Ode to the Eau.....

I recently heard that fragrance is a woman's most important accessory; and I'm in full agreement!  Ever since I was a little girl, I've been captivated by fragrance.  I remember in elementary school feeling quite grown up wearing Love's Baby Soft!  Remember their tag line?  "Don't try hard.  Try SOFT!  Love's Baby Soft!"

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That little pink bottle just made me feel sooooo girly!  And they also had it in a roll on that you could carry in your purse!  How I LOVED carrying a purse (or a "pocketbook" as I called it back then)!

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As I started getting a bit older, I moved on to the more sophisticated fragrance, Babe!  That's right.  Nothing says you've reached womanhood more than a fragrance named "Babe".  Years later it would evoke memories of a lovable friendly swine, but in those training bra wearing years, I was feeling like quite the young (but oh so mature) woman!    Babe perfume and Candie's heels!  Now that's a lethal vixen combination!

And then.....cue music...."There's a fragrance that's here to stay and they call it....CHARLIE!"  How cool!  It was here to stay!  That means I can still get it!  Oh wait,  I guess it wasn't actually here to stay.  Oops!  But that jingle sure was!  I'm still playing that in my head!   Charlie was truly a little more sophisticated fragrance, with more spicy notes in it and less musky or floral tones.  If I were to catch a whiff of it today, I'd be transported back to High School dances, slow dancing to "You are the magnet, and I am the steeeeeeeel".    Remember those days?  Sitting on the bleachers  with your girlfriends because you went stag?  The lights dim and the DJ puts on a slow song and couples head to the floor.  Then you sat on those bleachers and waited for some nervous hormonally sweaty teenage boy to come over and ask you to dance all the while staring at his shoes!  Most likely Adidas!  I still recall that nonchalant "PICK ME!" face that we all perfected!

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As I moved on up through High School, I was never without a fragrance.  My grandmother worked at the Coty factory, so at the very least, there was always Coty Musk.  However, there was one scent that got stuck on a nose hair and to this day, it still evokes a distinct feeling.  There was a girl in my school that was a grade ahead of me, named  Jennifer Kite-Powell.  She was popular because of all the activities that she was in and she was consistently immaculately groomed, in the prettiest clothes and carrying the most current purses!    In my young mind, Jennifer was one of the "rich girls".  She wasn't the prettiest, slimmest or even the most popular; but she just seemed to carry herself the way I wanted to be.  It was as if she had "arrived" and I so wanted to "arrive" too!   I'll never forget, she wore Tea Rose perfume.   It smells almost EXACTLY like roses!  To me, that fragrance was the olfactory encapsulation of wealth and breeding.  To be able to wear Tea Rose would certainly mean that I had finally become a lady, just like Jennifer!  A few years after I graduated from High School and was working and had my own money,  I was at TJ Maxx and came across this cologne.  I purchased it for no more than $20 and then realized that it really wasn't the high dollar perfume I thought it was.  But that knowledge didn't steal any of the joy evoked by that fragrance!  I had finally ARRIVED!

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Our sense of smell is most closely related to memory.  To this day, whenever I smell Halston (I have some, by the way), I'm reminded of my mother circa 1984, the year I graduated high school and visited her in New Mexico.   Halston was her signature scent and she let me borrow it while I was there.  The nicest compliment that I got was from a young man whom I met that summer.  When he came close to me, he said, "You smell like your mother!  She always smells so good!"  There was no higher praise in my mind than to be compared to her!  

Through the years, I've had a number of  signature scents.  I've worn.....

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I've enjoyed wearing every one of these perfumes!  Having the scent left on my clothes.  Layering them with their body lotion counterparts.  Topping off my most perfect outfit with my most perfect scent.  

For the past couple of years, I've been wearing  Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel.  I guess you could call that my "signature scent".  

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It's kind of crazy expensive (over $100 for a decent sized bottle), so it has become my yearly birthday gift from my husband.  One bottle will last about a year and that's with pretty liberal use.  I was mentioning to my husband recently, that I just don't smell perfume on women that much any more.  It used to be such a common thing, and now?  Not so much.  I don't know if it goes back to the practice of dressing down so much more nowadays or the demise of really grooming ourselves every day.    

For me, fragrance is part of my "getting ready" ritual.  I shower, put together what I'm going to wear, do my hair and my make up and that final step is giving myself two shots at the neck and chest and one at the forearms of this perfectly wonderfully feminine perfume.  I even carry a small bottle of Ralph Lauren's Safari in my purse JUST IN CASE I somehow forget to finish off with a scent before I leave.  Going fragrance free is just. NOT. an option!  

What's your signature scent?