Fragrant Memories
nostalgic pasts in a 100 ml bottle
“Perfume is the art that makes memory speak”
— Francis Kurkdjian
There’s something about perfume fragrances that trigger certain memories that you have forgotten about, and you just get that overwhelming nostalgic feeling when you smell it. My earliest memory of having smelled something so good was in my fifth grade reading class. Mrs. G, my teacher at the time, always smelled like a clean floral with a touch of powder. I’ve never smelled anything like it before, and I remember feeling cozy in her classroom. Every corner of her room smelled like her. Either the projection of that perfume was really good, or she had a secret room spray that smelled just like it.
Mrs. G wore a very unique scent because I never smelled anything like what she wore again until I was at the Canadian airport’s tax free shopping area. My younger sister is a casual collector of perfumes, and I at the time didn’t “care” for such luxury, but wanted to help her look around. At one point, my sister sticks one of her wrists at me saying that this fragrance smelled like Mrs. G (she also had her as a reading teacher when she was in fifth grade). Skeptical, I took a whiff. Instantly, I was transported back to the time I was reading Little Women on the fuzzy brown rug in the corner of Mrs. G’s room.
“You’re so right. It does smell like her”
I wish I remembered what the name of the fragrance was, but I remember the brand being Chloé. Not that I would wear the fragrance myself, but in the case that I see Chloé at a mall somewhere, I would try a tester to jog my fond childhood memories of being in her class (Mrs. G was one of my favorite elementary school teacher).
At the Canadian tax free shopping area, my sister didn’t find a fragrance she liked enough to buy. However, I ended up leaving with Jo Malone’s Wood Sage and Sea Salt which actually has it’s own story.
In high school, I had a friend in orchestra who always smelled so nice. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what she smelled like, but it was definitely not the usual fragrance you would smell on a girl. At this point in life, I never liked perfumes made solely for girls as they were floral powder bombs that always made me sneeze. Almost every girl I knew wore this type of scent.
My friend was different. She didn’t smell like.. girl? I so badly wanted to ask her what she was wearing, but high school Emma had crippling social anxiety. One lucky day though, I saw her pull out her perfume from her bag to reapply it. I took a glance at the chic minimalistic glass bottle. It was Jo Malone’s Wood Sage and Sea Salt — a perfectly unisex fragrance that reminds you of a sea breeze on a day of overcast.
This fragrance singlehandedly broadened my scope of knowledge about perfumes. I was glad to know that I didn’t have to smell like a cheap floral bouquet dowsed in baby powder in order to smell nice. Inspired, I went home to rummage through my mom’s abandoned collection of perfumes to find a similar smelling fragrance as sixteen year old Emma definitely could not afford Jo Malone. I eventually dug out a Calvin Klein fragrance. I can’t remember the exact name, but it doesn’t matter as it was made in the 90’s and got discontinued. It smelled like the salty sea with a hint of citrus. Definitely did not smell like Wood Sage and Sea Salt, but it gave off somewhat similar vibes.
Holding my very own bottle of Jo Malone’s Wood Sage and Sea Salt, I was reminded of my bittersweet memories of high school. It also happens to be my very first bottle of perfume that my mom gifted me after college graduation and obtaining my first job. Wood Sage and Sea Salt now also holds that memory.
Since then, I have acquired other perfumes. My fiancé gifted me Maison Margiela’s Lazy Sunday Morning for my 25th birthday — a clean powdery floral musk which holds the memories of going on a picnic to eat sushi and birthday cake on a breezy Saturday afternoon. I bought my first adult perfume with my adult money with Diptyque’s Philosykos — a green woody fresh scent. For my wedding, I’m planning to use Diptyque’s Fleur de Peau — a musky powdery iris which I’m excited to see what kind of memories I will make on that day.
Perfumes to me are little time capsules of your past that you can open and fondly look back on when you take a whiff of its scent.
Fragrances I Have Smelled
Dyptique
🌸 fleur de peau: musky, floral, woody, peppery. kinda smells like a really nice baby powder lol. complex yet clean
🍦 eau duelle edp: reminds me of roasting marshmallows at a campfire. vanilla bourbon with smokiness
💐 do son edp: white floral. like a bouquet of flowers. projects pretty well.
📝 l’eau papier: fresh crisp ballpoint pen ink on paper. hints of rice, mimosa, and woodiness
🪑 tam dao: like grandpa’s furniture. nostalgic and old
🍃 eau nabati: smells like a guy’s bodywash
🍑 philosykos: fig. very fruity and sweet, but light and refreshing
Jo Malone
🌊 wood sage + sea salt: sweet, woody, musky. unisex scent. reminds me of overcast on a beach. my go to. the scent that got me interested in perfume. will enjoy for the rest of my life
🍐 english pear + freesia: the pear note smells so good. can smell the florals as the sharpness of pear subsides. reminds me of a bottle of champagne
🍑 nectarine blossom + honey: sweet and fruity and light. delicious
🍋 lime basil + mandarin: such a summery scent. smells unisex as well. peppery, fruity, and aromatic
🌸 peony + blush suede: florally and powdery without it being offensive. not my style of perfume personally
🌸 wild bluebell: similar to peony + blush suede to me. however, it smells like i’m in a field of grass in spring while peony + blush suede is more floral bouquet.
Commodity
🥛 milk expressive: cedar wood is so strong and seems to overshadow lactonic notes. doesn’t really smell milk to me at all unfortunately. would have to try personal
🍦 gold expressive: fresh, woody, musky vanilla. pretty linear
📄 paper personal: kinda similar to milk, but less offensive. not a personal fan
Mason Margiela Replica
⛅ lazy sunday morning: reminds me of fresh clean linen that you have taken out of your washing machine and then laid it out to air dry on a sunny day
book: Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov. I feel I’m illiterate because Nabokov is flexing his writing a bit too much. However, I am enjoying so far with Pnin’s clumsy and funny character.
song:
fragrance(s): Diptyque Fleur de Peau, Mochiglow White Rabbit. I recently have purchased Fleur de Peau because I liked the sample that was given to me when I initially bought my sister her graduation perfume gift. It’s a nice musky, peppery, and powdery floral and different from my usual woody musk. For my sleep perfume, Mochiglow’s White Rabbit is so comfy and smells like I’m in a bakery. It is definitely a deeper scent than the white rabbit candy itself.
favorite(s): Crocheting book sleeves, Flannel pajamas, Hair clips, Trader Joe’s Rest Well tea, Sunny days
With love,
Emma
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