By Shelley
Perhaps if I told you my story, it would help.
I had no plan to be in this tribe. Nobody in my family was. I hadn´t had any friends who were. I was happy with my life, with plenty of fulfilling activities and friends who cared about me.
Then along came Norell. Without even meeting it, something… changed. I´d heard about it, knew that my grandmother had always kept her own. I thought I´d just go along, see what kind of life Norell lived. Learn a little about its history. Okay, try it. Just to see if I could understand why other people said it was so great. Maybe, learn to love, if not all perfume, just that one.
(You know what? It was really a complex creature. Unappreciated by the masses who had once flocked to it. Remembered by a few, still appreciated by experts who were exposed to it in blind meeting. Once noble, relegated to the blue light special.)
Maybe I should have realized it might turn out this way. After all, my grandmother had had her own Norell. Come to think of it, she had another love that was hidden in plain sight: Halston. And there was an aunt who was rumored to have a stash of bottles taking up closet space. But we didn´t really talk about it, and it wasn´t on my radar.
Beep, beep. Something wicked this way comes.
I found myself starting to read about it online. Sneaking looks at blogs, where other people would confess their passions. Their habits. The objects of their desire. Realizing that they seemed to be nice people, really. Regular people, who just happened to have this… thing.
I found myself going out by myself, sneaking little sniffs at Sephora. Sneaking into Neiman Marcus just to eyeball the bottles. And then… surreptitiously ordering a small, unmarked package from an online decanter. Which led to a full bottle purchase at Loehmann´s. One day, I got on the dance floor wrote a response on a blog.
The dam broke, and there was no going back. Next thing you know, I´m starting to float the concept of my new identity to a select few friends who I suspect won´t freak out when I tell them. I stop hiding my activity from my family. I go to a perfume support group and bookmark a dozen favorite online information sources. I no longer protest that “it´s not really anything” when others ask me if it´s true.
My name is Shelley, and I´m into perfume. If you’re here, you’re probably into perfume too. How did it begin for you? Were you alone, or did you have company? Did it start with a trickle? Or an avalanche? Or has perfume always been there for you, like air?
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Ok, I’m one too, but I’m proud of it! 🙂 My story does not begin with scents my mother wore, since I doubt she ever owned a bottle in her life. My dad did use Old Spice aftershave, it was always one of his Christmas presents and I loved crawling into his lap and going off to sleep to its scent. But that was the limit of ‘purchased fragrance’ of any sort in my young life. But like some I always loved smelling things, especially books! And found that what helped make me a good cook is my ability to smell when things are ‘done’ and when spices are mixed just right.
Then I got sick with an illness that brought fierce migraines to my life and for more than 25 years had to avoid many aromas that might trigger days of sickness and blinding pain. Thankfully, last year a new migraine preventative medication was prescribed and I became almost migraine free after a few months. One of the first things I did was start to dab my toes into the world of scent. A friend had come back from a trip to France and sent me some Roger & Gallet soap, and I had to have more!
Thanks to the good ole internet, I googled R&G and found more soaps, but I also began to see mentions of ‘real’ fragrances and growing ever bolder I began to read at fragrance blogs and review sites and was gripped by the prose of fragrance before the actual smell. I too made a first purchase of samples at TPC and hit some ebay sample auctions. I quickly found that the majority of the samples I would try wouldn’t be ones that I wanted to purchase, but those few gems would appear while panning for gold. Luten’s Fleurs d’Oranger, Goutal’s Gardenia Passion, Teo Cabanel’s Alahine, faster and faster I pan samples knowing I’ll find another nugget 🙂
Thankfully my DH is also enjoying the journey and patiently lets me dab his wrist with something I think he’ll like and has found a few nuggets of his own.
Life comes at us all fast, but one way we can hit the pause button is to sniff something glorious that reminds us that there are other things worth living and working for. May we all never be ‘cured’.
Kathy,
I’m so glad you found a way out of the migraines…and into perfume! If you read the comments to March’s post today (“Let’s Go to Bed,” about purposely wearing fragrances to sleep), you’ll notice that I am a migraineur as well…as is March…and others. I still tiptoe around certain fragrances, and fragrances at certain times or in certain circumstances, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that not only can I often wear them, but quite happily so.
You’ll also notice more than a handful of us talking about the smell of books…
It’s nice when DH is tolerant, isn’t it? I’ve run quite a few patches by my own DH’s sniffer…interesting to hear his thoughts, sometimes. You are quite right; it’s nice to have something that is both pleasant and prompts us to pause. Glad you took the time to write!
Thanks Shelley, the fellowship of migraines is an intimate one, isn’t it? One has to have experienced them to really ‘know’ what it is like and why you’d be extra careful to avoid them. I’m so grateful for medication that helps more than I’d ever hoped it could.
Upon smelling some fragrances I get a definite tingling in the cranial blood vessels and immediately know it isn’t the scent for me. And it is almost always the older houses that cause this, most of the newer niches give me no problem at all.
Glad your DH is also understanding this weekend mine really ‘GOT’ it for the first time when he tried a sample of Fumerie Turque. He’s asked several times if I’ve ordered a bottle for him yet, LOL, I have!
Heh, I’m glad to see that somebody finally talked about the elephant in the room! How did we all wind up here? Whenever I read perfume blogs, I’m always curious about that.
Well, to start, hi, my name is Morgan, and I’m a perfume addict. I think that I was destined to be one, that it was somehow genetic. When I was growing up, my Mom amassed a collection of about 50 bottles of perfume over the years. It was the good stuff too: Chanels 19 and 22, about 6 Annick Goutals, Shalimar, Mitsouko, as well as Amarige and whatever was popular in the department stores at the time. I thought she was kind of weird about perfume, but I loved it too because she gave me free reign to use whatever I liked from her collection. She’d also buy me mini bottles of things like Ombre Rose and Paloma Picasso. (The thought of me wearing Paloma Picasso at age 12 now makes me wonder what my teachers and the neighborhood thought…)
I’m rambling. Anyways, I loved and admired her collection, but thought she was a little over the top. I got my own bottles of CK One and Gap Heaven in high school, and acquired about 1-2 bottles per year through I think 2006. I thought of myself as a perfume addict. (HA! What did I know of perfume addiction then??? There was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much farther to fall!)
