When I was 12 someone gave my mom a bottle of Elizabeth Taylor's Passion, and when it bothered her asthma, she passed it on to me. I wore it a lot during middle and high school, even though I found the smell heavy and cloying. It made me feel grown up and sophisticated to wear such an "expensive" perfume, unlike my only other option: Avon's powdery Sweet Honesty, which a distant aunt had given me years before.
Once for a school dance I wanted something new and fresh, so Mom drove me to Eckerd, and I bought a bottle of Debbie Gibson's Electric Youth:
... which may be the most '90s sentence ever written.
In college my friend Linda introduced me to the scented lotions and body sprays of Victoria's Secret. We were both flat broke, but decided to pool our money for a 2-for-1 special that cost $15. I picked Vanilla Lace, and felt like I could conquer the whole world when I wore it. Heck, I still do.
As soon as I could afford it, I went back and bought the body lotion, too. It was my one true luxury, and probably the only thing I owned at the time that wasn't from a thrift store or Wal-Mart. (Ah, college days...)
As soon as I could afford it, I went back and bought the body lotion, too. It was my one true luxury, and probably the only thing I owned at the time that wasn't from a thrift store or Wal-Mart. (Ah, college days...)
About a year later John and I met and fell in love, thereby sealing Vanilla Lace in his memory forever as "my" scent. To this day it's his favorite, and he still only really likes perfumes on me that are mostly vanilla. (I have cakey vanillas, vanilla with lavender, vanilla with grapefruit, vanilla with apricots... )
I've found as I've gotten older that I care less about seeming "sophisticated" and more about enjoying the simple, fun, and yes, even childish things whenever I can. I'd rather smell like cupcakes than fancy flowers, wear orange chucks than heels, and watch a Disney movie than a critically-acclaimed drama. I am gleefully UNsophisticated, and I'm ok with that.
Which brings me to what is possibly my favorite scent in the world, and also, admittedly, the most embarrassing.
How embarrassing, you ask?
Well, I first found this particular perfume at a flea market.
And it cost less than $10.
And I'm pretty sure it was marketed to six-year-olds.
And it's, um, edible.
Yes, the perfume. The perfume is edible. WHAT.
But that's not all:
It's by Jessica Simpson.
You're judging me now, aren't you? I can feel you judging me.
Whatever, man. I AM PROUD OF MY EDIBLE CANDY PERFUME.
[wincing] Ok, well, maybe less proud now....
Oh, you want to know the name? It's Candy. Yes, just "Candy."
I'll give you three guesses what it smells like. Go on.
[whistling]
[whistling]
Did you guess "pure, unadulterated joy mixed with angel sighs and a dash of Smarties on top"?
Then you are correct.
I've been rationing my bottle of Candy for years now, only wearing it on the specialest of special occasions (ie, "I feel extra happy today!"), when it suddenly occurred to me I could probably find more online.
So off to ebay I went, where I discovered there are OTHER flavor/scents in the "sprayable-desserts-for-6-year-olds" line. There's even a cupcake one! But, alas, everything is discontinued and hard to find. I did snag a bottle of Candy for $20, though, plus a bottle of "Creamy," which kind of smells like caramel bread pudding, for about $12. SCORE.
Of course, I realize that extolling the joys of my favorite long-discontinued fragrance is probably not in my best interests, and I fully expect to be in a bidding war with one of you some day in the future.
But I have a whole new bottle now, so that's a ways off.
Besides, if by chance some day I catch a whiff of Candy on one of you at a meetup, then we can always share a knowing nod - and maybe even a celebratory fist-bump - with the tacit agreement that NO ONE MUST EVER KNOW.
Ah, Electric Youth....I wanted that so much as a preteen, but had to settle for the bottle of Exclamation that I was given for Christmas instead.
ReplyDeleteAlso my current favorite scent is Bath & Body Works' (discontinued, of course) "Sweet On Paris", which to me smells like cotton candy and froot loops, so yeah. I can smell like whatever I want. :|b
I once gave my high school boyfriend a trial size bottle of Exclamation since that was "my" scent and I wanted him to have it around in case he missed me.
DeleteSweet on Paris!! That's my jam, right there! I have a bottle that I wear evvvvvvvvery once in a while - trying to ride that line between making it last forever, and using it up before it turns into stink.
DeleteI was totally thinking about my bottle of Sweet on Paris when reading this post, too! Mmm, I think I know what I'm wearing tomorrow! I like some sophisticated scents, but I love very un-sophisticated ones as well! Best of both worlds. :)
DeleteI had Exclamation for years, alternated with Love's Baby Soft. Maybe that's why I hated perfume for years as an "adult."
DeleteLove's Baby Soft was my go-to, until my Jean Paul Gautier phase. (Which was only started because the bottle was so cool.) Now I am decidedly scent-free due to too many allergies, but everyone always tells me I smell "clean" and that can't be bad so I'll take it. ;-)
DeleteI got really into perfume a few years ago when I discovered Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. They sell perfume oil blends, rather than alcohol-based perfumes, which is when I realized that the alcohol scent was what I hated about most perfumes. They have some really nice gourmand scents too (although sadly their chocolates tend not to work on me).
ReplyDeleteSweet Honesty was my perfume when I was 12 or 13!
ReplyDeleteIf you like foody perfumes, I cannot recommend Possets Perfumes enough. The artist, Fabienne, is the most loving, down to earth, and helpful person I could ever have hoped to find in a perfumer. She makes all her own stuff and is amazingly quick to respond to "help! You have so many scents and I don't know what to start with!" emails.
ReplyDeleteAnd she EXCELS at foody perfumes, which are my favorite. She has a vanilla/lavender/black pepper (Indigo) that is my favorite, and several others I could not live without. Best of all? You can get very inexpensive samples of all her perfume oils from her permanent collection so you don't have to buy a big bottle only to find you hate it (or it hates you, as the case often is with skin chemistry).
I tend toward the citruses, because florals make me sneeze. If you're into scents, it's fun to order some sample sizes from CB I Hate Perfume. Click "story" once you select a scent. It's very J Peterman! http://cbihateperfume.com/shop/
ReplyDeleteI also love candy / dessert scented perfumes. I loved my bottle of the Jessica Simpson Cupcake perfume. Now I like more complex scents so I've switched to Prada's Candy which has strong caramel notes. I also really love Pink Sugar which smells sweet and dessert like, perhaps sample that one sometime
ReplyDeleteI love Pink Sugar in the bottle, but it turns oddly bitter on my skin. This is why I have to always test before buying!
DeleteHave you tried Fekkai crème vanillée hair perfume? I thought it sounded a little weird when I got a sample of it, but it's meant to keep your hair from getting static-y as well as give it a nice scent. It smells similar to Pink Sugar, but since it's for hair, maybe it wouldn't turn on you.
