards Giorgio Red and Opium when I was at her personal perfume counter. Both of those take a lot of heat for being loud and overbearing, and they are, but I loved them and still do. I’d actually forgotten completely about Red until I got a sample of Diptyque’s L’eau de L’eau–something about the spices in that brought memories of my grandmother careening back, and I ended up googling for hours trying to figure out which of her scents it reminded me of.
Sadly, by the time she’d passed her once enormous fragrance closed was a shadow of its former glory. I inherited what there was to inherit, though, and I keep many of the bottles on the hairpin vanity that was also hers.
This was a lovely post, by the way! Good memories being dredged up for me.
Wow, what wonderful stories! It goes to show, too, how perfumista-hood might skip generations. I love both the description of your mother in her natural setting, as well as the glamorous description of your grandmother. I feel like I’m there.
NSTers sure have some amazing women in their family trees. Impressive! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given how gracious and vibrant their offspring are 🙂
You’re so sweet!
What a lovely topic! My Mum loved perfume. Her father was a gardener and she grew up in a old stone house in a park in Scotland where he was the grounds keeper/gardener. As a result she loved flowers and plants and so do I. When I was a young teenager the mid 1970s (I grew up in Canada) I would investigate her collection which included Cristalle, Quartz, Aliage, Calandre, Fidji, Amazone and O de Lancome. I remember her liking Eau de Givenchy, White Linen, 4711, Calyx, Eau d’Hadrien and Eau Fraiche by Elizabeth Arden. A definite fan of crisp, citrus, fresh and green scents, she did not like anything heavy or spicy. For someone who took so much pleasure from her sense of smell it was heartbreaking when she started to lose it as a result of developing dementia. My taste was most definitely influenced by what she liked and there are bottles in my wardrobe I’m sure she’d have loved such as MMM Untitled and Goutal’s Mandragore and no doubt many of Jean Claude Elena’s creations. I miss her wonderful sense of style and creativity, her cheeky sense of humour and love of nature.
What a wonderful memory. I’d like to think she’s somewhere in the vapors enjoying Mandragore along with you.
Being allowed into my parents room and poring over the dressing table used to be a treat for me. Dad often bought Mum perfume and I remember Opium and KL (that she didn’t wear much) but there must’ve been more. One year she bought her female staff at the business they owned a bottle of Youth Dew each and she wore that too. A friend of hers also bought her Lauren, which I adored the smell of. One year Dad must’ve been convinced by an SA to try something other than an oriental and got Mum Paris and she never wore it. When Samsara was released Mum loved it and it’s the first bottle I remember her buying for herself. She also bought Maroussia.
In recent years she wore and loved Manifesto that a friend bought her but she now has anosmia due to sinus infections so does wear a bit of perfume but can’t smell anything. I bought her some Sensuous Noir that she wears.
Dad wore Brut 33, Old Spice, and for going out he had Lagerfeld aftershave which I remember as a milky green? liquid.
Lauren and Samsara! Both of these are wonderful memories. It must be awful for your mother to experience anosmia, but it’s nice that she can dab on Sensuous Noir and relive the beauty of fragrance.
My mom had a couple of bottles of perfume but what I remember her wearing the most was Tea Rose. She was diagnosed with ALS at 63, lived with the disease for 10 years. Even once confined to her wheelchair, she always had her aide put on perfume after doing her hair and makeup. I kept her bottle of Tea Rose and although I could never wear it I sniff it from time to time. I wasn’t much into perfume when I was younger (the only bottle I had in high school was exclamation!), didn’t even wear it regularly until after mom passed away.
Tea Rose is a wonderful scent to remember a mother by. It’s so classic,and I can imagine it evoking all sorts of memories.
My mother has a thing for rich, deep, sensual, ultra-feminine florals. Particularly, when the fragrances have heavy base notes. When I was growing up in the 90’s, her signature scent was Lance Tresor. To this day, I associate that perfume with her. She also wore Chanel Coco (parfum), Cacharel Anais Anais, Givenchy Amarige, YSL Paris, and Estee Lauder Beautiful…. just to name a few. Now, she currently wears Bvlgari Mon Jasmin Noir and Elie Saab Le Parfum. Both of which smell lovely on her.
