Your perfume heartwrenchers: smells from another time

[GoldfishParade]

I'd like a thread about two types of perfume:

• The ones you wore "back when" that you can't smell without feeling your heart wrench, and
• The ones that were pulled. RIP, favourite fragrances.

Mine:

• That turquoise Ralph Lauren one. I was 14 and my gran bought it for me as my very first perfume. I remember loads of us wore it as young teens.
• Anna Sui Classic: I remember my mum gave this to me one christmas maybe when I was 16 or 17, but the scent of it now is just beyond my reach. I'm tempted to buy a bottle just as a reminder.
• JPG Classique: I bought this for myself aged 19 when I emigrated and got my first grown up job. I cant smell it without being taken back to the girl I once was.
• Next came a few trashy Cacharel perfumes: Amor Amor and Scarlett. I was 21 or 22, carefree, working in the south of france. I like how back then I just chose what smelled good to me, without thinking about effect or complexity or anything.
• Heure Bleu: when I was a child, my best friends house smelled of something, something sweet and comforting. It wasnt until I was in a perfume shop three years ago and smelled this that it hit me in the heart. Her mother must have worn this perfume. I smelled my wrist as I walked home, the power of the memory was overwhelming.

My RIP favourites:

• Sicily by Dolce and Gabbana: I thought this smelled amazing, glossy and quite glamorous but not aggressive. Why the hell did they pull it?! And they said they were bringing it back, so where is it?!
• Love Chloe: this was quite a weird little perfume. It was somehow rice-like but also not sweet. I loved it. As usual they put it out there for 3 years or something and then pulled it, replacing it with some other sweet floral thing.

Obsession takes me right back to my early twenties when I used to drench myself in it.

Loulou and the ubiquitous Body Shop White Musk were the backdrop to my last years at school, crushes on boys, O Level (I am old) stress etc

The perfume that gives me the strongest reaction is Cerruti 1881, I was just pregnant with DS and had been given a bottle of this so was wearing it daily and the smell reminds me of morning sickness and extreme tiredness. I can't smell it now without feeling very ill

I actually have a perfume memory box and have been known to trawl eBay when I remember something else.

My first perfumes were:
Anaïs Anaïs, - still my comfort food perfume now. I pop a quick squirt on the back of my hand and am catapulted to 1986 which was a very nice place to be.

Rive Gauche- I thought I was so very sophisticated.

Ysatis- first foray into spice and more "loud" perfumes

Obsession. I had (and still have- I'm the person who keeps bus tickets from 1982) the scented strip thing from April 1986 Cosmo when it was first launched. I wasn't in the UK at the time and trawled round perfume shops trying to find this new amazing juice. Nobody had heard of it and it wasn't until 1987 I got my hands on some.

The above have ALL been reformulated almost out of recognition but I have vintage bottles from eBay. Particularly the Obsession- there was a visceral OMFG when I opened it.

Chloe- the original, small teardrop bottle and orange box

Other people's- also in my memory box because of the other people

Chanel 19. Probably my own signature now (though I have about 200 perfumes in total ) but I seemed to keep meeting people wearing it. My roommate at university wore it, my roommate on my year out wore it. So it became mine.

Caleche- my mum's signature. I have a bottle. She died in June. I'll open it one day, but not yet.

Miss Dior (original- black and white checked box, not hideous pink ribboned monstrosity pretending to be her these days!) Also my mum. My stepdad bought it her every Christmas bless him and she'd say after "I wish he'd buy me a different one"

Emeraude- also my Mum.

One grandmother wore lots of different ones, Hartnell In Love, Chantilly, Ma Griffe, Je Reviens. The other wore a tiny discount shop one called June.

Other scents that transport me back (talc, bathcubes, etc)
Avon Moonwind
Boots Lemon Grass
Morny Sandalwood.

@UglyHoose

Obsession takes me right back to my early twenties when I used to drench myself in it.

Loulou and the ubiquitous Body Shop White Musk were the backdrop to my last years at school, crushes on boys, O Level (I am old) stress etc

The perfume that gives me the strongest reaction is Cerruti 1881, I was just pregnant with DS and had been given a bottle of this so was wearing it daily and the smell reminds me of morning sickness and extreme tiredness. I can't smell it now without feeling very ill

Cerrutti 1881 was bought for me by weird obsessive boy so I can't smell it now either!

I've forgotten Poison- another weirdo bought me that but I can still tolerate it as it's a crazy masterpiece!

My back-when perfume: Rouge Hermes. DH gifted a bottle just before our wedding. Always brings back memories: when we were wrapped in a newly wed fog: those heart-quickening moments and flirty sensual days

Also wore it extensively on my honeymoon in Scotland. If I see lakeside cabins or firs, even on TV, I can inevitably smell Rouge Hermes! DH and I still happy together and I still have the original bottle nearly 15 years on.

Lovely idea for a thread!

Anna Sui reminds me of being a student - seem to recall it smelled of violets? Used to love the make up too.

L'eau d'Eden for me. Just lovely. I bought a bottle of the original Eden which is ok, but nowhere near as nice. I wish they'd bring it back

Vivienne Westwood Boudoir - very powdery and distinctive

Various impulse body sprays remind me of school. Used to love those.

Gianfranco Ferre, Diorissimo, Opium - all remind me of late teens, early twenties, getting ready with mates before we went out for the night. I also loved a Boots lemon cologne, which just smelled like bottled lemons (and was very cheap!). Chanel No. 5 - a boyfriend bought me a bottle one Christmas and I really didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't like it, so used to wear a tiny, tiny drop when we went out - only problem was, that ensured the bottle lasted longer than the boyfriend.....