DeleteI stopped wearing perfume when I was pregnant with my first child because I was REALLY sensitive to smells. I got out of the habit and only recently (8years latter) wanted to wear perfume again only to find that my two favorite perfumes are both discontinued. I still have a half bottle of another one that I used to wear back when I first met my husband but he gets waaaay to excited if I wear it, I don't want to give the poor guy a hear attack. Sadly this means I'm searching for a new perfume that I like but doesn't require selling aforementioned first born child.
ReplyDeleteMy worst perfume secret? For a couple of years, I wore Kim Kardashian. There, I said it.
ReplyDeleteI second the Pink Sugar love. Every single time I meet someone new and they get close enough to get a whiff of me, they comment (with a shocked expression) that I smell delicious. My husband says I smell like a different baked good every day. My 6 year old nephew once asked, "Mmmmm mmm mmm why do you smell like I want to eat you up???" It's lovely and sweet but not overpowering.
ReplyDeleteThis post makes me so happy!
ReplyDeleteMy late 90's perfumes of choice were the GAP fragrances...first Heaven, and then during my pseudo grunge-y Senior year, Grass. I dropped a full bottle of grass outside my friend's brother's house in Santa Cruz, perfuming the neighborhood with a different kind of grass scent then it was probably familiar with.
Ohhhh Gap Heaven! I loved that so much!
DeleteGap Earth!!!! The absolute best! I have a small tin of the solid scent that I just sniff every once in a while.
Delete(I think I still have some Gap Heaven lying around somewhere, if anyone wants it.)
Oh, and my college VS scent was strawberries and champagne. I still kind of like it.
ReplyDeleteIf you like dessert smells, this one is amazing: http://ismellgreat.com/our-scents/angel-cake/
ReplyDeleteOh man I remember there was also a Jessica Simpson Dessert Treats line of lip gloss, too. I forget specifically which scent it was, but that was by far the best smelling and best tasting lip gloss I had ever had. If only I could get my hands on the sampler pack again...
ReplyDeleteFine, Jen, Fine! I will admit that my favorite perfume of all time (and I am 40!) is Love's Baby Soft. and if I felt I could get away with wearing it, I still would. If I could find it. I don't care that it was popular when i was 12. I love it.
ReplyDeleteWalmart had it as late as last year, but even though the website doesn't say discontinued, it does say out of stock... sorry. I loved it too!
DeleteI had Baby Soft stuff and thought it was pretty awful (a gift from a friend). My mom liked perfume and ended up getting me Tendre Poison which I loved. I still have the last bottle, maybe 15-20 years later, since I stopped loving it quite so much. I had a small bottle of CK one (because it was the 90s and everyone I knew had ck one). Now... I work in a place that is supposed to be scent-free. We don't commit to it totally but I don't wear perfume. But I love Dirty by Lush (it's minty and super nice) and I also have a pretty orange one that is roll-on. Otherwise I don't really wear perfume. Hubby is sensitive to scents so he has to give sniff-approval to almost everything anyway.
ReplyDeleteck one was my jam lol
DeleteI don't like food scents because they make me hungry! I don't see how people can handle having those enticing scents around them. But I agree with you about the unsophisticated pleasures. I have an Ivy League PhD and I love Harry Potter and Disney. I also read some Pulitzer-Prize winning books and watch some "critically acclaimed" films, some of which I think are good and some of which I don't. A couple of years ago I was lined up to get into an event with Ben Stiller and someone we had not heard of and we asked the person in front of us who the other person was and he said "If you'd been reading the Best Books of the Year lists that you should have, you would know." I practically laughed in his face. Dude, there is NO WAY you are going to make me feel bad about what I like/don't like and know/don't know. (It was George Saunders, a writer.)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in my 20's, I was dating a guy named Mark. On our first date, he brought me a gift. He was kind of embarrassed and said before he handed it to me, "I'm certain you have about a million of these, but I couldn't resist." then handed me a bottle of Victoria's signature scent, "Victoria", which was hilarious and ingenious, since my name is Victoria and *no one* had given me a bottle ever.
ReplyDeleteI wore that scent forever and even bought replacements when I ran out. Sadly, they changed the scent and it isn't the same, but for *years*, that was my "signature" scent, completely.
I had that problem with Bodycology's Moonlight Way. They changed the scent a few years back. But I LOVED the original. I still have the better part of a purse sized bottle that I allow myself one spritz from when I'm feeling it.
Deletei love fresh/fruity smells so VS "love spell" is my favorite
ReplyDeletebut i recently found a scent called "sweet on Paris" that was originally bath & body works but is now discontinued. description is: medley of juicy blackberry, lemon meringue, and creamy vanilla
rather than paying $20/bottle off eBay, i bought the perfume oil and unscented spray base off of bulk apothecary i think it was less than $15 for a GIANT bottle of the base,the oil, and eyedroppers. i am considering getting some other base since i still have a ton of oil left. maybe bodywash/shampoo/conditioner??
I love "Love Spell"!! (Even though it's a little peachy and I don't like peach.) It's such a nice, light, fruity smell.
DeleteHa! My mom would only let me use a few sprizes from her bottle of Jessica McClintock when I was getting ready for something fancy, like a choir concert or dance in high school. That, or Calyx by Perscriptives. It always made me feel *grown up* (in my head the word grown up was always lit up like a marquee). My go to scent for years was Exclamation--I always wanted to get Electric Youth but never did. Nowadays, I have an extensive collection of fragrances (that's at least 5 years old), dating from the years I spent as a visual merchandiser in a department store. My guilty secret is that I *love* both the original Juicy Couture scent and the OG Paris Hilton scent. *blushes*. Neither of them smell like velour or desperation, as one might assume...
ReplyDeleteI think we might be soul sisters, Jen. I love "edible" scents, too. And I've been reading this blog for years, so we have a few other things in common, too. I'll be in Orlando this weekend, and I wish I could come visit you. But then I might never leave FL. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI can only stand food smells as perfume. Years ago I found, in Sears I believe (because I had no money, but darn it, I had a Sears Card), two of the best perfumes ever. One was edible and smelled like freshly baked waffle cones, and the other smelled like soda bubbles (basically Sprite). I miss them.
ReplyDeleteI am admittedly a Loves Baby Soft girl. when In college I tried to be sophisticated and wanted a bottle of Giorgio Beverly Hills. Even after I smelled it and was almost knocked over ... I also had a thing for Obsession for men.
