Perfumes





It started out when I was quite young, about 7 years old. There was a rummage sale at a church and for a nickle I was able to purchase a huge bottle of Lily of the Valley Toilet Water. My very own perfume. One problem, the stuff was ancient and stunk according to my family. I freely doused myself with the pale green liquid. The more the better. After a while my treasured bottle disappeared. I was heartbroken, but in looking back I know one thing for certain and one this I suspect. The certain thing is, this old bottle of toilet water as my sisters called it, was the beginning of a great love of fragrance. The second thing I think I know, is that my mother probably threw the bottle out in self defence !
As a young girl, pre teen, someone would give me Heaven Sent for a present. Later as a teen I got Loves Baby Soft as a gift. In summer, I would take a splash from my mothers bottle of Jean Nate that she kept in the refrigerator. It felt wonderful in the summer heat. And even today I think about my mothers summer scent.
After getting a job, my love of perfumes took a serious turn. The fragrance counter was the first stop for me in a department store. They used to give you tiny sample bottles and I would wear the sample, remembering how it made me feel to wear it and how many compliments the scent would bring. Through the years there have been fragrances that came and went for me, but always there have been standards that are always on my dresser.

The list that has remained constant
Bal A Versailles......my girls always think of me when they catch a whiff of this scent. I wore it when they were babies and still love it today. Its the scent that my purse most often smells of. If you ask my children, they will say that any candy found in my purse will taste of Bal A Versaille.
White Shoulders is another old time favorite. I began wearing it before I was married. Our neighbor Peggy always wore it and she was like another sister to me. It gives me a good feeling to wear it.
Giorgio Beverly Hills... the very one Emery gave me last night....oh this is the scent I began wearing in California, love the lightness of the scent. Its a warm weather perfume for me.
Cesar's Woman... heavier for cooler weather, a bit romantic and always on my dresser.
Red Door..... a true love for me. Always gets compliments, suits me well. Even the name works for me as we had a red front door for many many years.
Royal Secret, another cooler weather perfume for me. I like it, it seems like a dress up perfume for me. One for dates and winter parties.
One of my all time favorite perfumes is no longer available. I had more compliments when wearing Bakir by GERMAIN MONTEIL than with any other perfume in all my history of fragrance wearing. Handsome men seemed to be drawn to it, which was fine since I only wore it before I was married. It was a spicy, rich winter time perfume. Exotic and very romantic.
I used to wear Zen by Shiseido but have forgotten about it until just recently, a nice light scent, perfect for summer.
I love good smells and my house is known for its good smells. Incense, carefully chosen oils in simmer pots, a wonderful essential oil defuser that sprays out a mist of good scents.

Good smells always make me feel good and gives my family something to buy me for birthdays and Christmas !

Comments

Granny said…
I had forgotten about Royal Secret. I used to wear that in winter and loved it!
Mimi said…
Red Door is my all time favorite... that is my husband's favorite fragrance on me !!
so of course that is the one he always buys for me
Rose of Sharon said…
I love perfume too! It seems I never have enough money to buy as much as I would really like though! I love all the same ones you do. I remember Love's Baby Soft and Love's Rain and Love's Lemon. Yum!

You have a very nice blog!

Sharon
Patty said…
Oh Sharon I had forgotten about Loves Lemon, kind of reminds me of Lemon Up shampoo from the 1970's
Dawn said…
I remember Love's Baby Soft. I think my first bottle I stole from a friend's house...LOL.

Honestly I am not a perfume person. I mean, I like it, but I can't see wasting $30 or more dollars on them.

I prefer body sprays. Much cheaper and not as strong. :)
I will say though, earlier this year my mom gave me a gift card to Bath and Body Works and I bought my favorite scent in a perfume form. Of course I also bought the lotion and sprays too :)
That's about the extent of my perfume collection :)
JenJen said…
I use perfume to "pretty up" instead of makeup. I have a tin full of bottles of varying qualities and price ranges, and I love every single one of them.

My all time favorites are most of the Estee Lauder scents and Clinique's Aromatics Elixir. That is a very strange scent. Think of an opal in scent form. Different notes emerge based on mood, temperature, and who knows what else. It's really cool.

I also have my share of dollar store oils, which I bought becuase they smelled good.

I wear perfumes based on what colors I'm wearing and my mood, rather than by season.

~Jen M.
Unknown said…
Oh, I use to wear White Shoulders because I missed my Bubbe Sophie so much and she wore that:-) Then as I became a woman of the world I wore Anais Anais,lol...now I'm kind of a bath and body works what's on sale type o' gal:-)
Unknown said…
Wow! I remember Royal Secret. A LOVELY scent worn by my mother in the 70s. Alas, when I purchased it a few years ago, (owned by another company) it was nothing like the heavy, gorgeous fume I remember from years ago! : ( My father bought this for her in the winter.

White Shoulders I treasured. Had the edt? and the powder with the feminine billowing powder puff that accompanied the fume. Wow!

My all-time fragrance from years ago that my mother wore? Well, My Sin by Lavin, of course.

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