My scent memory is from my early childhood.
Arriving at my grandparents’ house in summer, coming out of the car after long journeys and enjoying the smell of wild flowers and grass warmed by the mid-day sun. To this day when I close my eyes and think of that smell I am transported back in time to those days
My very first fragrance was Anais Anais by Cacherel. It was such a departure from traditional fragrances with its innovative floral white bottle and super feminine notes. I only recently discovered that hyacinth is one of its top notes, no surprise that this is my favourite flower and always fills me with happiness and optimism as Spring approaches.
I’m more drawn to woody spicy scent as it really makes me feel confident and empowered, probably because my dad was wearing such perfumes himself. Even before joining Coty, I am already a huge fan of BOSS Bottled. I remember buying my first BOSS Bottled after a business trip in the late Noughties and was immediately hooked. BOSS Bottled reminded me on my first day at Coty as it was my go to scent to start a new chapter in my career life. In this past year at Coty, I have made many more Scent Memories: my last emotion was with Parco Palladiano V from Bottega Veneta.
As I walk past the perfume section in Boots a yellow and white box catches my eye. I stop and spray the tester perfume onto my wrists. As the floral, woody and musky scent fills my nostrils I am immediately transported back over 30 years to the duty-free shop where my friend and I bought our perfume bottles of Giorgio by Giorgio of Beverly Hills, a perfume so strong and powerful that you felt like you could literally cut the air with it. My friend and I applied this perfume liberally all over our bodies throughout our Cypriot holiday, therefore, the aroma of the perfume and my holiday in Cyprus are inextricably linked in my memory. This was a holiday full of fun, laughter, and freedom, and the sweet and fresh notes of the Giorgio perfume, epitomises this time perfectly for me.
My first perfume was from Avon, and it came in a bottle shaped as a unicorn. i loved it. It was very sweet, very strong and probably very offensive, but I didn’t care at all! I discovered a ‘proper’ perfume when I was 18 and still wear it to this day, it is le must from Cartier. As soon as I smelt it I knew that I had found my fragrance. It was worn by a very glamourous, beautiful woman and smelt like luxury/Christmas/elegance all in bottle! I thought I want to smell like that, I want to be like that!
Bvlgari, Jasmin Noir is a balance of masculine and feminine notes, at once deep and evocative yet light and fresh. I first discovered it during a summer spent boating along the Loire river, in the wine region of France – reminding me of gothic villages, heavy red wines and oh my, the cheese! It’s a scent I feel truly comfortable in on any occasion
Hand me a ripe, green-backed pear. Ask me to slice it in two and bury my nose in its ripe, wet scent and I am six again. Shy, giggly, knock-kneed little girl. It is summer. Late afternoon. A fire has been lit and its embers are glowing as I sit, cross-legged, with brothers, mother, father, snow-white haired grandfather, golden locked grandmother, a trace of what I now know to be First by Van Cleef & Arpels.
We are at the bottom of their garden in a village 30 miles due north of Enfield. A barbeque before bed. A segment from a ripe, just-sliced pear is placed in my hand. Its scent is a confusing mixture of something new – not apple, not banana. It is soapy and sweet. Bubblegum will remind me of it when I first taste it at seven. A scent by James Heeley called Bubblegum Chic will have a similar, beguiling pull when I am 40. But of that pear you just cut for me. I am six, that summer, with my family. And my very first pear.
Gucci Envy for Men is my treasured scent. Launched in 1998 it was the first fragrance by Tom Ford while creative director at Gucci. And while not especially complex or niche it’s spicy, zingy green juice instantly transports me back to the turn of the millennium when I moved to London. It oozes sex appeal and the monolithic, oversized black lid feels really confident. What makes it especially sacred now is because it was discontinued in 2007 after a change in licensing laws. I found this bottle on eBay which I keep under lock and key for very special occasions, when I feel like a trip down memory lane.
When I moved to Saigon, I was charmed by its every day scenes, from side streets overflowing with Jasmine to lazy, sun-drenched afternoons on the banks of the Saigon River. It was the scent of Jasmine in the street where we lived in Saigon that first inspired me to create fragrances. It was unlike anything I had smelt before – rich and all encompassing, yet beautifully fresh. It’s called Champa Jasmine, a flower indigenous to Southern Vietnam, and is the key note of the first fragrance I created for Cochine, White Jasmine & Gardenia. Each time I smell this fragrance, I’m instantly transported back to our garden in Saigon where the scent of Jasmine filled the air.
Recent Comments