ReplyDeleteLove what you love! Though, if the edible aspect isn't the defining factor, I'd love to recommend Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. They have so many different types of scents, including one that I swear smells just like Skittles. All kinds of sweet foodie stuff, and vanillas, can be found. Plus the forums have extensive reviews for each scent so you can get the best idea if it would work. It my favorite time/money sink lately.
ReplyDeleteI don't wear perfume, but during high school I worked at the perfume counter/beauty aisle at Walgreens and I totally remember selling that stuff!
ReplyDeleteI don't wear a lot of scents but I *LOVE* this one from B&BW which is only available in a $5 small size for hand cream. It's different than their other vanilla scents because this one is Vanilla Butter Cream and it smells exactly like chocolate chip cookie dough, sans chocolate. Like, when you're at the stage where you cream together the sugar and eggs and vanilla? That's this. I use it constantly (it actually helps with my dry hands) and everyone always gets little hearts above their heads when I open it - it just smells so nostalgic and delicious.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bathandbodyworks.com/product/index.jsp?productId=30874836&cm_vc=200
I've always loved perfumes--I was obsessed with Dior Poison in high school--and about a year ago I started making my own perfume oils inspired by different fandoms and literature. Basically, I spend a lot of time thinking about what fictional characters would smell like : )
ReplyDeleteI think you'd really like Wonderland, which is a super-sweet frilly vanilla smell with notes of custard, cotton candy, and other sweet treats.
I am totally a vanilla perfume gal too! I used to love "Slice of Heaven" (I think that's what it was called) at Victoria's Secret. Now I swear by Vanilla Bean Noel at B&BW. It's only available at Christmastime, so I stock up every year!
ReplyDelete(A friend of mine likes to tell me, "You smell like a cookie")
Becky
Oh my! I remember this - I worked at Walgreens when this came out. The edible powder sample got EVERYWHERE and was so sticky! In the end it was clearanced for rock bottom amounts - I think it really got as low as .25. This was actually an adult product that was marketed in a very sexual way as "edible" (*wink**wink*) - we got complaints about it! But I can see why you'd think it was for kids because it is very sweet smelling.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite perfume of all time was grass from the gap. My older sister gave me a bottle when I was 11 or so and to this day I couldn't tell you what was so appealing about smelling like a freshly mowed lawn but I wish they still made it. Otherwise dessert or fruit scented scents are definitely my favorites. I've never liked the floral or musky ones.
ReplyDeleteOMG!! I had just started to write a comment lamenting the loss of Gap Grass and saw yours. On Ebay, they're calling it "vintage" and it's crazy expensive. Sigh... I miss smelling like freshly mowed lawns in summer.
DeleteHa ha! Just commented below about Grass! It was the best!
DeleteDemeter has one that smells like grass.
DeleteI really only use vanilla or lavendar body spray myself. Anything else I just find too sweet or overpowering.
ReplyDeleteHave a look at the Demeter Fragrance Library - http://demeterfragrance.com/classic-a-z.html. They have tons of perfumes that you might like, including apple pie, birthday cake, brownie, bubble gum, cinnamon bun, cotton candy, dulce de leche, marshmallow, orange cream pop, vanilla cake batter.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of non-food ones too - my favourites are linen and paperback :)
I pink puffy heart Demeter. In fact, my favorite combo is caramel layered over vanilla cake batter.
DeleteI was only allowed to wear Heaven Scent when I was a pre-teen. Ah, the 90s. My favorite scent is Elizabeth Arden's Light Green Tea. It's been discontinued for years but its the scent I wore when my husband and I first started dating. I wear it once a year on our anniversary.
ReplyDeleteI confess to being a non-perfume wearer. I worked with two groups of people with peculiar scent-obsessions for years - high school kids and tourists. There are very few popular perfumes or body sprays that don't induce a weeping-miserably-in-the-dark migraine for me these days.
ReplyDeleteBut, all is not lost because, INTERNETS! There is a website called luckyscent.com, where you can browse perfumes by scent notes and purchase tiny testers to try out before committing to a signature scent! I found the one perfume for me - Molecule 02 by Escentric Molecules. It's basically pure ambroxan, which smells like... well, it smells clean and light. It's an amazing scent that follows you around all day but is never overwhelming.
And yes, Jen... there is a huge selection of vanilla variants!
I could not abide perfume until I hit my 20's and I think my super sensitive smell receptors died. First perfume I ever wore regularly was Auric Blends Egyptian Goddess which is a perfume oil and I'm pretty sure I got it in some Manitou Springs hippie shop. Now I'm all about ZOMG Smells! weird scents. I love their Barbarian Splendor, Sugar Dragon, Camping in a Vanilla Forest, and Baby Unicorn Birthday Party. And they sell it in wee sample bottles which last me ages!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! Electric Youth, The Gap's "Grass" and Calvin Klein's Obsession = The trifecta of 90's girl's scents. I was wearing Chloe Narcisse when I was dating my husband, and it's been discontinued for years, but I have an empty tester tube of it and sometimes we'll open it and breathe it in, ha ha. Memories!
ReplyDeleteI was an 80's girl, so my go to was Vanilla Fields. Heh. One Christmas my dad wanted to know which perfume to get me but was horrified when the women at the perfume counter told him to head over to the drug store for it. (He never actually said, but I like to embellish his story with a french accent or two, some sniffs of disdain, and some disgusted looks down the nose.) So, instead of what I wanted he got me another "more grown up" vanilla scent. Which I still wear for special occasions today. That doesn't make up for the disappointment of not getting *my* perfume on Christmas. But I'm not bitter!
ReplyDeleteLOL!!! Reminds me of my dad. I wanted the new Slaughter album for Christmas one year, and my dad wouldn't buy it because he thought it was Heavy Metal music. XD
Deleteim not keen on food perfumes but i do like "earthy" perfumes stuff that smells like after the rain or old books only exception being honeysuckle or sandalwood on their own not together thought its been forever since i had a perfume that smelled accurately like either of those scents
ReplyDeleteI wish I could wear perfume and smell like Candy, but alas, perfumes/body sprays send my head into migraine overdrive. The only thing I can wear are a few essential oils, like lavender and bergamot (orange). They actually lessen my headaches. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteI hear you! I used to wear VS Amber Romance (I think I actually still have a bottle somewhere) and Breathe by Bath and Body works (discontinued :/). But they just don't sit well any longer, I feel like a headache is imminent whenever I use them. So now I rely on lavender and peppermint most of the time. I've also found a line of perfumes at the health food store which are--amber based?--essential oil blends. I've got a love/love relationship with those.
DeleteFor food scents , especially vanilla-y scents, give Haus of Gloi a try. I'm not big on food scents but their seasonals are vanilla, marshmallow, chocolate, porridge, oranges, etc., etc. Even their regular catalog is heavy if food and vanilla.