Before they got divorced, my father would always buy my mother a new perfume, whenever he went on a business trip. He has wonderful taste in fragrance, despite being unable to wear it himself. His skin is so sensitive, that he cannot even wear deodorant. Otherwise, I have a feeling, he would wear Tom Ford Black Orchid. Which he was convinced was a men’s fragrance, when he blind-sniffed it.
One of my sisters loves to joke, that I am the perfume snob in the family. As, I have the most sophisticated taste, of the three of us. While my two sisters prefer light and fresh fragrances, I tend go for heavy and woody ones. The more likely, a scent is to be considered a gender-bender, the better. Of my mother’s old perfumes, I actually wear Coco. It was always my favorite of her collection. While, I also enjoy powdery florals in the warmer weather.
How nice that you, among your siblings, has this fragrance connection to your mother. (And I feel bad for your father’s fragrance sensitivity!)
I’ve talked about this here before, but it makes me happy to think about it, so…..
My mother was a stewardess in the 1950s, and still had a number of bottles of the classics from that time in her life when I came along. And because she still had friends who worked for the airline in the 1960s, she had a steady supply of fascinating bottles from Paris (I wish I could remember now what they were). She always had her favorites, Chanel No. 5 and Shalimar, on her dressing table, and I remember right before she and Dad would go out in the evening, she would take the stopper out (they were splash bottles) and touch it to her wrists and neck. Add to that her deep, red lipstick, and I thought she was just the most chic, sophisticated thing ever.
I don’t care for No. 5 and I like a whiff of Shalimar only on other people, so I didn’t inherit her exact taste in perfume. What I did inherit was a love of perfume and the idea that lovely things should be an important part of life.
You can’t tell this sort of story too often. It’s so classic and so wonderful! (And you really can’t wear a few drops of No. 5 or Shalimar? I understand, but they’re such terrific fragrances–to me, at least!)
That’s a great legacy to have passed on to you. Your mother must have been so stylish – and a treasure trove of great stories! 🙂
My mom did not like perfumes. She and my maternal grandmother were more into make-up. The only scent I remember was the powder from those paper powder booklets. My mom had a beautiful dresser which was antique even way back when. She used to lock up her make-up to foil sticky fingers. I knew where she kept the key and had a field day every time she was out of the house.
On my dad’s side, one of my aunts was spoiled by my uncle. Between them and their only child (a daughter), they had 4 full-sized refrigerators: two for food and drinks, one for dried foods that would go bad in the tropical heat and one for perfume, make-up and lotions. Despite a large collection of perfumes, I don’t recall her smelling of any perfume! I don’t know where her priorities were! I think we all agree that she should have have split it two for food and two for perfume!
Ha ha ha! I wonder what perfumes she had in that refrigerator? I love the thought of the scent of powder, though. I wonder if it smelled of iris or orange blossom or something else?
Thank you for this wonderful post!
My mother has always worn Chanel No 5, the “pure perfume”, as she says. She has never bought it for herself, not even in the last 20 years or so, when she could have afforded it, and very often (usually!) used to go without. Now that I’ve disappeared down the rabbit hole, it’s a pleasure and a pride to hunt down vintage versions on ebay for her. I don’t think either of us particularly noticed the changes until recently, but then it struck us both immediately as a really quite different perfume.
There were one or two Avons back in the day, and Blue Grass, which is now unrecognisable, and we discovered Fidji together, I remember, but my scent memory of Mum is very strongly Chanel No 5.
I grew up believing that no matter how many other perfumes you dally with, a woman always has The One. For me, when I grew up, it was White Linen, which I used so often for so long that after a while I was dousing myself in it. Mum never said a word and even found a huge-seeming “perfume” version for my 21st.
Now that I’m one of you/us, I give Mum things to try, and once in a blue moon, really very rarely, she will say “now I like THAT one”. So alongside Chanel No 5 she has, and happily uses, Coup de Foudre, Chamade and Bois des Iles (these two as pure perfume, of course:)).
Her birthday is coming up, and I’ve managed to get a bottle of Epiphany by House of Matriarch, which she was very taken with the last time she was over.
Mum says her “secret” (she’ll be 92 and still flies here twice a year) is prayer, cod liver oil and healthy scepticism of doctors. I reckon always being game for something new has something to do with it too.