Then I tried and liked Lancome Hypnose a few times, and did a Google search for it, can’t quite remember why. One of the search results led me to Bois De Jasmin’s review of the fragrance. Even though I work in online advertising and have for years, I never even thought that there might be blogs on perfume. I read a few things on that site, and then, (this was the moment my foot caught in the tree root and I started the slow fall down the rabbit hole,) I found BdJasmin’s review of Ginestet Botrytis. I was obsessed with finding this perfume to smell it, and was baffled that there was a whole world of niche scents out there, beyond the Calvin Kleins and Lancomes. (Not that there’s anything wrong with them!) I started ordering samples from LuckyScent and The Perfumed Court. And I finally got my full bottle of Botrytis, which I think was my perfume soulmate, destined to find me. 😉
And now I’m a firm perfumaholic, blog reader, secret Sephora and internet shopper, just starting to come out to my friends and family. Oh, and I picked up a nasty BPAL addiction along the way. (w00t to Amanda!) My mother doesn’t seem so crazy anymore! :d
Hi, Morgan!
I think rambling comes with addressing the elephant, don’t you? Such lovely memories & associations, all collected and with nowhere to share…except now, you can! And, see, your mother never was crazy 😉 … we learn that in so many ways as we grow up. /:)
That’s a great narrative. I’d suggest a little something for that BPAL addiction, but I’m working on a bit of a Guerlain issue myself. >:d<
Thanks for the response, Shelley! Yes, despite always thinking of myself as being a little more fond of perfume than the average bear, it was kind of a shock to me when I started reading the blogs on a regular basis and obsessing over fragrances. I think the moment I KNEW that I was an addict was the day shortly after Christmas last year when I received my first $100 box of sample decants in the mail and thought to myself, “I’m in Heaven!” :d The first thing I did was call my Mom, although she unfortunately doesn’t have the money to hoard anymore. But she still listens. 😡
Hehe, the big problem with BPAL addiction is that the creator is so PROLIFIC. The bottles may be pretty cheap, but the quantity kills you! I have a shopping cart on The Perfumed Court full of all the classic Guerlains I’ve never smelled, (or that my Mom had, but I can’t remember, like Mitsouko,) just waiting for me to press the “Buy” button. 🙂
Being a cut from the cloth girly girl, perfume has been far too essential a component of my identity.
The very first that will always be last:
No5. Not your average No5. My mom’s vintage bottle.
My dad bought my mom one when they started dating. Back in ’86 in post-communist Yugoslavia buying something like that was well, a big present. My mother, my sister and I still cherish that one bottle to this day. The three of us only spritz it for the most special occasions. One spritz only.
That’s how we’ve made it last 22 years. Yes that bottle is older than me. And let me tell you now it’s probably the most treasured posession in our house. No5 gets better with age. Once I spritz our bottle it turns into the myth on my skin. Warm, synthetic, feminine, powerful, attention grabbing, sophisticated. It’s like a perfume that turns me into everything I aspire to be.
I don’t know what it is but when I go into stores and test out the bottles on the counter, it’s just not the the same. It smells like cleaning products to me.
Other perfumes have caught my imagination for a brief time but our one bottle proves a beautiful truth about perfume. If it has history, it has power.
Elena, welcome, and what a great story. Whatever the socio-economic circumstances that made that Chanel a “big present,” you and your sisters have clearly made it even bigger. That’s fantastic.
Isn’t it fantastic how some perfumes can age so well? I am glad you and your sisters have this ritual, and that you shared it here. Let us know if you ever discover another perfume that you think will be worthy of future generations….
I’ve been a sniffer ever since I can remember. I’ve always loved smelling stuff. Dollar bills, leather, pipe tobacco, the forest, grandma’s musty basement, old books, campfires, wood stoves, bacon, dirt, vanilla candles, all of this before I learned what perfume was. Then I discovered mom’s fragrances which included a very very small bottle (that I think dad got her in Turkey) of some fascinating oil. It was a little cube of a bottle with a round black cap. I opened and sniffed every morning as I sat watching her get ready for work. Rich and heady. mmmmm.
The family laughed at my need to sniff everything. What can I say? It makes me happy. It’s like eating chocolate. It’s a sensation that has a need to be satiated. I even love perfumes that actually give me a headache (Amouage Jubilation 25, so gorgeous I hurt my sinuses inhaling it, I can’t help myself). But I get tired of one scent easily, even the great ones- I actually gave away my Coco in my 20’s because I was tired of it (a fool I was, didn’t realize I would want it later!) Then I too stumbled across the posse while googling a scent for sacred datura blossoms, which then led me to TMP. My life will be forever changed by the ability to purchase decants. And the descriptions and reviews! I’m in heaven. I wish those around me liked perfume as much as I do (they generally hurt my boyfriend’s nose even with a small dab) So what I do is slather it on when I’m alone. I like to juice up the most before I go to bed. I’m a scent junky and am glad to know I’m not alone;) One of these days I might discover what that little cube of perfume oil from Turkey was and come full circle.
I meant TPC not TMP (what the heck is TMP?)
Mollypenny,
So, a cube of perfume oil could be your Rosebud AND your madeleine. (Welles & Proust; never let it be said I prefer books over film or vice versa!) I hope you *do* find it some day. Right now, I’ve got a similar hunt, but not quite as challenging: I’d like to replace that KL I tossed just a couple of years before becoming a perfume nut.
I can still remember the difference in smells between my mom’s old Nancy Drew books and an even older set of encyclopedias…isn’t it crazy how powerful scent can be?
LOL–I have a vial of Jubilation 25 that I tend to snort, too…I’m sure if the wrong person saw me, they’d send a report to the folks who do rehab intake… 😮 😉
Hello, MJ–glad you joined us.
I like the lilac from CL&P — fun stuff, nicely done, and doesn’t break the perfume bank. :)>- And I’m glad you found the colors back in your life…there’s a scene from the kid’s book “The Phantom Tollbooth” when Milo conducts a symphony of colors…you make me try to imagine that as rendered in perfume. 🙂
Hi, I’m MJ and I have the sickness too. It started when Mom wore Shalimar, and as a high school and college kid I wanted my own bottles of Coco and Poison. I must have worn them but I forgot…then I went into the Dark Wilderness and wore nothing but White Linen body powder in summer. And came out again, 38 and bored with all of my prior interests. Books were boring, music was boring, my old scents were boring. But I’d bought Mitsouko in 1997, when I read it was the thing, though I didn’t “get” it. I tried it again, with another old love Mom never let me have – Opium. Then I bought the MUA top faves sampler at TPC and wow – life had color again. Carons, Guerlains, Chanels, Nicolai, that incense stick from CL and the Poppies….. Now I smell good all of the time. And if choosing is too hard, I go with Youth Dew body powder (can’t go wrong there)………
DH has a passion for fine scented soap. As long as I keep throwing a few Roger et Gallet bars in my perfume orders, he’s none the wiser……
(rats–that’s my reply to you, below (:| )
Hi Shelley!