ReplyDeleteI love vanilla based scents, myself. I also like fruity and candy scents. I currently (and for at least the last 10 years) use a Lolita Lempicka scent that I first discovered while working in Japan. It comes in a little purple glass apple and it has very sweet, candy like notes that remind me of rockets candy (what you American folks might call smarties) with some vanilla and musk. It's clean, subtle but tasty smelling and I ain't ashamed of it :-)
ReplyDeleteFunny, embarrassing story re: scents, though not perfume. I was at work and just coming back from a break with some coworkers. We all kept smelling cookies and couldn't figure out where it was coming from, and tried very hard to track down these cookies so we could eat them. It was only later in the day that I realized I was wearing "spiced sugar cookie" scented deodorant (it was from a sample box...and I'll never buy it), and running up 6 flights of stairs must have activated the baked cookie smell. When I told my coworker that I had figured it out, she made a motion as if she were licking her armpit (it was funnier than it sounds) and now whenever we smell baking smells in our office, we pretend to lick our armpits. It sounds gross, but it's really just mime, and brings back the hilarious memory of my cookie scented deodorant!
I also have a favorite "kid" perfume...I love Mary Kate and Ashley's Two. I can't find it for a reasonable price any longer, but it is my all time favorite! Oh! and also VS "Lovespell" which is a "fruity" smell, according to my youngest brother!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember this line at all, but I remember the fancy one they had at Sephora! http://www.bustle.com/articles/37714-whatever-happened-to-jessica-simpsons-dessert-beauty-line-a-bunch-of-lawsuits-apparently
ReplyDeleteHa, I loved Electric Youth perfume. Wore it quite a bit as a pre-teen. Sadly, due to allergies I have to be extra careful with the scents so I don't wear perfume much these days. There is a bottle of Imari (sold by Avon) that someone gave me for Christmas that I like and wear occasionally.
ReplyDeleteI have to wear foody scents because flowery ones give my husband really bad headaches. My current is Mango Tango Twist from Bath and Body Works.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on Love's Baby Soft... But now, I wear Candy by Prada. It's a warm caramel-y vanilla musky perfume that smells like sugar then settles into a nice soft musk with caramel. It's not at all expensive (a bottle lasts forever) and it's a nice grownup version of candy. :-)
ReplyDeleteI wore Dior Poison until a man commented that I smelled like grape Kool-Ade. I love cherry and almond and used a body wash that was sold at Needless Markup (but cheap, like 20.00). They no longer carry it and I have never found a suitable replacement. Now I wear Ralph Lauren Romance and always get complements that I smell great.
ReplyDeleteRalph Lauren Romance forever! I've been wearing it since it came out, and I also get lots of compliments on it. I do feel funny answering, "romance" when people ask why I smell so good :)
DeleteI wore Dior Poison until a man commented that I smelled like grape Kool-Ade. I love cherry and almond and used a body wash that was sold at Needless Markup (but cheap, like 20.00). They no longer carry it and I have never found a suitable replacement. Now I wear Ralph Lauren Romance and always get complements that I smell great.
ReplyDeleteToo many comments to read, so this may have been said already. Walmart has scents like that. I have cupcake scented perfume (may be body spray) that smells yummy. It's called bodycology. Also amber romance smells amazing. And I am NOT a scents girl. I rarely wear any.
ReplyDeleteAt least one other commenter mentioned Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, but I'll 2nd the rec. They have scents based on loads of pop culture things (Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, HP Lovecraft, etc) and they have plenty of foody, cakey scents. They have one called Very Pink Surprise Cake which you can try to get hold of, but a lot of their blends are Limited Edition so you'd have to find someone reselling it.
ReplyDeletethis is me and the snow fairy soap from Lush. its only sold during the winter so i buy one RIGHT after they get rid of halloween stuff and another right before the easter stuff (like janruary?) i love it so hard hahaha
ReplyDeleteI saw at least one recommendation for Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab above, and I can't agree enough! I wore Bath and Body Works sprays in middle school through college, but after that they began smelling cheap and fakey to me. I didn't care for the "real" perfumes I had smelled either, so I just didn't wear anything for awhile. Then a year or so ago I discovered BPAL and have been blown away by the quality and selection. They offer almost all of their scents in trial size "Imp's Ears," which makes it very easy and affordable to try new things. They have a whole line of food scents and tons of vanilla-based ones. If you're ever looking for something fun and new, I'd definitely recommend giving them a shot!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to hear you could feed your inner child in this way, Jen.
ReplyDeleteI myself have never been a scent person and I have met and worked with waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too many women who felt that everyone within 50 miles should *share* in the experience of the noxious fumes they bathed themselves and their clothes in. But I'm sure you aren't one of THOSE women. Enjoy! Make that inner child jump up and down!
Maureen S
I LOVED the Jessica Simpson fragrances, and I am super sad that I cannot still get them. I am a sugar lover, and I really enjoyed her scents. I remember when my prom dates mother who was a photographer asked me what I was wearing as she loved it I stammered thru the answer. Right now I use Mariah Carey (and I cringe as I write that) Butterfly, my husband also likes it.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of Demeter Fragrances? They have any possible smell you can think of. When my nieces and nephews started to come along I would always make an effort to ware one of my cookie jar fragrances so when they smell graham crackers and sugar cookies later in life they will remember me.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I loved smelling those at the mall back in the day! I think I still have a Demeter Baby Powder around here somewhere; I used to like layering it over a fruity raspberry body spray - which sounds kind of disgusting, but actually blended pretty well.
DeleteI started out with Elizabeth Arden's BlueGrass, which an aunt I admired wore. It was light and floral and summery. I was never a fan of the heavy scents like Poison or Opium preferring fresh citrus types or florals. I had to bite my tongue and buy my latest though - its Mad Madam by Juliette Has Got A Gun - my name's Juliet - i HAD to buy it. I feel like a femme fatale when I wear it ;)
ReplyDeletePerfume is the worst of addictions! I would post a pic, but I just counted in stead....I count 28 bottles ranging in price from $8 to $100+. I'm not even proud. I don't care if they only last an hour! I can't resist the stuff. But sadly, my very favorite, Ralph Lauren's Hot, which always garnered many compliments, and made me feel invincible, is no longer available.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I have always thought Jessica Simpson is a sweetie pie.
ReplyDeleteI was a Navy girl, myself. :) And then when I hit late high school/college years, my scent of choice was Bath & Body Works Sun Ripened Raspberry. I still think of that as my signature scent, even though they don't make it any more. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteOh my! My sister wore a lot of the above mentioned perfumes, but I was an Avon kid. Pearls and lace was my every day scent from a young age. My mom got me one of those powder filled rabbits with the powder puff tail and it had the pearls and lace scented powder, and then I fell in love with the Night Magic. That was for special occasions. Then it was High School in the Eighties. Loves Baby Soft, and Jean Nate after bath body spray! I will confess to still having a fondness for both, but as an adult, (and it only costing 14 dollars), I wear my Night Magic every single day.
