What smells or scents are evocative to you?

[ItWasnaMeGuv]

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary and my DH bought me a perfume he knew was very special to me. In the 80's when I got my first pay packet I spent some of the money on a bottle of Oscar de la Renta. Near where I was working was a posh perfume shop which I would visit and try on different perfumes. I loved the Oscar scent and was thrilled to buy a bottle for myself. Previous to that "Charlie" was my perfume of choice.

Anyway many decades later I was complaining to DH that I could no longer find it, and it was a wonderful surprise that he sourced it online for me. I tried it on and ahhh, I was right back on Dale Street where I worked and in Liverpool of the 80's, complete with long permed hair. Lovely . I'm in my 60's now but was thinking about how memories can be triggered by a scent.

My question is, what are your scents or smells that trigger memories, may be good or bad.

The smell of fox shit always reminds of the time a fox did a shit in my garden.

I love citrus smells especially orange that instantly lifts my mood straight away. I wore Ralph Lauren Romance on my wedding day so it instantly takes me back to that happy moment as soon as I smell it.

I still buy Poison, the one in the round bottle, and that takes me back to when I was 18/19 years old, in the 80’s. I used to buy Chloe Narcisse for the same reason, but it’s discontinued sadly.

Anais Anais takes me right back to being a child and hugging my nanny Joan

Estee Lauder Pleasures. Always reminds me of getting it for birthday presents in the 90s and 2000s.

In the 80s, I was only a teenager but I used to wear Lace perfume by Yardley. I was allowed to wear it on very special occasions during my secondary school days.

Back to today, the Midnight Blooms disinfectant by Zoflora reminds me of when we first adopted our lovely dog from the local RSPCA shelter. We cleaned our house ready for her arrival using it. (before we realised there are about a million specific dog-friendly cleaning products!)

Wild musk by coty (just musk is almost the same)

One sniff of that and I'm 15 again,wondering around superdrug with my tiny wages or walking down the corridor at school-i was the only one that didn't wear dewberry by the body shop

(all the mean girls drenched themselves in it)

Tesco did a set of 4 perfumes and I wore the one that had pink pepper (and other scents) and I'm back to being with my wanker ex (it was a lovely perfume and affordable as a skint single mum)

Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker and I'm back to being pregnant and the midwife telling me I 'smell lovely'

Cksummer and I'm back to my youngest being born

Ckshock and that's what I was wearing the day I met my lovely dp

Funny how scents can take you back

Max Factor face powder takes me instantly back to my grandmother's dressing table, watching her powder her nose before church. She only powdered her nose, not the rest of her face, and the powder was far too orange for her skin tone. I have no religious faith at all and never have had, but I loved her and I love being reminded of her.

I have an empty bottle of the aftershave my late husband wore when I first met him, it's not made anymore and unfortunately the scent is fading but for now it still brings back lovely, early-days-in-the-relationship memories! Also coconut smelling products make me think of Malibu suncream and holidays when I was a child. A rather more niche aroma is 'cornucresin' - its a hoof ointment and takes me back to my first time going to a riding school and finally being around the horses I'd been dreaming about!

Ma Griffe perfume was my late DM's favourite, and that would always bring back memories of sitting beside her at her dressing table. You can't get it any more though.

I also love the smell of crushed grass & flowers you get inside a marquee at a wedding or country show - takes me back to my first visit to the Chelsea Flower Show in about 1980.

Oh, I forgot - the smell you get off dusty old vintage tinsel. It smells of Christmas.

Loads of things - smells are incredibly evocative for me and I have a really good sense of smell - which is both good and bad! So many perfumes remind me of particular people or a particular time in my life, so (in no particular order), Poison (mentioned above) always reminds me of a girl at school, Fenjal reminds me of my grandma, Imperial Leather reminds me of my family when I was little, because we always had it on the bath, Issey Miyake reminds me of my ex, Elizabeth Arden 5th Avenue reminds me of being young and working in London, Polo reminds me of a guy I dated in high school, Sol de Janeiro No. 62 reminds me of holidays, as does Hawaiian Tropic, the smell of cut grass is summer, the smell of bookshops instantly makes me feel relaxed and happy - I've been a bookworm all my life and my DM would always take us into a bookshop when we went into the city for a day and we would wander and browse to our heart's content, cinnamon reminds me of the US, because when I first started to visit regularly in the 90s there was always a Cinnabon in the airport and the smell of cinnamon buns pervaded the whole place and was the scent that always seemed to greet me when I got off a plane ... and there are lots more but I think that's enough

Kouros transports me back to the eighties when every teenaged male seemed be be wearing it.

Fidji perfume, Guy Laroche, worn 80s and 90s and still do today as it reminds me of so many fun times socialising especially as some of the friends no longer with us as died too soon.

Such happy days, 80s and 90s.

Just back from work and have enjoyed reading your memorable scents. Thank you all .

Yes to Fidji. My ds, 42 now, used to sit on my lap as a toddler and push his nose into my neck to smell it.

Also L’air du Temps and Nivea sun cream take me right back to package holidays in the 80’s.

I had no idea Fidji was still available! I wore it exclusively in the 80,s

I buy it online from Justmylook. 😀

Harmony hairspray. I am 14 years old calling for my bf who has just emptied half a tin of it onto her hair before we run and catch the bus to school.

Ditto Lou Lou perfume. Immediately takes me back to being a teen

Diorissimo - my first grown up perfume.
Tomato vines - being 7 years old and helping DDad in the greenhouse.
Charcoal cooking stoves - Ubud in Bali.
Eucalyptus - going home to Sydney after a long time away.

I read recently that scents and music allow us to time travel and I have never heard anything so true in my life. I wear Tea for Two by Artisan Parfumeur ( now cruelly discontinued ). I discovered it in Paris in 1999/2000 and as soon as I spray it I am immediately transported back to walking up the stairs in the place I used to work. The other one is the perfume my dsis gave me for my birthday - Jo Malone Pommegranate. My dm had just died and dsis told me not to open the bottle or spray it as it would forever be linked to this sad time. I did spray it and had to give the bottle away a few months later and to this day have never been able to tolerate a Jo Malone perfume!

Victoria Secret Angel 😂 DH bought me some when I was 18.

Estee Lauder Youth Dew - my mums perfume when I was growing up.

Suncream - childhood holidays.

Creed Aventus aftershave sends me a bit funny when DH wears it, reminds me of our wedding day when he wore it for the first time

Poison takes me back to my clubbing days in the 80s, Calvin Klein obsession to the early 90s and Paris to being pregnant with my eldest, such different scents for such different times. Ooh just remembered Vanderbilt perfume too!!

Hot sun on Leylandii-type evergreens. Takes me to Rome.

Cigarette smoke. I barely smell it these days, but when I do I'm taken back to simpler times.
Yes to tinsel - I bury my face in displays of it in shops, but nothing beats the hit you get from the old, well-used stuff.