I started with Love’s Baby Soft;
Charlie & Heaven Scent;
Coty Wild Musk;
L’air Du Temps;
Anais Anais (age 17)
Calandre (18)
Cristalle (21)
The list goes on–but I wore the last three for years. I moved to Vermont and didn’t have access to too much. In 1993 or 4, I went to the Short Hills Mall w/my mom while visiting home, and I sniffed Feminite du Bois and LOVED it–and my mom bought it for me. And after sniffing me for a few days, she went back and bought herself a bottle. That was sort of a turning point for me. That’s when I started needing more than two scents. That’s when my nose got impatient–in the mid 90s.
Now that I wear many scents, I’m much more aware of them–I can detect them all day. When I only owned two, my nose would lose them after a while. Looking back, I had pretty sophisticated taste as a young girl.
Hi, multitasker!
Oh, boy, Love’s Baby Soft and Heaven Scent…when those names come up, I can conjure the scent, then I remember the names of the girls who wore them in high school. I had some Anais Anais just before college, and it was the scent I wore to prom. Jean Nate before, KL after…and then a long dry spell before Norell led me back down the perfume path.
I love FdBois…but it took me a little while to learn to love it. This evolution was, however, part of my current freefall down the rabbit hole of scent–so in the larger scheme, it didn’t take long. 🙂
Glad you stopped by!
OOOH–Jean Nate. I forgot about that one. Yep, that fits into my list. In fact, I think my husband may have “lost” my remaining jug during our last move.
I wore Anais Anais to the prom too.
I’ve really enjoyed readin this, all your interesting stories! It’s nice to see what kind of things trigger this interest..mostly, as I see..the trigger is growing up in a certain ambiente…I really envy those of you who had the opportunity to know and use classics when you where not even teens!!That sounds so great! I’m still halfway in that phase where you don’t confess (to family and friends) how deep your interest goes…I mean they know I’m “into” perfume..but I know they’d neeeeeeever understand me. How I’d love to have a friend whith whom I could split an Les Exclusif bottle! 🙂
hmmm…like Bel Respiro?….:-\”
(hope that ends up being whistling guy)
Rats, it wasn’t whistling guy. Let’s see, how can I feign nonchalance with one of these dudes 😕 … maybe I’ll just speak from behind some shades… b-)
:d!! Don’t worry about the whistling guy..I got it anyway!
Hmm…I could answer you that..maybe this evening, when I’ll try on my sample..right now I’ve tried (from my Exlusif sampling kit)31 Rue Cambon (I was actually thinking of splitting that…8-|(does this guy whistle??Or what’s he looking at??),Chanel 22 (really liked that too!), Eau de Cologne and Coromandel..
I’m new here and I loved this post. My perfume addiction started thanks to a friend who told me about Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab nearly a year ago. Before this I never cared that much about perfume. In my teen years I wore Ici, Sunflowers, Exclamation!–in other words, cheap drugstore scents. In my early 20s I bought a few bottles at Sephora that were my staples: Very Irresistible and FCUK Her. I didn’t get what the big deal was, and I thought most “department store” fragrances just smelled too strong for me.
So then my friend got me into BPAL, and I fell hard. Turns out perfume oil was what I’d needed all along. There are so many different scents to try and the prices are cheaper for those than for the high-end perfume.
But I’ve since discovered a new found appreciation for the department store fragrances I’d written off. Now I am compelled to track down a bottle (or even just a sample!) of Donna Karan Chaos, because I found out I love incense blends. I’ve picked up samples of Happy by Clinique and Sensuous by Estee Lauder, and I got a great deal on Black Cashmere on Ebay. And I’m always looking for good review sites to find out what other gems I might have missed that I should look into now.
I think the hardest thing about being addicted to scents for me is the fact that I’m very happy with my current collection and don’t really *need* any more perfume, but always being a little afraid that the “perfect” scent is out there somewhere just waiting for me to find it.
Amanda, welcome! >:d< I've got a few perfume oils from independents which have turned out well...I can understand the appeal. But I'm even more with you when it comes to Black Cashmere; there are a good number of incense scents out--I'll bet you find others you like, too. Good for you for exploring through samples. I've rather given up on what I "need"; clearly, when approaching it as a "how much juice do you need to keep your body scented for the next 10 years," I'm probably more than okay--especially when you consider I'm not one of those who always has to have something on. (Perfume wise, that is. /:) ) I kind of accept that I'm an explorer, and treat is as a learning experience. Hey, I've got plenty of books to read, but that doesn't stop me from picking another one up if it's a bargain or if it's strongly grabbed my attention. 🙂
Fragrance was always in the background for me. Diorissimo, Shalimar, Joy, scents by Mary Chess, Worth, Rochas and Lubin were what my mom, godmother and aunts wore, accessories appropriate to the occasion. I still think that’s a good use of perfume.
Perfume emerged into the foreground for me a bit more than a year ago when a beloved aunt was very ill. I travelled quite a long way to be with her and found myself going back and forth from the harsh fluorescent lights and antiseptic smells of the hospital to sleep and eat at a more welcoming bed & breakfast. The weather was pretty bleak and so was my mood. One morning at breakfast, a young woman from Bulgaria who was working at the B & B came to my table with a vial of rose oil she had brought with her from Eastern Europe. She gave it to me. suggesting that if I smelled it when I was feeling bad, it would help me feel better. She was right. It did.
Since then, I’ve found that perfume is not just a partial antidote for grief, but that it can also deepen or counteract my moods in many circumstances. It can intensify the smell of fallen leaves and the blue of the sky on a crisp October day. It can make me almost lightheaded with joy weeding my herb garden. It can take me time travelling back to my grandmother’s kitchen. It can cloak me in disguise when I am exploring a new place and feeling unsure.
Perfume has been like a secret door into several other worlds. When I enter those places, it’s wonderful to know that there are guides and other fellow travelers there with me.