ReplyDeleteOMG so many good recommendations! I feel a spree coming on. Demeter's Vanilla Cake Batter makes me smell like a cupcake. They tend to be light and not super long wearing. The other company I obsess over is Villainess. Her scents tend to be a little heavier, but she has several food based ones. Available right now are the Valentine's scents, and The Truffle Trade is one of my favorites. Smells like a box of chocolates.
ReplyDeleteI too rocked the EY! And I find this so surprising - I burned myself out on liking vanilla scents and I'll admit to usually not liking sweet smells on others, but you smell REALLY good, so maybe I'm coming back around...?
ReplyDeleteIf you want more discontinued scents to track down, I loved Avon/Mark's Hollywood Pink because it smelled like chocolate. I still have some of the lotion and perfume, but I rarely use it because I know I'll miss it once it's gone.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, I just love the foody scents. Perfume is hard for me because the EO's change on my skin, it smells great in the bottle and gross on me. However, I love the cupcake scents. The best chocolate soap and lotion I buy is from Moonalisa A Supernatural Clean. She has some really great scents that always match the detailed description. Rock on Foody girls (ladies)!!!
ReplyDeleteMy Husband's favorite scent? Last time I wore it someone asked, "Why does it smell like fruit snacks in here?". Yup. It's a Victoria Secret scent that I only get when they go on the buy-two-get-two (or something) sale. It's called Love Spell. Because what is more spell-binding than fruit snacks? (I think it smells more like black licorice with a side of fruit snacks).
ReplyDelete-Just Andrea
I still wear Colors, by Benneton. I have to search for it. When I'm lucky, I can find it at Marshall's. When I'm not, Amazon it is. I've tried to find a different, more accessible scene that perhaps I haven't worn since junior high, but still all searching.
ReplyDeleteIt's OK though, hubby's favorite cologne is Tommy, as in Hilfiger, and he is the least Tommy looking guy you'd ever meet.
Most perfumes give me headaches and/or affect my allergies. Several years ago (before I had kids) I was determined to find "my scent." After much experimenting I finally settled on Cashmere Mist by Donna Karen. It's soft, sweet, and subtle and I love it! My previous go to scent was Love's Baby Soft. What can I say? I'm a child of the 80s! Incidentally, I am pretty sure my older sister tried to gas my younger sister and I with Jean Nate when she was a teenager! I still can't smell that stuff without shuddering!
ReplyDeleteMy scent is "Warm & Cozy" from Victoria's Secret's body sprays since I was wearing that on my first date with my boyfriend of 5 years and I am just now running out of my second bottle... also, it totally smells like candy and it literally does make me feel warm and cozy so no judging from me!
ReplyDeleteMy smell when I was a teenager was "Vanilla Fields". My whole friend group wore it and more than anything, that smell reminds me of being a crazy teen.. and of Paris. We all shared connecting rooms on our field trip to Paris and the whole floor reeked of it by the time we were done. It's discontinued now, but I mentioned it randomly to my husband a couple years ago. Apparently, he tore the internet apart looking for it for over 18 months before he found a bottle, which he put in my stocking last Christmas. So, I spent Christmas morning with tears running down my cheeks because every time I caught a whiff, the smell brought up another memory I hadn't thought of in years. (I know, my husband is awesome!!!) I only use it for super special occasions, hoping to make it last. If you like vanilla scents, you should try this (if you can find it). It's a vanilla/jasmine combo without being overpowering.
ReplyDeleteI have a mostly full bottle of Jessica Simpson's "Delicious" spray I'd be more than willing to send you. It still smells good!
ReplyDeleteMy scent was Enjoli, but it had an 80's commercial that has made it embarrassing to wear and impossible to find. Anybody remember, "I can bring home the bacon (dah nah nah) fry it up in a pan (dah nah nah) and never ever ever let you forget you're a man, cause I'm a woman, Enjoli!" But if I could find it I would totally buy it again. In the meantime I wear Bath & Bodyworks Cherry Blossom (which does not smell like cherries or flowers).
ReplyDeleteI remember that commercial--my mom used to let me wear a little of her Enjoli for special occasions. Not sure if I'd still like it as much as I used to, but it would certainly bring back memories :) Thanks for reminding me!
DeleteHaha, my sister and I were just reminiscing about the Jessica Simpson line! I always heard that a bug reason behind it being discontinued was that by "edible", some people were actually EATING the product. I know I saw multiple girls at different times tasting the testers in the store. Around the same time, I had a cotton candy body spray for a while, but it wasn't as great on a regular basis as I felt like it was when I had just visited the tester whenever I was at the store.
ReplyDeleteI used to be a body spray maven, and I still own them all, but rarely wear anything, since meeting my asthmatic husband. No more mixing one mist each of three sprays.
Oh the evolution of the perfume wearing!
ReplyDeleteI actually think edible perfume is a legit awesome thing - LeFiance always moans about tasting my perfume whenever he kisses my neck. I have to question, though, whether it might attract flies and mosquitoes?
When I was growing up, my first 'perfumes' were old-lady scents that well-meaning relatives sent me. Even now I'm reminded of them when I step into a charity shop - Eau-de-Thrift-Store. Although I have fond memories of a child-like Peach perfume in a peach-shaped bottle that I LOVED. When I was old enough to choose my own, the 'Charlie' ranges were popular - Charlie Red and Charlie Black were my favourites.
I then graduated onto The Body Shop Vanilla perfume - it was sickly sweet and I loved it.
Then we moved onto even dizzier heights: CKONE!
In my late teens I then discovered Elizabeth Ardens' 'Green Tea' and wore this for YEARS. I was devoted! Until a chance encounter with a demonstrator in Harrods introduced me to 'MY SCENT': Narcisso Rodriguez 'For Her' Eau de Parfum. None of that watery EDT for me! This stuff is GLORIOUS. It is 'My scent'. It is also eye-wateringly powerful and LeFiance knows if we're going anywhere special I will bathe myself in it until there is a visible forcefield of perfume.
More recently, however, LeFiance and I happened to find the Miss Dior 'Blooming Bouquet' EDT which we both really like on me, so now I have the Miss Dior BB as my 'Spring and Summer' Scent, and the Narcisso as my 'Autumn and Winter' Scent - it works really well because the Miss Dior BB is light and subtle and makes a beautiful summery fragrance, and the Narcisso is really deep and musky and is much better suited to the heavy clothing of winter.
