The Fragrance Foundation UK

As a teenager growing up my best friend’s mum was an Avon representative, she always used to give us samples and one of them was Sweet Honesty perfume.Last year I tried to source some of this perfume alas the only place I could find it was on eBay & then only in a 10ml bottle …However when I opened the tiny box it arrived in and sprayed some on my wrist I closed my eyes & I was a teenager once again. Every now & then I take out the little bottle , spray & the memories come flooding back. I am  one of a team of  Admiral Nurses offering emotional & psychological support to Carers looking after a loved one with Dementia  so I am very aware of the powerful memories that our sense of smell can evoke. We take for granted our sense of smell but when our memories fade our sense of smell can be the trigger to re-ignite those memories.

I love the smell of old smokey pipe tobacco and peaty scotch Whisky. It transports me back to my childhood where I would spend weekends in the Scottish countryside with my dear old Grandpa.

I have a number of favourite scent memories. The smell of a fresh pot of Play-doh opening. Instant comfort! I had many happy moments making things out of Play-Doh – and that’s what led me on to making my own models. Have you ever seen those packets of model railway grass? And the bags with lichen and bark in? Those instantly take me back to long hours spent making things in our shed. One whiff and I’m there! It may be a cliché, but I can’t pass a rose bush without checking whether it has a scent. Early evening walks with the dog have us both stopping regularly! And finally – steam trains. I wouldn’t recommend inhaling too much, but I do love the smell of an old-school locomotive.

My scent memory is the woody, vanilla, sweet smell as you’re walking through the perfume markets of Saudi.