Perfumes: The journey of fragrances in youth

I have used perfumes since I was sixteen or so. My sister bought me my first perfume Sunflowers by Elizabeth Arden... at the time, we did not know much about directors or brands. We just knew about actors and smells; we did not think about wearing brands but we thought about having a perfume. At least we had started to have the desire for things but names ... you know when you are 16 in a smaller town, that is not that important. Especially when someone else discovers the perfumes for you. 

Sunflowers by Elizabeth Arden

The main thing was the main thing, the creator was not important, the patent was not important, the cool thing was to have the perfume. Or at least I thought so... then as we have got older, brands and names became bigger and they started to play a bigger part in our lives.

Then there was Davidoff Cool Water, this was a great perfume. It was not heavy, light like the wind, pure like the water, not sticky, not sweet, fresh but with an undertone, it was almost a perfect one. I used Davidoff cool water for years and years. It is said that it contains paradise flower and juicy mangosteen. 

This is Davidoff cool water, it is not only
 Cool Water but intense! So we want everything intense, don't we?

And later on, I tried also Davidoff rose, when roses made a comeback to the scene. A few years ago, if you might remember, all perfumes had a rose note to it. Then I had Davidoff Searose pacific edition. If you like roses, but you do not want to smell too much like a garden of roses, and you need to mix it with something fresh, this would have been perfect for you. I really enjoyed using Sea Rosepacific Summer Edition and seeing the bottom of it. 

Davidoff Rosepacific Summer Edition

Then for years and years, I used Calvin Klein's unisex. The first time I used it was when my brother told me he was not using his, and I fell in love with this lemony smell. I love lemons, oranges, and any other fruit and smell related to oranges and lemons. (I love cats, too, although cats do not love oranges. I have no problems against the cat smell sticking on you, but it would not be a good perfume to wear, would it?) Writing this blog, I will check now for you what Calvin Klein has in it for you: google says that it smells like freesia, mandarin with cedar and the base is made of a deep green scent of tea, nutmeg (I love it in the food) and soft musk. That is why I must like it so much, cause I like musk but with softer tones. Then I like all cedar, mandarin kind of vitamins stuff. 

Calvin Klein One (unisex)

What happens if you sometimes make mistakes in buying perfume, it does not mean that the perfume is totally wrong or bad or whatever, it is that you have not found the perfect one for you. Three years ago I had Narciso Rodriguez Fleur Musc for her. This perfume is mostly flowerish, compared to lemonish CK. It has some kind of pink pepper smell, then it has patchouli which is a very common ingredient in many of the perfumes, then there is of course amber and musk inside. However, I felt that musk was too much, so I find this perfume good for winter as the smell crystallises in the cold weather. For the summer, I find it very heavy and hard to use. After this perfume, I have noticed that I like more fresh smells like lemon, ginger, mandarin, orange, cedrat, and fewer musk... 

Narciso Rodriguez Fleur Musc for her

However, there is definitely a good balance of flowers and fresh smells in Love story of Chloè. Being aware of the fact that I do not want to fail with my wish to be perfumed again, I bought a 30 ml one. I finished it really quickly as I used it day and night, summer and spring and winter and fall... So I really did like it. At some points, I also felt that it was too many flowers... In fact, the perfume has all the ingredients that I like: neroli, orange blossom (I love orange blossom), stephanotis jasmine and also cedar. So it is really a very original combination, familiar and romantic. It is soft as a smell, not invading other territories. 

Chloè Love Story eau de parfum

As a result of my fear of flowers, I decided that I would go for Cedrat eau de toilette of L'occitane en provence. This one was only 100 ml and I used it constantly for one summer, two years ago, till finally, I said, enough with cedrat. The spray is very delicate and it is a good quality one, so when you have it just once sprayed on you, it diffuses really well. I loved this smell, I fell in love with this smell. But now I wonder if I want to use it every day or not, I think not. It has bergamot (that I love a loooot), cedrat whilst it has a woody base. So it is really like you are in a garden of lemon trees, in the rain and after the rain. It is more of a masculine perfume and it is represented as one, as it was on the shelf with the other products for males. The wood gives its asserting quality and I believe that it is more unisex than masculine. 

Eau de cedrat eau de toilette

There comes one of my favourites of all times, a perfume that does not give me headache, a perfume that I would not give up, that I would buy again and again (as I did with Davidoff and Calvin Klein): Gabrielle Chanel Paris. I never thought that I would love this perfume so much, I thought maybe it was overrated and Chanel was exaggerated. It has Gelsomina (jasminum), orange blossom and ylang-ylang which is from a cananga tree from India. Cananga has yellow flowers as far as I see from Wikipedia photos. I have also noticed that this smell calms me down, as you know, some perfumes have this quality of giving certain feelings to people. 

Gabrielle Chanel

As a note, do not forget to read the book Perfume by Patrick Süskind. 

For now, I will cut it here and I will add these four perfumes (below) to my writing... As you might not see, I got nausea from smelling, thinking and writing. Wow, I smelt some coffee in between, too, but now I need to take a break.

1. Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Scent Spray
2. Caudalie - Fleur de Vigne 
3. Clinique Aromatics in Black 
4. Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue Sun

---- to be continued-----