Whatever works, right?
Jen, you are possibly the most talented writer I have ever read. You make me cry and you make me smile and, sometimes, like today, you make me laugh out loud. If I ever come across an edible Jessica Simpson perfume I am sending it to you with a whole heap of gratitude.
ReplyDeleteAw, you're making me blush and smile and stuff. Thanks, Kate.
DeleteDon't be ashamed! If it's good, it's good.
ReplyDeleteI own a bottle of Star Trek Pon Farr, which cost a fiver and I genuinely like it.
Ha! I always wanted to get Red Shirts, though I've never smelled any of them. So funny.
DeleteIn high school, someone gave me Shalimar cologne. I felt SO grown-up. I read in a fashion magazine that one should rub a bit of one's perfume on one's gums (yup, in my mouth) so one's breath would match one's scent. YUK. So at least yours is designed to be edible.
ReplyDeleteWho cares if it's marketed to children? I mean I decide what to buy my kids for Christmas based mostly on whether or not I'd want to play with it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm with you on the comfortable. I never liked flowery scents and vanilla is my favorite. I wear flip flops year round, with socks in the winter. My clothes are all comfortable and mostly consist of tees, flannel shirts, flannel pants, and cargo pants for when I have to go out. Being sophisticated seems boring to me.
If you haven't looked at perfumes on Etsy, you're missing out! You can get pretty much any scent you want, and most shops offer inexpensive samples so you can test them. My favorite is Queen Bee Apothecary (https://www.etsy.com/shop/QueenBeeTradingCo), which has literally hundreds of scents to choose from. I'm sure you could find something perfect there, or at one of the many other shops out there.
ReplyDeleteSeconding Etsy as a great source of perfumes - my favourite is SaraWen who grabbed my eye with a Harry Potter themed scent (Beer N Butter is now the scent of Christmas, I wear it through the whole of December.) She has original creations as well and I also have samples of several other themed perfume oils she has - The Hobbit, Pushing Daisies, Dragon Age. The Dragon Age ones cemented it for me. All amazing!
ReplyDeleteOh, I love SaraWen! Unfortunately, Beer N Butter was discontinued last month, so I have to hoard my last bottle. I think she's discontinued a lot of the sweet scents too. :(
DeleteI still have a couple of Jessica Simpson body sprays and some cinnamon hearts lip gloss that I carry in my purse and only use on special occasions. I'd like to have some of that Electric Youth because the bottle is awesome. It could join my 90120 that I found at a yardsale. As for what I wear now I tend to like very simple scents so I wear Demeter. Suntan, Martini and Cinnamon Toast are my favorites. I wish I could find some X-Files perfume. Something that smells like aliens and unresolved sexual tension.
ReplyDeleteAh never be ashamed of liking a 'cheap' fragrance (or any fragrance) - some of my favourites are cheap as hell and I am a total perfume obsessive :-) If you like sweet gourmand scents I would recommend Prada Candy, Like This by Etat Libre d'Orange and Angel by Theirry Mugler :-) Sadly none of these are actually that cheap - but they are all lovely and I'm sure you can get them all fairly cheap online.
ReplyDeleteAs a preteen my favorite scents were Vanilla Fields and Calgon's Morning Glory body spray. My Grandma once gave me Chantilly Lace, but I found it very cloying and overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteAs a teen I went through a crunchy, hippy phase where I only wore sandalwood or patchouli oil (I still love both of those, but only in home fragrance and candles).
I wore Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle when I married my husband 9 years ago, and I still have a tiny bit left of that same bottle that save for very special occasions as it gives me headaches now (but I still love it!). My scent of choice now is lavender, I prefer it straight up without any additional notes.
I'm one who does NOT like regular, flowery perfumes. Thank goodness there's a store in the area (Portland, OR) called Archibald Sisters. https://www.archibaldsisters.com They sell all kinds of funky things plus shampoo, conditioner, perfume oil essences, spray on colognes, body wash, body mist, lotions, and a few other products that you can have infused with all kinds of scents. Including ambrosia, absinthe(!), blackberry, coffee, chocolate, grapefruit, rain, vanilla, plus many, many more. My favorites are vanilla coconut and vanilla pineapple. If you visit the store in person, they can customize blends for you. The scent lasts a really long time. A two ounce bottle of the cologne is only $16!
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten all about that JS line and I had TONS of it!! Thank you for bringing back memories of summer fun for me :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a vanilla girl myself! Have you tried Vanilla Bean Noel? It's from Bath and Body Works, but is only available around Christmas time. It's "my" scent, and I'm told it smells like cotton candy. So yummy!
ReplyDeleteI love "gleefully UNsophisticated", and I do believe I will steal it for myself. My living room decorations of a print of "The Land of Make Believe" and a six foot shelf full of Disney Happy Meal toys tends to raise some eyebrows among new friends, and I get a lot of comments about "growing up" and "being an adult" from my mother in particular. Ugh! I will start announcing myself as gleefully UNsophisticated and ignore them.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to perfumes, I still have a soft spot for Pearberry body spray by Bath and Body Works. But my favorite scent was an oil I got from a Renaissance festival in a tiny unicorn glass bottle. I couldn't remember the name, and the next time I was able to go back to that booth they couldn't identify the oil either. I loved it, but it's lost forever. Sigh.
Okay, I thought to myself, 'I want to see this chick's shelf - she sounds rad as hell!'...then I realized WHOA THIS IS MY SARAH I HAVE AND SHE IS. <3
DeleteSweet Honesty is still one of my faves. I would wear it on test days in high school, a good spray on my wrist, so if I started to stress, I could just sniff my wrist, smell it, and calm down some. In college, I loved Ici and Fire & Ice. I don't think Ici is made any more, but I've been trying to recreate something similar with my stash of fragrance oils (I make soap), and I think I have something close. :-D
ReplyDeleteI remember Candy! It was heavily advertised when it first came out and everyone, like my sister - she counts as everyone to me, talked about it, but I never knew anyone who used it and I never saw it IRL. I was actually beginning to think I dreamed it up. Being discontinued explains a lot.
ReplyDeleteI like the smell of food, but I don't want to smell like food. I already taste like food, so yeah. I really like anything else, especially citrus scents.
I can't wear perfume anymore due to allergies but this reminded me of a tale:
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school a friend and I both wore Love's Baby Soft Strawberry cologne on a field trip. It was a boat ride on the Green River, and she and I both ended up surrounded by butterflies! They even landed on us. It was so cool and yet kind of embarrassing in the way only things that happen to teenage girls can be.
But it was cool.