Kathryn,
I’m in the midst of trying to learn more about Mary Chess…I grabbed a set of Mary Chess “sample ampules” at auction, and know nothing about the juice inside, other than the eetsy-beetsy names written on them. Can you imagine grabbing a samp in the ’50s’s? Shard-o-rama. On the other hand, hygienic AND no plastic to mess up the aging. And, those puppies are sealed from outside air…
It’s good that you’ve found a way to channel some of the potential emotional power of fragrance. I’ve mentioned in other contexts a friend who broke into tears at the mere suggestion of smelling lily of the valley, so powerful was the association with positive memories of her father. I, too, am as enamored of the opportunities scent offers to go beyond myself as I am of the quest to find a scent that best expresses myself.
My name’s Natalie, and, well, let’s just say that this isn’t the first time I’ve been at one of these meetings…
It all started at a very tender age; inspired by my mother’s Diorissimo (only for super-duper extra-fancy occasions) and my sister’s cheap bubble baths, as a little girl I was constantly making sachets, pomander balls, and even perfume (thanks, Ma, for tolerating all the lard-smeared plates heaped with lilac blossoms!).
The first “real” perfume I ever owned was a sample of Magie Noire, handed to innocent little 9-year-old me by that odious corrupter of youth, a Saks sales associate. From that gateway drug, it was a slippery slope: Diorissimo and White Linen at age 14, followed by a trip to Paris at age 15 and the resulting stash of Calèche, Paris, and Chanel No. 5. The next year I really hit bottom, moving on to the hard stuff: Cocktail, Vacances, and Royal Bain de Champagne, with occasional hits of Poison; not long after, I got hooked on Joy and Orchidée Blanche as well.
I tried to clean up my act in my 20s and early 30s, staying away from the rough stuff. Stick to softer fare, I told myself; just one little spritz won’t do any harm, right? So I limited myself to Diorissimo for a good 10 years. I thought I could handle it, but, inevitably, I wound up back at my old haunts, huffing away at Barneys and Bergdorfs just like the old days. Nevertheless, I still thought I had it under control, walking out with nothing more than Jo Malone Orange Blossom and La Chasse Extrême — kiddie stuff, relatively speaking.
Then along came the Internet, that dastardly enabler of eccentric hobbies. And here I am again, bureau piled high with samples, a dozen perfume blogs on my bookmarks list, and a 3-year-old son who knows the difference between Bandit and Bois d’Encens. I tried to fight it, truly I did, but, well… if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!
Natalie, hello!
Ah, you are an early starter. I think you might still be on to something with that Lilac Lard… 😕
Oh, my; and I thought I was progressing so quickly when my adult self quickly picked up on Magie Noire as a “yes” scent shortly after starting down the rabbit hole of perfume. 9??? You go, girl. (Ironically, I had some Diorissimo from early stage 1, thanks to an assist from Musette up there. We have some parallels, you and I–it’s just that my KID was 9 when I got going. 🙂 )
Yes, this internet thing can be a dastardly enabler. I love that your son can identify Bandit etc.; I was working on different garden flowers with mine when mine was young. Right now, I can’t rope him into my scent explorations–he’ll say he only wears “manfume,” and walks away. That’s okay; I’m happy he & his bro are both showering. [-o<
Hey, I didn’t make up the lard thing! It’s enfleurage, a cold extraction technique. If I remember correctly, you smear two plates with lard, then sandwich them together with fresh flowers; the lard absorbs the fragrance, then you mix the lard with alcohol and separate it out. That’s the theory, at least — the reality was a heap of wilted flowers, moldy lard, and a few drops of something that smelled NAS-tay.
As for Magie Noire, I used to wear it to my nice little Episcopal grade school and horrify everyone… I haven’t smelled it since, but I’d love to revisit it and see if my memory is accurate.
Love the “manfume” — is that the opposite of her-fume?
OMG, I am a teacher, and am LOL at the thought at one of my students sauntering in with Magie Noire on…
I *love* that you were practicing old-style techniques. I believe we can call that “artisanal perfume” these days, right? All that loving hand crafting, and better capture of the essential oils…and the only way to get the oils from certain materials? (Though if I can make lavender syrup for my tea, I’ll bet you can make lilac lard for your muffins… :d )
Yes, I think the “man-fume” was mean to emphasize the “yang” to a per-(her-)fume “yin.” In many ways…. /:) 8-|
I don’t have much of a history – my first order of decanted testers was hardly more than a month ago. But here I am, checking in twice daily (more on work days) and posting on my own (not perfume related) blog about my nascent love of Rose Poivree.
I fear I might be a goner. My next tester order is sitting in a shopping cart just waiting for me to give in. It won’t be long now.
Marsha,
I didn’t yet get to the part about Rose Poivree, but you’ve captured your own fall into perfume beautifully on your blog post. Isn’t it fun to check in here and see what others are up to? I really don’t think it matters if you are just starting or at DEFCON 5; there’s always something to learn, and plenty to commiserate about.
I started with a few orders in succession from decanters like TPC; it was a wonderful way to explore. Unlike you, I wasn’t looking for The Scent at first–I was just a curious cat wondering what this was all about. I must say, it didn’t take long for me to start trying to identify scents that were “me.”
Still exploring…and searching…and having a great time along the way.
Hello.My name is AllaboutEve and I’m a perfume junkie.I confess!!!
Perfume hasn’t been part of my life until about a year ago. At least, that’s what I thought..but actually, looking back..this special obsession of mine (ours..:) )has always been there,always been a part of me..only in a different way! Smelling things,people, food, my dog (the most wonderful smell in the world?My dogs’ ears, my dogs paws…I would have loved to have those smells in a bottle, specially now that he’s dead..) has always been very important for me..only that until a year ago, I never thought about it too much. I always remember the comforting feeling of, as a kid, waiting for my dad to come home from work and rushing to hug him and slipping under his jacket and…breathing him in!!Sooo cozy! But it wasn’t all about the perfume: it was the sense of smell itself I gave importance to.
I always had perfume, but cheap little drugstore things..although I always enjoyed smelling my mother’s perfumes…grew up smelling Tresor, Poison, Paloma Picasso..Then one day, in my teens, I bought CKOne, my first real perfume (still like it)..a few years later I bought JPG Classique (mostly because the guy I was crazy about wore Le Male).So now I had my day-time and my night-time perfume.What more could I need,right?(but perfume obsession is not about the real necessity of a fragrance, I’m afraid!) But what was my actual trigger??One day, looking for lip balm reviews in a spanish beauty blog..I saw perfume posts…read about Serge Lutens…got curious…started googling..found the Posse and others…and now, a year later, I’m a proud perfume-lover and my number of FB’s already exceeds the amount a sane person could understand..I love to try new scents,read about them, talk about them,love to try to get my hands on “hard-to-get-frags”, admire Serge, the old Guerlains..and so many others!!And,nope,don’t want to stop,’cause it makes me happy!! And,ummm,I really need you guys, just to know that I’m not alone in my craze!
