To ask what was your first perfume and what memories it evokes?

[SmashingBIouse]

I've recently gone down a bit of a nostalgia rabbit hole, possibly because I'm turning 50 this year and I'm feeling a bit reflective. In a fit of said nostalgia I ordered a bottle of Body Shop White Musk which arrived yesterday. It was the first perfume I ever bought with money from my Saturday job in 1986 and oh my god the sucker punch of memories I was hit with when I opened the bottle! I'm 14 again and have huge hair and I tell everyone that the Smiths are my favourite band but really I prefer A-ha. I still live in my home town and I have ugly glasses and I'm starting my GSCE coursework. I'm in love with Jesse in the sixth form because he reads poetry and has a quiff but he would never notice me and anyway he's going out with one of the cool drama club girls who has a bob and smokes. She probably wears some dead exotic French perfume though, not White Musk.

I wore WM for several years and it brings back so many memories, including my first gig (obscure rock band nobody remembers)/kiss (not Jesse sadly)/drink (Taboo mixed with lemonade).

Who wants to join me on an olfactory trip down memory lane?!

(By the way White Musk is still lovely and I plan to wear it regularly!)

My first perfume was Tramp, bought for me by my Auntie when I was about 12. Can't believe there was a perfume called Tramp!

Probably showing my age here now, but it was Charlie ☺️ Think I was about 16.

The first perfume that I thought was 'really posh' grown up perfume, was Rive Gauche...I was bought a bottle by my boyfriend for my 21st. I thought I was the height of sophistication 🤣

Body Shop Oceanus, I miss it!

Showing my age here....Aqua Manda was my first, I also loved Just Musk by Lentheric and Intimate by Revlon, oh and Xanandu by Faberge.

My mate loved Gingham as did most of the girls we worked with, the place stank of it.

Carven Ma Griffe, bought for me duty free by my Auntie Janet.

Sitting on the communal stairs in our block of council flats, snogging my first boyfriend, and leaping apart whenever we heard the front door of one of the flats opening, or someone coming up the path.

My friend and I always bought Imperial Leather cologne from Woolies. It was 35p in 1972 and I loved the “clean” smell of it (have never liked sweet or floral perfumes and even now I wear Davidoff Cool Water)
We went to town each Saturday. My two outfits involved a vivid purple midi skirt (homemade by my Mum) or jeans cut up to the knee on the outer leg seam and a giant isosceles triangle of ghastly floral material sewn in (Mum again) After Woolies we would walk down to the market, look through the record stall with 7” singles, admire the jewellery that would have turned our necks green, and eat chips under a stripy plastic awning.

Calvin Klein Escape or Eternity were always my must have perfumes though I especially liked Paloma Picasso unfortunately I can't find it anywhere.

Ralph Lauren romance. I've worn it on and off since I was 13 so I don't feel it reminds me of anything particularly.
I wore D&G light blue the summer of 2005, I was turning 18 and had moved out, was studying and working. It was amazing, pub with friends every weekend then onto parties. It just reminds me of the utter freedom of that summer.

I used to love the Impulse body spray. I still buy it out of nostalgia and use it to freshen up if it's been a hot day. It takes me back to late primary school in 1999/2000 - the first stirrings of crushes on boys, rollerblading all day with my friends, the last days of playing with Barbies before it became deeply uncool. Feeling thrilled by simple things like getting a big ice cream or a McDonalds. Swimming lessons in the lido in summertime. The last carefree days before I became a teenager.

Then my first actual perfume was a Britney Spears one...can't remember the name now but it came in a bright pink bottle with colourful gemstones and was really sweet and sickly smelling. That brings back a mix of good and not so good memories. Being at grammar school, the intense pressure of exams, the cliques and fall outs, feeing insecure and hating the way I looked...but also Saturday nights at the youth club, summers working at cafes on the promenade for cash in hand, then blowing it all in the arcades and waltzers, chatting up boys, first kiss, teenage rebellion and drinking WKDs in the park.

oh CKOne i wore allll the time when i was about 14/15. when i smell it it brings back the strongest memory of me plucking up the courage to break up with my first boyfriend 😂 he was very very fit however couldn't remember my last name ha!

Ma Griffe by Carven. It was a Christmas present when I was about 13. Apparently my granny used to wear it when she was younger. You don't see it about much these days and I think they changed the formula perhaps anyway. t's a gorgeous unusual scent, I don't know all the right perfume terminology to describe it but it's completely unique. I don't wear perfume these days but I bought a tiny vintage bottle of it from ebay and I have a sniff any time I want to get in a time portal back to my teenage years.

Chamade by Guerlain in 1974 when I was 14.

Eden, can't stand it now. So strong.

Clinique happy. Cost me a fortune in those days, as a student. Going on marches and demonstrations. Happy 1980s memories.
Still love it but my taste in perfume has moved on.

Diorella - reminds me of raves and the inside of the astoria on Saturday nights. Mixed in with the smell of dry ice. I don't think it's made anymore.

I still use Eden, I like its weird syntheticness.

Mine was Tommy Girl. It gives memories of reading Mizz and Shout magazine and going into town on the bus to buy Glitter Babes nail varnishes from Boots before coming home to listen to Steps.

Mu mother bought me a bottle of Xanadu when I was about 12. It came in the most incredible purple bottle. I have nonrecollection of the smell whatsoever, only the awakening of a desire to read Coleridge and the growing chasm between my mother and I.

Aqua Manda. Takes me right back to sixth form in school.

LouLou.

I (and my car) reeked of it!

I loved Avons Odyssey. But I think my first proper grown up purchase was Ysatis. The best smell for me is Flex shampoo. Getting ready on a Saturday morning ( 80s teenager), going into town, hair freshly washed and donning my 80s outfit. Buying records on the market ( Depeche Mode, Soft Cell), then eating fish n chips. It wasn't long til we progessed to sitting in pubs ( probably aged 15), drinking halves of lager n Black!

Ananya was my BS scent of choice at school. Going to check out the dupes thanks PP.
Channel Allure was my first proper perfume. Will always remind me of Marlboro Lights, Britpop and a tenner buying a good night out. Stopped wearing it when someone at work had it on frequently.

I’ve only ever owned 3 perfumes, but the first one I bought was Elizabeth Arden, I think something like 5th Avenue, and I chose that when I was a student living away from home because it was what my mum wore so it was familiar and comforting.
Then I tried Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb. Wasn’t a huge fan. Now I use Viktor and Rolf Spicebomb, which I think is technically for men!

Very first....Avon Pretty Peach as a little girl.

DKNY Original. My sister used to buy it for me for Christmas. I still love it and it brings back happy memories of getting ready with too much sparkly Juicy Tube lip gloss and poker straight hair.

1970s. Aqua Manda- pure orange.