Don't feel bad about Jessica Simpson. When I was engaged, I wanted a really special perfume for my wedding day, so that I could always relate the memory with a scent. I went everywhere, tried everything, and finally saw this beautiful bottle at Kohl's. It was gorgeous. I didn't know the name, but I tried it, and it was heaven. Baby powder and chocolate, with just a hint of something floral...perfection. Then I saw the name: Hillary Duff. I worked for Radio Disney during the Lizzie Maguire heyday. I felt silly. I felt like an eleven year-old, but I bought that amazing perfume, and I felt like a total Disney princess at the wedding. It just made me happy. If it makes you happy and isn't hurting anyone, go for it!
ReplyDeletemy junior high perfume of choice was 'Malibu Musk' and it came in an aerosol can.
ReplyDeleteAs a grown up, I found something called 'pink' that smells exactly like cotton candy.
I see I am not the only commenter who wore Vanilla Fields in middle/high school. My first 'grown up' perfume was courtesy our family friends from France, who bought me a gorgeous lily of the valley scent from Guerlain. The bottle has beautiful gold honeycomb latticework. I wore it on my wedding day and have looked for it since, but although Guerlain still makes gorgeous scents, 'Aqua Allegoria' is no longer being produced.
ReplyDeleteDon't be ashamed of the Jessica Simpson (or Hillary Duff)! At one time I LOVED Britney Spears' Curious, and was often complimented on it :) Currently in my early 30s, my two faves are Burberry Weekend (discontinued! But my sister in law found me a new bottle!) and DKNY Delicious.
I love reading Ebpot. Your post made me chuckle. =)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is Fresh Cream from Philosophy. Very vanilla-y and yummy.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever looked into Black Alchemy? You can search by scent on their website and you can order tiny little plastic nibs to test them. And if you don't want to bother with that even, they're always at DragonCon
ReplyDeleteI love the internet!! After reading this post I checked out the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab site, saw a fragrance called The Last Unicorn - my all time favourite book/movie. Found out the author had written a coda to The Last Unicorn and is possibly working on a sequel!! The short story was amazing and well worth the read if anyone is a fan of the Last Unicorn. It's called Two Hearts. Never would have found it without your post!
ReplyDeletePerfume confession - Paris Hilton. My dirty but oh so sweet smelling secret.
My husband hates perfumes. I blame that he grew up in Africa where people didn't wear much in the way of scents, but I rarely wore anything because of that until I found Black Phoenix. Their D&D scents were on sale on Think Geek so I got a bottle of Rogue (leather, rope type smells) and Evil (opium tar and plum are the main). They both smell amazing, but sadly Rogue didn't like me, but it smells fabulous on a male friend of mine. On him you can really smell the leather, so I gave it to him. But I love the smell of Evil and my husband actually likes it too, so I wear that almost every day. I really should get more from them, they have wonderful themed collections.
ReplyDeleteThis is so timely because I've just bought my first perfume! I admit I went for sophisticated, I saw it on Tumblr and it's from the Lovecraft line! And it supposedly smells like "...coffee shops, well-loved hardwood fixtures, and old book smell. Definitely brings to mind grand old university libraries and staircases." Which should be very comforting. (If anyone's interested it's Miskatonic University from Black Phoenix Alchemy lab).
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a fragrance Hermione Granger would wear, which is a high compliment.
DeleteI got a sample of Ageless by Harvey Prince, and it hits all my qualifiers: citrus and not overly floral. I've finally found my scent, the one I want to be known as.
ReplyDeleteExcept...... here's the description from the website:
"Here’s the secret: Ageless is inspired by recent studies conducted by the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, which find pink grapefruit and mango to be the olfactory antidote to aging. The fragrant notes disguise the familiar scent of age, caused by the breakdown of particular fatty acids in your skin.
Women from around the world are loving Ageless; based on their testimonials and our own trials, Ageless makes you feel and smell 8-12 years younger."
I'm not that old, I swear!
I'm becoming such a Bath and Body Works spray junkie. I used to ONLY buy Japanese Cherry Blossom everything until the fateful day my roommate and I went a wandering and both discovered the awesome that is Beautiful Day. Then I started taking chances and buying scents that had cool enough descriptions from the website. My newest one is Hawaii and smells like tasty coconuts. Smelling like a beach is as close as I ever want to get my pale goth self to one.
ReplyDeleteJen, you should really check out the Philosophy stuff. Tons of luscious food scents in body products and lip gloss.
ReplyDeleteYou had me at Sweet Honesty. We were so poor I could only wish for it. Because of severe allergies, I can't even wear what eventually became my favorite, Estee Lauder's Cinnabar. Now I go with Aveda essential oils, usually vanilla in the winter and tangerine in the summer. But nothing will beat the 80s scents--Enjoli (I can bring home the bacon...), Jean Nate', and of course the original Sweet Honesty.
ReplyDeleteOMG Jean Nate! I loved that stuff. And Grandma always had a tiny bottle of Blue Waltz on her vanity. I think it was maybe $1.50 at Ben Franklin's back in the day. I also loved Loves Baby Soft and Blue Jean, but I'm pretty sure I would not be able to use any of them any more. Like you, my allergies dictate what scents (if any) I can wear or be around. Even deodorants and laundry detergents have to be vetted before purchase. If I can't smell it first? I'm not buying it.
DeleteOh I loved the Jessica Simpson Desserts line! I actually sold it while I worked at Frederick's of Hollywood in college. Definitely NOT marketed to children...I still have my edible coconut chocolate sparkle powder. I probably shouldn't eat it anymore (I've had it for 7-8ish years now?), but it still smells delish! I also had a body spray in middle school/high school that came in a spray bottle (like an actual spray bottle, not just a spritzer like most perfumes) that smelled like gummy bears....mmmmm.....I also have a lot of fun flavored/scented lip balms and lip glosses. I'm in my 30s and still love my Bonnie Belle lip gloss! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit of a perfume junkie, so based on your love of sugary vanilla base fragrances I have the following recommendations:
ReplyDeleteAtelier Cologne Vanille Insensee or Santal Carmin
Thierry Mugler Angel
Paris Hilton CanCan
Prada Candy
I love the smell of vanilla and would love to wear vanilla cologne, but nine times out of ten if it has vanilla they feel the need to add musk. And I'm horribly allergic to musk. So I usually can't wear vanilla. My go-to scent these days is Palmer's cocoa butter. It has kind of a sweet cocoa/vanilla smell, and it doesn't make my sinuses revolt. That and baby powder are about all I can do.
ReplyDeleteMy poor daughter has to keep her bottles of Bath and Body Works sprays in her locker at school, because if she puts them on at home I'm sneezing and have a runny nose before she finishes breakfast. Allergies suck.