Hello, AllAboutEve…so glad you stopped in!
Yes, I think an awareness and sensitivity to smells/scents counts as a marker along the path to perfume. As for the comfort of a person’s scent, you can find references in books/movies/history, so you and Napoleon and so many others are in good company. 🙂 {Though I think that Napoleon must have been far down the scent-sory path…somewhere trailing behind March and Louise in his desire for, erm, skank, erm, more *adventurous* scents. [Waves at the ladies:d/ “Hiya!”} ]
You are far from alone…note from the comments above I’ve already spent extra time smelling my dog’s feet this weekend… 😉 … meet you at the Guerlain counter any time!
Hey, Demeter could bring out a new scent: Dogfeet…since it’s so popular around here! 🙂
(btw, cat paws aren’t too bad either..and sunny-warm cat fur too!)
Surely Napoleon would die for Serge’s MKK or something like that…but I could imagine him with some Shalimar too..:)
A hug for you and all those “dog-smellers” out there!
Have I missed the meeting, am I too late? Hello, I’m Jen. And I’m a perfume addict. It started because of my uncle. He’s a fabulous make-up artist and when I was little, he worked in the beauty departments of various stores. First he worked at the Christian Dior counter at Neiman Marcus, then he worked at Shiseido at Macys. Every time I would see him, he’d bring me a “goody” bag. My mother hated him for it (imagine a ten year old dousing themselves in Féminité du Bois, Dune or Poison) but she allowed it to go on which must have been difficult for her because she used to never wear perfume. In fact, she didn’t even own a bottle! At the age of twelve, I had found my first HG…Angel. I must have melted the faces of everyone around me with the amount I put on. My family are saints for living with me. I wore it every day until I was 16. Then my first real boyfriend took me the mall, brought me to the fragrance counter at Filenes’s and said, “I will buy you any perfume you like, as long as you never ever wear Angel again. It’s gross.” I spent hours sniffing perfume…I must have snorted enough coffee beans to make a full pot. However, this one day reawakened the perfume obsession I had as a child and now, at 23 years of age, I am a full-blown addict. Although sadly, my childhood love, Féminité now makes me want to vomit. Over a decade after first trying it, I ordered a sample and now all I smell is ripe-tastic armpit. And I shudder to think I used to wear Angel, it smells like a dirty wet wool sweater to me. But I digress. To this day, I don’t know if I should thank my uncle, or kick him in the shins for blessing, er, burdening me with this habit.
Jen, never too late, always ready with a ~o).
I am LOL at the idea of a twelve year old soused, I mean doused, in Angel…though it’s easier for me to laugh, because both of my children are boys.
And in the ways of the perfume universe, I only recently decided that Feminite du Bois was one of my It perfumes. It took me a while to figure out what was “all that” about it. Of course, I once again have identified as All That something of which there is Not Much. :-< Let's see, I like Fleur de Narcisse (limited run), Bois Blond (limited run), Feminite du Bois (unavailable in the US), and a handful of reformulated Guerlain and Caron. Blart. At least I never had a chance to experience Chaos, and am not a part of that mania/controversy. #:-s
When I was little, I remember thinking that Féminité smelled like jam. Now, I think there must have been something wrong with my young nose. And I also must confess (blasphemy!) I’ve never sniffed Chaos either. I was too scared I’d fall in love! Now that its been reissued I’m still afraid to smell it. I’m afraid I’ll like it but find it lacking and then I’ll break down and search for the original and either love it and be in agony trying to find a bottle or hate it and feel like a failure as a perfumista. Oh, the trauma we perfume fiends must endure.
Oh, I know, I know! That’s what I mean about the Chaos…I’m rather afraid I’ll fall down the terrible trap of Must Have Original Formula. I’ve seen the fleabay auctions, and I don’t want to get caught in that.
Trying to comfort myself with the knowledge that I had decided I liked Organza Indecence, thought it was discontinued, then found full boxes at an Ulta store near me. Pretty funny when an item at full price makes you say “Score!!”
hhmmmm. don’t know where i fit in, as there are many many fragrances which i am THRILLED to live without…..but there are ‘those’ ones, those ones which – my first grade teacher wore Tabac Bond, and in the early ’70’s my mom broke down and bought parfum and EDT. the most money she had ever spent on herself. she still has both, as she hasn’t worn them so much as to have them to smell every now and then.
but TB was so DIFFERENT from most of the stuff out there, and i had no one around who was interested, nowhere to find out which direction to turn to, blah blah blah. then i experienced about 30 years of no sense of smell due to severe asthma, so what was the point!
but about 1 1/2 years ago i got a blood clot and was treated with coumadin. this is extracted from the tonka bean, same as coumaRin, which was the first synthetic scent back in 1868 (or one of the first). according to science, there is no connection whith what happens next, but at any rate, my smell sense kicked in again. Wow! (funny how you romanticize beiong able to smell and leave out all the truly vile and disgusting smells out there) 😮
so i started to look on the web for TB, and found all these amazing sites that sold decants and gave fabulous descriptions, so that i had a hope of finding some of those wild scents out there that actually do it for me. Sadly, the current Tabac Blond is really great but is not the same :(( , it has lost that ‘caron darkness’. but there are others, like bandit, that are even wilder! so thank you all so much for how much you help all of us out here in our search for ‘those’ scents….
Lunarose,
I think we all fit in in our own little spot, which then overlaps and connects with so many others. (Everybody, say “hi!”) It’s interesting how you help fill in the other end of the time-line aspect of coming to perfume…some who responded can’t remember a time they weren’t interested; others have been in and out; yet others didn’t come in until later in life. (BTW, that would include me.)
Again, Tabac Blond makes an appearance…I’m starting to think that for Halloween, I’m going to peroxide my hair and weave cigarettes through it. Unfortunately, you all might be the only ones who know who/what I am. ;;)
i love your costume idea! you never know who might recognize you, either…(somewhat OT) years ago i decided to dress as amelia earhart for halloween day, as i hapenned to have everything i needed. my jodphurs, bf’s work boots and jacket, my boss’s welding glasses. i put a map of oakland in my pocket with the airport’s a. earhart drive showing (from where she left for her last flight), brushed on some blush to look outdoorsy, and figured i’d be the only one in on the joke.
well, everywhere i went 1 or 2 people knew who i was right away! a couple of ladies got real excited about it too. so i say go for it, you just might make someone’s day!;;)@-)
Hello, my name is Lisa and I’m a perfumaholic.
