The sixteenth birthday present.
Airport shopping at Gatwick!
I know to some of you, that statement will be akin to me announcing that I don't really like the taste of water, but it's the truth. My attitude to style has always been practicality first, and perfumes never really fitted into that image for me.
On my sixteenth birthday, my parents apparently decided that I couldn't enter womanhood without embarking on some sort of olfactory adventure, so they bought me a bottle of Kenzo Flower, a beautifully tall and slender creation with a single poppy stem running down the length of the curved glass. I turned eighteen in May, and the bottle is still sitting on my chest of drawers, unused except for about two sprays.
Don't get me wrong, during my early childhood I was just like any other girl – playing with my Barbie "create-your-own" perfume kit. I eventually realised that it wasn't perfumes I didn't like; it was the kinds of perfumes that my parents and friends preferred, all clear and fresh, reminiscent of spring. That wasn't me at all! I'm a summer to autumn girl; I needed something softer and woodier.
And so it was that after several ill-fated attempts to find my "it" scent (Guerlain Shalimar and Yves Saint Laurent Elle, to name but a few), I finally stumbled across Guerlain Idylle. I'm not sure if I was drawn to it because it sponsors Gossip Girl, xoxo, or just because the packaging was beautiful, but it's the perfect scent for me at the moment! It contains rose, patchouli, white musk, freesia, lily-of-the-valley and (my all-time favourite absolute) jasmine; without getting too romantic about it, it reminds me of those late September evenings where the sun takes just a little longer to set and everything seems to take on a golden haze.
I love everything about this scent, except for the price. A 100ml bottle will set you back no less than £80, which I think is laughable for a perfume that has been on the market for a year now; for that reason, I opted for the deodorant spray, which has a little less staying power but is a fraction of the price at £34 for 100ml. Admittedly you don't get the gorgeous teardrop packaging, but until that much-coveted lottery win comes my way, that's how it's going to stay!
So what's your attitude to perfume? Do you have a signature scent that you just keeping going back to, or do you chop and change with the seasons? I'd love to know, seeing as this is one area of the industry where I'm absolutely clueless!
xxx
Eeek £80 is a lot! I loved Flower until I was told by a drunken bloke who worked at The Perfume Shop that I smelt like an old lady. I was 18 and mortified. Although in hindsight, he was an 18 year old boy working at Perfume Shop so perhaps I shouldn't have cared what he thought?!
ReplyDeleteT x
I, on the other hand, loove perfume :)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is definitely viktor&rolf flowerbomb, and like yours, its quite expensive (thankfully I got it as a present)
alisonscampusfashion.blogspot.com
Tabitha – haha, that's a brilliant story! Maybe he meant it as some kind of a compliment in his drunken mind? What a strange, strange person ...
ReplyDeleteAlison – I might nip down to a department store and see if I can nab myself a tester for that! Thanks for the tip. :)
xxx