Once upon a time I was all about Benitton's Colors, then I wore Vanilla Fields, I think I had some Lady Stetson that someone gave me, and the pinnacle of perfume days was Beautiful, my tiny bottle of feeling-grown-up-smell-good. Now it's the occasional dab of lavender or pikake flower oil, or good ol' Dove soap. I'm intrigued by smelling like a cupcake, though... = )
ReplyDeleteI only like fruit-y scents so I'm a big fan of the Be Delicious line, Love Spell, and Demeter's Sex on the Beach.
ReplyDeleteOMG Electric Youth! I sooo LOL! I loved Exclamation perfume, I felt so grown up in sixth grade, hahahaha
ReplyDelete"I've found as I've gotten older that I care less about seeming "sophisticated" and more about enjoying the simple, fun, and yes, even childish things whenever I can. I'd rather smell like cupcakes than fancy flowers, wear orange chucks than heels, and watch a Disney movie than a critically-acclaimed drama. I am gleefully UNsophisticated, and I'm ok with that."
ReplyDeleteYou just summed up my entire life in this paragraph. THANK YOU!
So my most favorite scent of all right now? Love Story. By Pure Romance. Besides their bath and body line, do you know what else they sell? VIBRATORS. So, when I wear it now, if someone at my work asks, I just say I got it as a gift.
ReplyDeleteBut alas, Love Story is a blend of sensual amber and vanilla musk and IT SMELLS SO GOOD JEN. I think you'd love it. Fact: When I put the body oil on my arms, my dog tries to lick my arms when I walk by. It smells that good. I currently have the oil mist, the shave cream, and the body splash. I have a consultant friend, BUT I'm sure you can find one closer to you or just order sraight off line if you want to try it out! (Also, they do those in home parties where you pass around the toys lmao, its a fun, but also i'm blushing the entire time)
https://www.pureromance.com/shop/Collections/Love-Story-Collection
Perfumes generally give me a headache, so I stick to light body sprays. In college I actually had one that was scented like cotton candy and one like gummy bears (and glittery). I didn't realize how strong they were, and used a few sprays. But then several times when I got to class early, people would come in and sniff all around, trying to figure out why the room smelled like candy, haha. I quickly realized one spray was enough!
ReplyDeleteI remember when this perfume line first came out. I had to be a senior in College, so around 2003-2004. My roommate and I watched her show, Newlyweds, and saw the episode where she was shooting for this add. At the time, I really wanted that top she was wearing in the adds. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the only places I could find it never had it in a size that fit me since I am quite busty. Aw... memories.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely try etailers...they usually have a few great dupes and also very nice foody scents in general .
ReplyDeleteI recommend cocoapink.net. They have a lot of vanillic scents, their marshmallow is the cuddliest vanilla ever. They Do have a Vanilla Bean Noel dupe that is pretty awesome.
My personal favourite is Bendel Vanilla Bean. Both sexy and yummy..
I can't do scents, I hate my migraines! Most days I can't even be around people who are wearing scent. Just walking through the scent department at the department/drug store can trigger a migraine. Before I had migraines, when I was a teenager in the '90's, I loved CKOne, though :)
ReplyDeleteBath and Body Works used to have a line called Tutti Dolci. I loved the creme Brulé scent, especially the bubble bath. Cinnamon frosting was really delicious, too. One time I wore it to a doctor's appointment and the phlebotomist kept sniffing me. He finally told me that I smelled really good and asked what I was wearing.
ReplyDeleteI had a bottle of Ann Kleins Blazer given to me that I loved, I also wore l'air du Temp and emeraude in high school. Loves baby soft was big when I was in high school as was Channel #5 and white linen. and I have always hated Avon ever since a crazy aunt gave me an empty bottle for my 10th birhtday.
ReplyDeleteYou know, if your favorite fragrance has been discontinued, you can try making your own knockoff. Maybe try a kit? https://www.brambleberry.com/Sweet-Confection-Perfume-Kit-1-kit-P3621.aspx
ReplyDeleteI am with those in the allergy department. Someone wearing a perfume can ruin me. I can't count how many movies, concerts, conventions I have left violently ill because of someone wearing perfume...even when I think the smell is pretty it can make me sick.
ReplyDeleteI am with those in the allergy department. Someone wearing a perfume can ruin me. I can't count how many movies, concerts, conventions I have left violently ill because of someone wearing perfume...even when I think the smell is pretty it can make me sick.
ReplyDeleteI <3 you, Jen. That is all. :)
ReplyDeleteI wanted a new perfume for my wedding 6 years ago. I love the smell of vanilla and sweets and I found the most amazing perfume that I still wear to this day. It's also a Jessica Simpson one. It's called Fancy and it smells like vanilla cupcakes!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty much allergic to all fake perfumes (perfume, lotions, scented soaps, etc.), so everything is out for me. However, I love the scent of real vanilla (not the perfume-y type), so I always wore real vanilla extract as perfume in high school and college. Yes, I realize that might be a bit weird, but it worked for me and I loved it. One guy asked me why he always thought of chocolate chip cookies whenever I was around, and I just laughed and told him about my version of "perfume." ;) It obviously wasn't like I bathed in vanilla, but it made me feel good when I wanted an extra boost and I wasn't able to use scented items.
ReplyDeleteHi Jen,
ReplyDeleteBeen away from everything (even blog reading) for just over a year and am back going through all your old posts. As usual they are entertaining, heartwarming and especially helpful in dealing with my anxiety, depression and other issues.
Just wanted to drop a line in regards to your comments on being embarrassed by your scent preferences. When I was young I too thought being seen as sophisticated was the way to go. I always wanted to wear my mother's or grandmother's perfumes. My mother gave me a dabber of her Chantilly perfume so that I could wear some without putting on too much.
When I look for scents now I like natural oils like pachuli (I think it smells citrusy and fresh) or something fruity and fun. My all-time favourite scent is tomato vines. I love breathing in that green smell. If I could find a cologne for my hubby that smelled like tomato vine and fresh-cut grass I'd be in heaven.
Scent is a significant memory trigger. Certain scents bring on certain feelings based on the first time you smelled that scent and what was happening at the time. You can also re-associate scent memory if something traumatic happens. I have always loved the scent of PB, when I was pregnant with my daughter I couldn't smell PB without running to the bathroom nauseated. My son learned to make his own sandwiches at 4 I was so bad. To this day the smell of PB gives me mixed feelings of apprehension and joy. I remember how much I've always loved it, but am subconsciously waiting for the nausea.
If you choose scents that make you feel light and happy or even childish, embrace the joy and don't let naysayers bring you down. The world would be a better place if people weren't so quick to judge others. If you liked the small of rotten eggs, you should be accepted for it even if everyone else has to sit upwind.