I’d always liked perfume and worn it, but I’d never found that ‘signature scent’ everyone talks about. I kind of felt like a failure for being so fickle. But then everything changed. I was in a bookshop, browsing the scifi/fantasy section, and saw a book called The Emperor of Scent. I took it down and read the blurb. I bought it. I read it while on holiday in France and had to find a perfumerie as soon as I could, to smell the things Luca Turin described so wonderfully. One of the things I smelled was L’Heure Bleu and it was strange and haunting. I couldn’t forget it. I had to go back again and again to smell it. Eventually, a few weeks later, I bought a bottle. Then I found the blogs and Basenotes and started reading up on more perfumes. Soon I owned Vol de Nuit and Shalimar and that was it… I was lost.
Or maybe found.
Hello, Lisa!
That Luca (what are you calling him now, March; Lucania? Turez?)–love him, hate him, accept him for what he is, he has led a lot of people to the well. And when it comes to L’Heure Bleu, I’m with you, Mi-cuit, and so many others–wow. If it’s “playdough” that’s doing that, so be it.
Lost or found, glad you’re here.
What a great post! 🙂 I’m afraid my father turned me on to perfumes when I was around 5 or 6. He adored perfumes and we had wonderful times bonding over them – shopping for them (supposedly for my mother who had *zero* interest in scents, so they all got passed on to me) or having him help me identify who was wearing what at their cocktail or dinner parties. It’s hard to break that sort of early addiction and, frankly, I’ve never tried. 🙂 DH calls me an external alcoholic since I wear my alcohol instead of drink it (he remains blissfully ignorant about perfumes – despite being constantly used as a skin chemistry guinea pig – and doesn’t differentiate between alcohol and oil based scents).
LOL, I’m loving the “external alcoholic”! Nice to meet another (like dleep above) who was into perfume from such an early age. I do wonder if we should let your dad know about the Posse… 😕
Hey, any DH who consents to being a guinea pig is allowed their space when it comes to not knowing their bases. Gives you permission to continue to accquire even more examples–for educational purposes, of course… ;))
Hi, I’m rosarita and I’m…one of you.
I’ve always loved perfume, from the Arpege my parents brought me back from a trip to Europe when I was 8, to the Norell I discovered at the Woolworth’s counter at 12. My mother, aunt and grandmother all had perfume and smelled great, but it was only one or two bottles at a time. I also played the piano and loved music, loved learning to cook and knit, loved reading. Fast forward to a couple years ago, a very dark time in my life. Somehow I had lost myself among some hard life experiences. I conciously began to focus on my five senses, as a way of rediscovering pleasure in life: I listened to music, ate chocolate, got a good book from the library, bought a cashmere scarf at a garage sale and put on some Coco, unworn for years. I discovered music downloads and found nowsmellthis through a magazine article. I’ve swapped and smelled and gained weight and lost weight and gained it back; I’ve branched out to scented lotions and baths and a whole collection of vintage silk scarves and lots and lots of samples and decants. I’m happy to say I’ve found my senses again.
Rosarita, welcome! >:d< So glad that scent --and chocolate and cashmere-- had such a powerful restorative effect for you. And oooh! I have some vintage scarves, too...including a wacky set of state souvenir ones an acquaintance gave me. So glad you've been able to regain your senses... @};-
Shelley, LOVE your post! 🙂
I started pretty young with an obscure Avon cream perfume called Hana Gasa, then a bottle of Faberge Babe, or maybe it was Coty Muguet de Bois. I progressed to fine perfumes quite a bit later when I happened to go to the best perfume shop in the known universe, The Perfume House, where I found out what the good ones were like. After that truly life-changing experience, there was no turning back! Proudly addicted with no plans to quit! Currently enamored of Serge Lutens, Montale, Annick Goutal, Rochas, Caron, Patou, Andy Tauer, ad infinitum…
Hello, Flora!
Ah, so you entered through The Perfume House…
Muguet du Bois? I found an intact bottle with bric-a-brac (rick-rack?) and flowers still in the box…I’m a little afraid to open it…but I’m just enough of a dork to have a vision that next May Day I’ll set that, Diorissimo, and any other lily of the valley scents out in honor of the day. :-b
OOOOOOOH! Where on earth did you find the MdB? I wanna be there when you open it!!!! Peeeez?[-o< xo>-)
Hmmm….well, let’s see…oh, okay, sure! :d/ But we have to have some sort of <:-p to note the occasion. You should see it...all pretty as a picture...hey, maybe I *should* take a picture...
Hi, I’m Claudia. My journey began with a story I read, a story about an unhappy wife who wore a perfume called Tabac Blonde, which she could only buy in Europe. I was fascinated with the idea that there were things you could buy in Europe that you couldn’t buy in the U.S.! Imagine! I never forgot that perfume name, even though I was sure the author made it up. Then came the Internet and one day I typed Tabac Blonde into the search engine and WOW, it was real. After that everything became a blur of tiny samples, divided into 3 piles; no, maybe and YES. No more buying things that smelled good in the store, but not on me. I am so hooked. Haven’t started buying FB’s yet, but Christmas is coming…..
Oh, Claudia, you must check back in and let us all know what you decide to go Full Bottle on…we’ll have a big <:-p to celebrate! What a great tale of international intrigue...I love the Tabac Blond Tale, especially the ghost come to life twist. (It's alive!!!! 😮 ) Hear ya on the samples; I can look to my left, and see the current pile awaiting....
I’m Nancy and my story had a period of total abstinance, but the rest of the time I smelled good. I wore Tabu in high school. I remeber Mother wearing Youth Dew when they went out. Grandmother wore Quelque Fleurs, then L’Air Du Temps. I am ashamed of my french pronuciation, but that doesn’t stop me.
I wore Coriandre in college and when I spent time as an exchange student in Spain things sort of run together in my mind except for the hour that we spent in a duty free perfume shop in Andorra. I bought my boyfriend Acqua di Selva. Habanita for my mother and nothing for me. There was something called Ondine, maybe,in a tall bottle. I have few regrets, but I wish I would have bought whatever that was.
Then I quit. For a long time. Found a lovely perfume shop in Naples, FL. Bought Quelque Fleurs. The owner of the shop is French. She said my pronunciation was cute. Picked up a copy of Perfumes, the Guide. Found perfume blogs.
Thank you, Perfume Posse for making my days so enjoyable.