White Linen - my go to for everyday perfume for years - fresh, clean. They've changed the formula and now it just smells chemically. Same with Clinique, I think it must have been aromatics - used to smell lovely, grassy, herbal (not in a musky way, in a fresh, meadowy way) but doesn't smell like that any more.

@diplodocusinermine, Boots still do the lemon cologne in a ginormous bottle for iirc £8. It's on the bottom shelf near things like own brand cold cream! I have a bottle.

I wore Le Jardin, Loulou and Chloe at high school - so they all remind me of getting ready for teen discos with my friends.

Acqua di Gio always reminds me of New York. Bought a bottle in duty free on my first trip over there.

My RIP fragrance is New West - wore it all through College and University, and just reminds me of really heady, carefree days. Got a dupe through Perfume Parlour, but it just isn't the same

Rive Gauche reminds me of my friend in university.
Tweed reminds me of my auntie.
Je Reviens reminds me of my mother.
Chanel 5 reminds me of me, in happier times.
Denim reminds me of a boyfriend.

Aqua Manda reminds me of being 15, as do Charlie and Tramp.
White Musk reminds me of school.

Power perfumes remind me of the 90s:Cerrutti, Poison, Eternity, JPG etc. A shadow of themselves now.

Britney Spears first perfume takes me back to my teens, both myself and my sister loved this one.

Boss orange in my early 20s, really brings back moments from that time!

Gucci bloom because I wore it on my wedding day

My mum always wore Avon far away so that reminds me of my childhood

TheSilentStars - What, now........... Can't believe I didn't know that - made my day!

I remember my mum once saying her and my dad picked up friends on a night out and the other lady wore Poison and mum was near sick with the smell ☹️

Boots dewberry body mist - smells like coming of age

@ScrumptiousBears I tried it once and had the same reaction, literally turned my atomach

Can’t wear/don’t like smelling:
Stella
D&G pour homme
Because I get overwhelmed by happy-sad memories.

@diplodocusinermine the boots cologne is about 4 quid. I've used it for years...lovely to splash on when you get out of the shower on a summer day

My most dearly missed is Le Feu D'Issey - the original altho I did like the light version. Weird, intense, milky spice with orange which I wore throughout my twenties and was desolate when they discontinued. So many good times and such an amazing scent. If anyone has found a decent dupe I'd love to know.

Youth Dew is the smell of my childhood and still worn at least weekly. They've discontinued the oil version which is so sad. Reminds me of my mum getting ready for Christmas parties. Mandate for men gives me the same vibe.

Adore Obsession but the men's version gives me the heebie jeebies because of the awful boyfriend who was 20 to my 16 and with hindsight, an abusive shit.

Great idea for a thread! I'll have to think a bit more about evocative perfumes, but yy to whoever mentioned Body Shop White Musk - that was very much the smell of my teenage years! Mitsouko still reminds me strongly of my mum, even though she hasn't worn it for at least 25 years.

My two RIP perfumes are both by Bulgari:

Omnia (the original one in the brown bottle, not all the sickly ones that followed). It smells of autumn for me - of chai tea and strong woods and spice. I adored it and wore the hell out of it for several years and then they suddenly pulled it and replaced it with loads of so-so flankers . Every now and then a bottle pops up somewhere and I snap it up, but I wish they would bring it back properly.

BLV/Blu/however you want to write it. I've never found anything else like this - powdery iris and ginger and bergamot. It was distinctive but very wearable in the daytime. For some reason, they kept the men's version but discontinued the women's one .

www.boots.com/boots-cologne-water-400ml-10097116

£3.51

@AConvivialHost

I wore Le Jardin, Loulou and Chloe at high school - so they all remind me of getting ready for teen discos with my friends.

Acqua di Gio always reminds me of New York. Bought a bottle in duty free on my first trip over there.

My RIP fragrance is New West - wore it all through College and University, and just reminds me of really heady, carefree days. Got a dupe through Perfume Parlour, but it just isn't the same

I could have written this post!

Also Paris by YSL. My first boyfriend bought me it for Christmas.

@limpLettice I still wear Youth Dew but it's not the same now. A shadow of itself but still quite strong.

Why are perfumes so disappointing...

Someone mentioning NYC reminded me I used to love Marc Jacobs Essence. I bought a bottle from Sephora in Union Square. It came in a pale yellow square bottle with a little leather bow. One of the nicest perfumes I've ever had.

Why do they always discontinue the best ones!

I love these threads - scent is so evocative!

estée lauder pleasures = christmas 2000, there was a sample in my gran’s copy of good housekeeping and i associate it with looking at all the christmas recipes and pictures and feeling all festive and excited, age about 12

d&g masculine = my first uni boyfriend

davidoff echo = uni club nights and hair straighteners and bootcut jeans

ghost deep night = hot, late, thrilling nights in london with a gorgeous and totally unsuitable fling in summer 2006

valentino valentina = wild, happy nights out in my 20s, meeting my husband

Currently wearing gucci flora (day) or dior black opium (night)

I always think perfumes smells different on different people.

I worked in a cafe as a teenager. 2 elderly sisters used to come in who both wore Chanelle number 5. They were very proud to be wearing it.

However one used to smell glorious while the other smelled pissy. They took turns to come to the counter and we used to say "oh no, it's pissy week"

I know that's awful but I was 15

When I was a teenager I had a perfume called Cobra. A bit like Poison, very strong! And I used to drench myself In Patchouli oil because I was a goth. Later on I got into Exclamation, and on a trip to Paris bought YSL Paris, which was gorgeous. Love and miss the original Anna Sui too, that reminds me of a trip to Hong Kong, bought it in the airport.

My gran had Hartnell In Love and Ma Griffe. ♥️

From the 70s, I remember Morny Meadowsweet and Goya Black Rose. Would love to smell those again.