I love her prescription for longevity! (When will I find someone who lists steaks, martinis, and reading vintage detective novels?) I hope you two discover many more wonderful fragrances together.
Hahaha I’ll happily oblige if I’m fit at 92 (but don’t hold your breath)!
Thierry Wasser says it’s all about champagne:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wRkn8bXco-o
Love this!
I love your mum’s attitude to life in general and doctors in particular. Even though I’m one myself, I have a healthy scepticism of them too 😉
“Being game for something new” surely has a lot to do with it, not to mention the intellectual exercise of smelling perfumes. Most 92 year-olds don’t even have full olfactory facilities, so that says a lot about her health! Lucky you to have such a vibrant woman for a mother, not to mention the great genes 🙂
My Dad loved fragrances. He would never show up at the breakfast table unless he was fully dressed, perfumed, and shaven. Hope especially that latter practice comes back soon! I gave him Heritage, Vol de Nuit, and Terracotta Voile D’Ete. He loved spicy fragrances. When I was in my late thirties, dear old Dad bought me Chanel No.19 which was a big hit with me. How did he know?
My Mom wore Evening in Paris so when I saw a bottle in an antique store I bought it in remembrance of her but it had no scent left. She also liked Blue Grass and L’Air du Temps. I remember a very wealthy friend of hers who used to come over when I was young. The lady would hug me and I could smell her expensive perfume. It must have been Joy.
My husband once long ago gave me White Shoulders which he had previously given to his EX-girlfriend. Needless to say, I did not like it and have shunned big white florals ever since!
Your dad sounds like quite the dapper gentleman!
Also, since starting to read the comments here at NST religiously, I’ve seen a lot of stories of husbands and boyfriends giving the perfume their ex wore to their current mate. No one is ever happy about that, so I’m pretty sure there needs to be a rule in Dating 101 about never, ever doing that!
Agreed! Have a little imagination, fellas!
It must be a lack of perfume knowledge on the man’s part. Perhaps some demo sold him a perfume of the brand he/she was flogging. Who knows, maybe the girlfriend didn’t even like it, and then comes the next girlfriend and he buys her the same thing because it’s the only perfume he’s ever heard of.
I can see that, and I’m willing to cut him some flack. Still….
I’m not! That’s awful!
No kidding!
What a wonderful breakfast table you grew up with! I can smell it as you describe it, and it’s wonderful. I bet your father was terrific in Heritage.
How sweet of your dad! Good taste, too.
Hi, all! Longtime lurker, first time commenter. I’ve so enjoyed this site, reading through the comments and trying to educate myself more about fragrance.
My mother had a bottle of Youth Dew many years ago, and I remember it to be a deep, rich, ‘adult’ fragrance worn by her for special occasions. Bvlgari EDP showed up…sometime in the 80’s, I suspect? I have the bottle, and it is not labeled Pour Femme, just ‘Bvlgari’. I can’t find it listed on Fragrantica, so if anyone has any info on this, I’d be most grateful.
Funny thing, I purchased Coco ~2 years ago, after thinking for quite some time that it was too much for me. Turns out mom wore that one, too. I discovered this when I took apart the rather spare looking black plastic case that sat on the bathroom counter for years, found the glass refill, and saw the label. Coco. ❤
Welcome! I’m glad you commented.
What a coincidence that you and your mother independently bought Coco! It must be in your DNA to love rich oriental scents.
I’m a pretty recent addition to the comment section here too. Welcome to the perfume party!
As a lover of rich orientals, I really need to try out Youth Dew soon. Coco is a fabulous fragrance.
Youth Dew is practically an icon at this point! Definitely worth smelling.
When I was in grade school, my mother worked in a factory that boxed Chanel and Dior makeup and perfume. She would come home smelling just amazing; a blend of everything. They used to do a holiday grab bag; $10 and you got a grocery store paper bag filled with stuff. My sister and I got bottles of Chanel No. 5, my first perfume. She also had Chanel No. 19, Diorissimo (this would be the 70’s), which I loved. I remember her having Cinnabar, Samsara, Dune, Eau Svelte, Poison and the old, round, stopper topped bottle of Shalimar. She’s in her 80’s now and is back to wearing Shalimar, as is my 9 year old.
