The crisp salty smell of a wetsuit transports me immediately to the Cornish seaside where my family and I spent summers surfing and camping in the fresh Atlantic air. Even just thinking about the smell of the material takes me back to the sand dunes, the pasties and endless games of UNO!
It’s become a Christmas Tradition in my family that we all go and shop for the Christmas Tree together. Having always returned to the same Christmas Tree Farm the unique smell of the pine forest has come to remind me of my childhood excitement to choose the perfect tree for the woodman to cut down. The beautiful earthy scent of the fir tree will always transport me back to warm family times and the feeling of Christmas.
It’s incredible how most of our scent memories stem from our mothers, and the fragrances they wore while we were children. A faint whiff of one particular perfume can transport me instantly back in time to the age of around 8, when my mother would have been in her early 30s. She and my father used to entertain at our house a lot; it was the 70s and dinner parties were something that were occasions to dress up for. My mum made her own dresses – they were flowing halter-neck creations in vivid colours – and she looked beautiful. Mum would kiss us goodnight as she tucked us in, and the smell of Opium would linger in the air and on my pillow long after she had gone. The memory of it, like her scent, has lingered…
The Fragrance Foundation UK 
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