My spelling is worse than my french pronunciation. Now I will “remember” to check my post before I post.
Spelling, schmelling…seems logical that “abstinance” (sic) is spelling related to “penance”… /:)
The funniest things will lead us astray, no? And you are cute… 😡
ONDINE? OMG!!! You are the only other person in the UNIVERSE who has ever mentioned Ondine (in my memory anyway – and that’s iffy so apologies if I’m offending by omission)
I remember that fragrance, though I don’t remember what it smelled like. I remember buying a bottle at Marshall Field’s in Old Orchard. Wonder if I liked it? Do you have any scent memories of it?
Thanks for a swim down Memory River!
>-)
Hey, ladies…hie thee over to Nell Butler; they *had* Ondine in stock, and have a pic up of a bottle that looks to me like a cross between a nail polish bottle and the Kenzo Amour silhouette. Sound familiar?
Musette-
The only memory I have is that I really liked it but am not sure why. Don’t think I have idealized it in my memory, but with the unattainable… somtimes that is how it goes.
I was buying gifts to take home and I think the thought process was ~ Oh, I’ll get some of that later for myself. That was in ’75 or ’76 and I looked for quite a few years and never found it again. Thank you for knowing it and commenting. I was starting to wonder if I’d made it up. Tried Odalisque once because it had a few of the same letters thinking I’d had the name wrong.
Thanks Shelley!
I remember that the bottle was tall and had a bit of a curve to it.
I’ve always had a fascination with smells, even from very early on. I was probably the only person in my family to notice that dog feet smell like Fritos, and that other parts of the dog have entirely diferent smells! 😮 I noticed that my nose is particularly good at smelling very small concentrations of particular scents–I’d know if my mother was cutting up cucumbers from outside the house. I started off in my pre-teen years with cheap, scented body products; I’m sure the people in Walgreen’s thought I was trying to get high off of huffing conditioners!
Even as a small child I always had a bottle of some cheap perfume thing or another that was bought for me as a gift (4-7-9, Xia Xiang, anyone?). My first bottle of ‘real’ perfume I bought when I was 13, and it was Acqua d’Gio, of all things (I still have it BTW, though mercifully the spritzer is defunct).
I tried other random ‘fumes as the years wore on, a brief dalliance with the CSPs becuase I didn’t know any better and was dating, a one-nighter with Kors by Michael Kors for something different (or not), but it wasn’t until I tried Le Feu d’Issey that I noticed an affinity for the juice developing. It might have had something to do with the fact that my SO became *very* excited the first time I wore it.
The next big step came a few years later when I happened to chance on the PerfumeSmellinThings blog and its wonderful prose, followed by the re-opening of Art With Flowers in its new bigger digs. I wandered in there one day looking at the CSPs, and somehow drifted too close to the Serge Lutens display. Les Lutens sucked me in with all the force of one of those giant whirlpools, and the next thing I knew I had three bell jars. I went from noob to major collector in the space of 3 months (yay disposable income!) and I haven’t looked back since.
I know my habit has gotten the better of me because I very carefully plan for my perfume of the day–it must match my clothes, my mood, the weather, the activities and companions involved, etc. It’s only rivalled by the planning for my new acquisitions, which involves it’s own notebook and constant updating.
Dog feet = Fritos? Must investigate. (Hope the dog doesn’t mind…)
Ooh, you raise a question which I would like to explore further…how do you choose your perfume, and how complex a decision can it become? It’s a question that can have so many more permutations than “do you match your socks to your trousers, or your shirt?”
Disposable income is a handy tool for the fragrance curious. I’ve certainly tossed a few coins at some “juice”–thank goodness for decanters on that account. For me, I’ve also found that it is a Very Fine Thing to have friends in fragrance and get involved in some swapping. (Thanks, y’all! :d/ )
Hi:
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in perfume. As a child, may 6 or 7, I was given a perfume making kit for Christmas and I gifted everyone around me with my “unique” creations. When I was 10 my mother bought me my first perfume, Old Spice For Women, with matching bath gel. I can still picture the small glass bottles they came in. Now I am the proud owner of a linen closet full of perfume. I love it and make no excuses. Thanks for asking.
Ah, very cool…an early scent chemist…and you would be one of those fascinating creatures who always had perfume in their life.
Do you still have that Old Spice for Women? I remember about half a year ago somebody raised the question if they were remembering correctly that it even existed…maybe you can conjure it up again in a present day laboratory. 🙂
Well, I read that New Yorker article about Jean Claude Ellena and that was interesting, so I tracked down Sur Le Nil…Then when the Emperor of Scent first came out, Teri Gross on Fresh Air interviewed either Luca Turin or Chandler Burr so I read that book, which mentioned Luca Turin’s blog so I found that online…which led to google searches and the amazing perfume blogosphere. Then it was over. Before I had only Coco and Cristalle (one bottle per decade). Now I’ve sampled every Lutens but two (arabie, cuir mauresque, I’ll sniff you yet)…divine illness…
OMG, you’ve made it through the Lutens catalogue? Impressive.
Yes, funny–I had one bottle of KL for 10 years. Imagine that…. Though I’m sure I only have a FEW full bottles now, and not more than a couple dozen decants… :^o
Hi, I’m mi-cuit.
I got the odd perfume bottle for birthdays and the like. Started getting compliments on Lacoste Essential and consciously started wearing it for that. Eventually, my nose grew bored of it so I bought other Lacostes. My mother, witnessing the change in my smelling habits, mentioned that she might have a “few old bottles” lying around. One of those old bottles was a little heart that looks like it had been shot through with an arrow, contents almost completely evaporated, marked simply “Chamade Extrait”. Googling led to Guerlain and to Nowsmellthis. Intrigued by a review of one of the Guerlains called L’Heure Bleue, I trekked to the local mall to try it. L’Heure Bleue practically bowled me over, and some time later, I came home with a bottle of EdP and a hunger.
Mi-cuit,
Would it be rude of me to invite myself over? 😕 What a great story! That’s quite a wonderful way to enter the realm of perfume…certainly glad you liked it so much.
Though, if you change your mind, I know a certain guest poster who’ll take your leftovers… :d
Hehehe, come right over.
My mother’s “old bottles” include some vintage Cabochard, and I’m holding on to those for dear life!
Appreciation for perfume started early-My mom bought me a bottle of “little girl” perfume (Tinkerbell knock-off?)in a Mexican border town when I was 5. It was worn on special occasions and sniffed often. By pre-puberty I was spending my allowance at Drug Emporium buying mini perfumes- Lauren, Wings, Nine West, Sunflowers. In my early teens I had moved onto FB’s of Clinique Happy, CK One, and Eternity. Funny, I was in love with the smell of Eternity for Men, but it didn’t occur to me that I could wear it.