Your nine-year-old wears Shalimar? Now, that is impressive!
I second this. Watch out for that kid.
What a dream to have a grab bag of those fragrances! I love it!
You have a family full of gorgeous-smelling sophisticates! That $10 bag is the stuff of fantasies – WOW. Where did you live?
Growing up all thru the 80s, my mother wore Avon Soft Musk daily & religiously. To me, it’s always been the scent of comfort. I, at 12, preferred Night Magic, myself. Mostly because mum’s signature never smelled right on me, I turn most musks sour. One time for Christmas, dad & I bought her Jovan Musk, it was heavenly on her, but she hated it! Everytime I wear Noa, it reminds me of my mother in soft musk…In 1989…
Into the early 90s she wore Body Shop White Musk, all the while deeply desiring a bottle of Obsession. At this time, I was headlong into my vanilla craze. Mostly drugstore scents, hand picked by mum, as Christmas gifts. First French Vanilla, then Body Shop Vanilla, then Coty Dark Vanilla- a much more mature vanilla for the highschool girl. (I still long for it.)
Into the mid 90s she fell hard for Charlie Red, while still coveting that bottle of Obsession. After running thru a bottle or two, we were unable to find Charlie Red in Canada, so the late 90s I gifted her Revlon’s Fire & Ice, which I preferred on her anyhow, and was a decent cheap thrill.
Into the new millennium, and mum has asked every year for at least a decade for a bottle of Obsession….So, dad being the attentive man he is, bought her a Ralph Lauren set of Glamourous… (wth, dad?) But we both admit, it is a really great frag on her…
Dad finally took the hint a few years back & got her a bottle for Christmas – of Obsession -NIGHT-. She was pissed, and is still choked about that. But I like it better than the regular one tbh, I’m planning to swap her for it!
Come 2014, and I gifted mother her very first Mugler fragrance, Alien eau Extrordinaire.
She now uses her Charlie Red as a linen & fabric refresher…lol
I think your mom has the grounds to go to the store and buy herself a bottle of Obsession by now! I know I would. (I bet she loves the Mugler, though.)
What a lovely article! Despite being a complete hippie, my mother wore Ô de Lancôme or Lancôme Miracle every day through my childhood. To her, perfume is less a pleasure than an everyday cosmetic – to be used and finished in the manner of soap or toothpaste. I associate rose perfume very much with her and always feel like I’m playing dress-up if I wear them, even if it’s a very sheer rose. I wear big old-fashioned chypres daily but feel too grown-up in Stella!
I gift her perfume often these days and she’s come to appreciate both the morale-strengthening properties and the different “moods” of scent. She likes Byredo La Tulipe for cheer and Estée Lauder Knowing for spine, and Rosabotanica is her current everyday cosmetic. She’s still never without a bottle of Ô.
I love this comment! It makes me wonder what my own perfume choices are for cheer and spine.
Lovely subject!
I am a lucky person, my mother is a very lovely and kind woman, who happens to love and wear a lot of perfumes (mostly ‘designer/mainstram).
Back in the 80s when I was young, I remember seeing First, Poison, Chanel 5, and Opium (my father bought that last one for her, though she was not a big fan herself) and some Yves Rocher stuff on her dressing table. In the 90s she switched to L’eau d’Issey, Happy, J’adore and last few years she added Euphoria, Eternity, Kenzo Flower to her collection.
She was the one who made me think perfume was essential part of a man’s/woman’s wardrobe, she gave me LouLou and Anais Anais when I was young. And never blinked an eye when I bought heavy hitter Narcisse (Chloe) when I was 17.
Her taste differs somewhat from mine. You can tell, she is into flowers and fruits. I like big flowers as well, but I am not into fruity stuff. And I love incense/smoke, woods, vetivers. Those are notes I think she’ll never wear herself (she probably thinks they are too masculine).
Oh and about Opium. Last year she gifted me her small vintage Opium perfume bottle AND a 50 ml edp (new formula).
The vintage perfume, I looooveeee. The bottle is so cute and the juice is heavenly stuff. Dry down to die for. 🙂
What a wonderful gift! She was thinking of you and knew you’d appreciate her vintage Opium more than she did. Since your taste is slightly different, I bet someday you’ll have a bottle that’s perfect for her, too!
Yes I hope so!
She was always more into mainstream/designer brands (who needed niche in the 60s and 70s anyways 😉
But I’ve heard her complain about flankers and formulas changing. So my mission for his year is to find her some nic(h)e samples, to broaden her choices (and maybe to find a new FB for her).
I hope you both enjoy the quest!
My mum used to wear whatever was fashionable or whatever took my father’s fancy. These days I provide her with small decants of things out of my own collection. I think my love for aldehydic florals has something to do with her wearing L’air du temps, but my perfume choices are very much my own.
She’s lucky to have you to select fragrance for her!
She enjoys it a lot. One of her favourites is Une Fleur de Cassie.
Sophisticated!
Happy Valentines Day! My mom was a perfumista before we knew what they were… She introduced me to fragrance at the age of 5 and loved everything! The moto was strong and let them remember you when you leave by trailing your scent. Before she passed she was wearing Body by Burberry and I still smell her as she visits often. I have all of her scents in my closet in a shoe box and as I recall whatever I had she had to have with body lotion to layer. I now work in the industry and I know she is watching with pride. My loves lately are Parfum De Marly Meloria and Terenzi Kirko and of course Lalique Rose Noir, Ameythist and LeParfum ( sex in a bottle)
Wait–you say your deceased mother visits often and you smell her presence? How fabulous is that!
I’m quite certain your mother is looking on at you with pride! She sounds very glamorous. Glad her scents still visit you.
Great post and lovely stories.
Unfortunately my mom was not a very perfume and makeup wearing woman during my growing up. She only wore Bulgarian rose oil, which she had – all with her five sisters – of the very same kind . They had this wooden cask with the oil in a phial in them. So roses are my mom on special occasions. Nowadays her perfumista daughter gets her scents every possible holiday, and she wears various Avon stuff as well. She bought me girly citruses when I was a teenager, and insisted I wear fresh girly stuff, not the ladylike orientals that she declared too old for me -lol.
My auntie Róza was the one who introduced me to real perfume, her signature was Tresor but also wore No.5, Shalimar, Cabochard, Paris and Habanita. I used to spend summers at her flat in Budapest and sneak sprays and of course her sparkly imported YSL makeup trays!!! Oh those were the days… These things were such rarities where I came from, unimaginably sophisticated and exotic. God bless her she passed away a few years ago.
Now my two older kids(6 and 8) have their own collections of bottles and decants, my daughter loves gourmands and my older son fresh citruses and cedarwood! I love to spray their beds with sandalwood and rose. Im sure they will remember their childhood being a cascade of thousands of scents, they love cooing over my collection as well, and quite frankly, my son is showing a nosy nose like my own. Gotta be proud!:)
Everyone should have an Aunt Roza! She sounds marvelous. Your children are pretty darned lucky, too.
I very much enjoyed reading people’s stories – what a great post. My paternal grandmother and my mother worked together for Wedgwood, in an English town department store. They considered themselves not subject to the petty rules of said store and would wander in to work through the main doors (ie not the staff entrance) and through the beauty department where they would stop and liberally douse themselves in whatever took their fancy. My grandmother was a Dior woman (I have her bottles) particularly Diorissimo and Diorama. My Mum has a preference for green scents – the old Vent Vert and No. 19 but she also wore Mystere de Rochas for a time (and it is one of my favourites from the seventies). Nowadays she is in Chanel Bel Respiro – it is gorgeous on her.
All such fabulous fragrances! How terrific to have your grandmother’s bottle of Diorama, too.
How I have loved reading this post and all of the wonderful comments so full of fragrant memories!
Mom’s scent was Roger & Gallet’s Blue Carnation for many years. When that became harder to find an SA introduced her to Caron Bellodgia, which she still wears. On a trip to Italy in the late 70s/early 80s, she discovered Krazy Krizia, which she wears in addition to not instead of Bellodgia.
Interestingly enough, I never wear carnation scents. Can’t! That belongs to Mom!
And it was a paternal uncle (career army) who turned me into a perfumista by sending me perfume from France when I was in jr. high!
Let’s hear it for the uncle! Good work!