In the past year my appreciation morphed into obsession. I was looking up a bottle of perfume on-line that had caught my fancy (can’t recall which one)and stumbled accross a review of it on one our favorite blogs. I started visting the blog often and reading about other perfumes, classics, vintage and started day- tripping to smell the perfume, ordering samples, and eventually swapping.
Now I am settling back into a healthier state- I still love perfume- but I think I will manage to not buy 20 bottles next year. We’ll see.
Helenviolette,
I recently explored a few of the Caron men’s scents…Third Man is interesting. (But I do like lavender.) Wishing you luck with that 20 bottle limit… 😉
Hi, my name’s Debbie. My dad brought home Parisian perfume for mom–a coffret of around five fragrances. I wanted to smell them so much, but she wouldn’t let me open them. I think they were evaporated when she died. I don’t know what happened to them. I was too distraught at her death to think of it.
During my teens, I tried a few things like Chloe, a little solid tray of fragrance, a lemon fragrance…and that’s it. As an adult, I tried Opium, Beautiful, some Bvlgari, Zen. Nothing stuck. There were all ho-hum, very nice but not captivating. Same with the Samsara a Hong Kong friend told me was a more adult version of Opium. So I let it drop for decades, wearing nothing.
In my mid-40’s, I received a bottle of Avon Extraorindary. Now this fragrance was something! It really surprised me given what Avon usually produces. I thought fragrance was just for special occasions, tho, so I didn’t use it often. Years later, I bought a bottle based on a magazine strip, and I was back to the blaaaa reaction.
Something in my late 40’s triggered a desire to know more about fragrance and to try more things. Probably just an insatiable curiosity; I have to have new things to learn about. I googled something, and got this site. Perfume Posse got me started, and the addiction was firmly nailed in place when I received my first set of samples from TPC.
Since then…around the first of the year….I have tried and reviewed over 600 fragrances. I have about 30 FB’s, many partial bottles and decants, and about a dozen samples. I have sold off a bunch and will probably sell of more soon, as I am trying to get down to only the things I really love. Otherwise, I never seem to find the time to wear them. The sampling a gazillion things would help also. However, that’s where the addiction really shows. I *love* trying new things.
Hi, Debbie…
Good story! Extraordinary really WAS so, eh? My journey is similar…my Avon connection is that my Nana wore Avon, which I remember as being an almost guaranteed headache inducer for me. :-&
Thanks for taking the time to share…what DOES float your boat right now?
hI, I’m Musette and ………well, it all started with Nina Ricci Bigarade.
Never did find it, nor do I now remember what, exactly, I was hoping to find (my lost youth?)….but I found a whole other level of scent appreciation…and some incredible scents and some great, wonderful new friends….and a newfound addiction to dot.dot.dot
(late for a grocery run to my dad’s so this is a shortie)
xoxox>-)
Ah,Musette …thanks for being here today! Having known you as a Bal Gal for so long, it’s interesting to hear of the Nina connection.
(Yum, food…shop well!)
Hey, what the…I just was scrolling by, to make sure I had seen all the posts, and that alien guy popped his mask right as I was going by your comment. You scared me! :((
:-j
He’s sneaky that way – I just love when he does that!!!
xo>-)
Hi, I´m rebella and for me it all started when I read an article about Comme des Garcons fragrances. Before that article I had a common interest in fragrances, but after… there is nothing common with my cravings for perfume. I am pretty much obsessed. Right now I am in the middle of ordering and swapping samples of as many fragrances as possible, starting to organise a “must have big bottle of this fragrance-list”… I am so happy that my husband find my new hobby pretty, interesting and absolutly worth the money I spend. None of my friends are into perfumes, but I hope to lure some of them over…
Welcome! (I’m terrible at the inflections on my keyboard…if I say ‘God Dag,’ am I on the right track?)
So you are travelling the path more exotic, eh? You need to talk to the redhead mentioned above. :> I’m just out of an intense sampling/swapping period; I’m sure there will be more to come…
You’ve got fragrance friends here!
Everybody say “Hi, Louise!” Thanks for sharing your story. [Everybody =d> ]
LOL. So you’ve been in from early on, eh? White Shoulders also makes me think of those perfumes that were once “it” for a younger crowd, but eventually became a “grandma” scent. I wonder if that’s more because each generation is so determined to find their own stamp…or because they are so sure they aren’t really “that old”. 😉
As for meeting up with that red-haired vixen…she’s quite the scent siren, isn’t she???
Hi, I’m March. It’s still not really clear how this happened to me. And now Louise (above) has me interested in nail polish, and I’m hiding them both from the thieving girls and the husband for whom another assortment of bottles would probably be a push over the cliffs of despair. /:)
Norell is amazing. Tried it in a dept store — hated it. Kept trying. Finally someone sent me samps of edt, edp, and parfum. It’s not an easy fragrance to love, but a stunning one.
Ah, so the Scent Siren meets the Talon Temptress. You two have a lot of enabling to do. :d
Yeah, that Norell is an interesting beast. I kind of thought of it like the neighbors big old brute dog–or Fluffy in Harry Potter–you know, all big in your awareness but somehow you thought it might be approachable, if you knew how to come over. And, when you do get there, you find that it’s really an interesting creature.
But still takes up a lot of space in the room. 😉
Hi, I’m Louise. I have had a long-standing relationship with perfume. I still beleive it’s healthy, and refuse all evidence to the contrary. I’m only here today because I want to make some connections that can help me find some good “stuff” at a reasonable price. I’m willing to spend cash, or do some, er, swapping, for quality merchandise.
So, this has been going on for awhile. My mom often wore White Shoulders when she and dad had a “date night”, and I was impressed how attentive he was to her on those evenings. Then my older sis come home one day when our parents were out, and saturated me with Opium. I was immediately drawn in, and the story just unfolds from there.
My, um, interest has persisted through young adulthood, into the early mommy years, and on into the fullness of my mature womanhood.
A seminal event for me was meeting a really hot redhead at Sephora at the mall a few years ago, some chick with a cute “month” name-maybe June, er, no-March. She told me about this cybermeeting place, and wowee, it’s just escalated from there.
So, here I am, just wanting to connect with like-minded, healthy folks like myself, who understand the value of our treasured substance :d/
Oops…my reply is below March…