My Mother loved perfume and smelling good.She liked to choose good-smelling beauty products as well,especially fragrant compact pressed powders and blush.After she passed last year I went through her personal collection of perfumes.The scented memories were all there:Madame Rochas,Anais Anais,Lentheric Mystique,You’re the fire,Coty Mazumi,Yardley White Lace and Pink Lace,Monteil Royal Secret,to mention a couple.She loved my crazy collection,and would admire the pretty newbies with me.She loved to brag to the neighbors about my “little” collection!Lol.I wish We had more time together,so she could share in my joy of perfumes.I miss her tremendously.
It sounds like your mother loved perfume as much as you do! You’re fortunate to have her bottles to remember her by. What a lovely story.
What sweet stories you have. Thanks for sharing.
Not sure how I missed this post yesterday, because it’s been so much fun to read from first line to comments. How wonderful to read everybody’s perfume family history!
My mom wouldn’t wear perfume if she was just going to be around the house, but if she was going out – even just to the grocery store – she would put on lipstick and her “everyday” perfume, Jovan Musk for Women. No heading down the aisles with her hair in curlers! She wore her No. 5 parfum for her very occasional nights out with Dad. I hated it in the bottle, but on her it was soft and warm. When her parfum ran out sometime in the late-ish 70s, I helped my dad pick out a bottle of edt for her Christmas present, but she didn’t like it nearly as well as the parfum. (She had nursed that precious graduation-present half-ounce bottle along for 15 years!) She then moved on to a brief flirtation with Anais Anais, then Coty L’Effleur, which she liked because, she said, it smelled like floral soap. Elizabeth Arden 5th Avenue is now her “everyday” scent, because the EA warehouse is in our hometown and they have big markdowns on their stuff three or four times a year, so she can get it very inexpensively.
I’ve given her several decants and new bottles, but Eau Premiere was disappointing on her (it smelled like peach pie filling, of all things) and the only choice of mine that’s stuck has been the No. 5 body creme, which really is divine on her. I’ve promised to keep her stocked up as long as they make it.
Mom’s mother, who lived with us from the time I was a tiny baby, was always getting samples from the Avon lady. She kept a bottle of Blue Grass in the bathroom she shared with me, and one of Avon’s Cotillion, both of which I disliked. I loved her to death, but she never smelled nice.
My dad’s mother’s skin reacted badly to perfume, so she didn’t wear it. But it was she who gave me a bottle of Karl Lagerfeld Chloe edt for my 12th Christmas. I wore that for more than a decade – it was a 1 ounce dabber bottle, and there was still some left when it began to go bad! Mom didn’t like that one (she hates BWFs), and bought me Prince Matchabelli Cachet as an alternative. I didn’t like that one much, and I’m still not a big fan of vetiver-musk combos; about the closest I get to it is No. 19.
My daughter, though, tends to prefer gourmandy things: Hanae Mori, B&BW Dark Kiss, some body spray thing my mom got her at the EA sale that smells like sugared woods. AND Infusion d’Iris, go figure.
Oh, gosh, I’ve written a book. Sorry.
I loved it!
I’ve been enjoying these comments so much–yours included. I feel like I’m getting to know whole families just by hearing about perfume choices, how it was worn, how it was shared. Thank you!
Hello!
It is the first time when I place a comment here,but this conversation is so nice and all your memories are so special!
My mother used to wear Femme EDC by Rochas,but seldom.She had the same bottle for years!And I also remember a bottle of O de Lancome in her linen closet.But she used them so rare,that I don’t associate any of it with her.
My godmother perfume is the one that I remember most.When it was my birthday,my parents used to invite my godparents to dinner.They used to bring me nice presents,big dolls in shiny boxes and I was so excited!And when my godmother hug me,I could smell her wonderful perfume…She was blonde,so elegant,always wearig dresses and pearls and high heels…
When I was 20,I worked as a stewardess at an airline in my country.I looked for my godmother’s perfume in every duty-free shop,in every aiport where we landed.I didn’t know the name of the perfume.I could only smell everything I saw,hoping that one day I will find that wonderful,elegant,feminine,mysterious perfume that still lingered in my memory.And yes,one day,in Lisabona,I foud it!After I travelled the world and looked for it everywhere,not even knowing what to ask for,I foud it!I smelled it and smelled it and turned the bottle on all sides looking for the name written on it…J’ai osé,by Guy Laroche.
It was the only time when I saw that perfume.Then I could not find it anymore.I bought instead,over the years,Jean-Louis Scherrer,Paloma Picasso,Mystere de Rochas.
I asked my godmother about the perfume that impressed me so much as a child and if she rememberes it,but she said no.She is now 79 and still is a very elegant lady,smelling of one of the perfumes that I bougt her as a present,Diva,by Ungaro.
What a wonderful story! I feel like I smell the hugs of the women in your family, too!
And here’s a coincidence: By chance, for the first time ever, I happen to be wearing J’ai Osé today.
My mother used to wear Calèche and I remember her perfectly applying her lipstick and spraying that great Hermes Parfum….unforgettable
Caleche is a beauty and goes so well with perfectly applied lipstick!
Until two years ago, I had completely forgotten that I was raised by a perfumista. I hadn’t worn any scent in years. And then I found Barbara Herman’s blog “Yesterday’s Perfume” and fell into a wormhole. Her reviews were so evocative…but the comments! Oh, gosh, the comments! Everyone writing beautiful and touching things based on their scent memories. All of a sudden it hit me…when I was a child I would hug the pillows after my grandmother left from a visit to get closer to her smell. I learned later it was Estee.
Through a series of very fortunate events, I moved in with my grandparents at the age of eight and they raised me. My grandmother always had her bottle of Estee. And every year for Christmas, she expected a bottle of Joy from my grandfather. She started buying perfume for me when I was young, too – at first things like Love’s Baby Soft (does anyone remember the trio collection with the “Lemon” and “Rain” scents?) and White Shoulders. When I started showing interest in picking out my own, she let me get whatever I liked. I started with a huge bottle of 4711, and moved on to Giorgio Red (at 12 years old!!!) and Il Bacio in high school. The only thing she wouldn’t let me get were musks as she hated them. She always had little testers around that I loved playing with and sampling. I remember Eau de Gucci, Ombre Rose, Pavlova, and Ted Lapidus specifically.
She is still with us, but in rapidly failing health. The last time I went to visit her, I saw several bottles of perfume in her windowsill. I told her that was bad for the perfume. Se said “I just like to look at the sun coming through the bottles.” One of the bottles I didn’t recognize. I picked it up and sampled it…it was Gucci 3, which has been sadly discontinued for many years. I have no idea where my grandmother got it, but I was immediately in love and now I have a damn perfume budget!
Thank you all for all your beautiful stories. I love to read them and they give me great comfort.
What a wonderful story! I love that your grandmother is so aesthetically oriented that she enjoys the sun through the bottles.
I’m finding it very interesting and a bit sad how my mother’s sense of smell seems to be changing. This woman rocked epic amounts of Knowing and Cabochard thirty years ago. In the 90s she wore less perfume, though (less spending money?); there was some Eau Dynamisante in there, and random bottles she won in magazine competitions – Pure Poison was a winner. And now that she’s reaching her 70s? It’s innocuous (to her!) roses all the way. Currently Si is her jam, and I don’t enjoy it much on her. But I’ll keep buying it for her nonetheless! She tends to call anything I like musty or worse (which is ridiculous, I wear scents all around the spectrum), and I very much doubt she’d tolerate Knowing anywhere near her today. I do hope I’m still marinaded in Bal a Versailles and Dzing! when I’m older!
That’s so interesting! Do you feel like her personality has changed, too? Character and fragrance seem so related. I wonder if she’d like a big rose chypre? And here’s to Bal a Versailles through the years!
I do find that she’s become markedly less confident, but I suppose that’s quite typical in getting older? (Though, I hope, not necessarily inevitable!) She used to have a bold black bob which has gone grey, and I’m quite sure a strong rose chypre (such as Knowing is, I think?) would appall her now as ‘much too strong’. I rather miss crisper, more backboned scents on her, all these relatively sweet roses are a bit much… She had a Floris one before the Si, China Rose I think… Si is a step up at least!
Yes, at least there’s that!
Lekkerruik, do you live in the U.S.? If so, I’d be happy to send some rose samples for your mom. I bet she would like Rose Barbare. I was a huge Knowing fan back in the day. I recently bought a vintage bottle and all I can say is Wow! I’d forgotten how BIG it was!