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.

Eau de cologne. It takes me right back to when I was 6 and I pulled up a chair to climb onto my grandmothers dresser. Big Georgian house and very tall pieces of furniture.

Lacoste touch of pink reminds me of being a young teenager, my dad bought me it and I thought I was so fancy having "propped" perfume.

The first perfume I bought myself was black XS, I still like it but it's quite sweet so I don't really wear it any more. I was about 16 when I bought it duty free on holiday so it reminds me of the holiday and my exams that I sat that year.

Armani code reminds my entire family of a cruise we went on because I absolutely loved it and stunk out the cabin.

The original Jimmy choo reminds me of my wedding day. I bought it specifically for it and it takes me right back.

Perfumes that take me way back
Dune - takes me back to my early 20s,young free and single 😂
Also dolce & gabbana, it was in a rectangular bottle with a red top
Escape and Eternity by CK
Sublime by Patou

Ones I miss
Audace, from when we were in school
Benetton in the hexagonal bottle, another schooldays classic
BodyShop White Musk, everyone had this at school!!
Gap Dreams - beautiful and vv cheap
Deci Dela Nina Ricci. A bottle of this smashed in the bathroom and reeked of it for months. Gorgeous perfume.

Aqua Manda -Christmas as a young teenager. Oddly my dog smells of it if I sniff him closely, an orange peel scent.

Poison - I never wore it myself but it always makes me think of lunchtime shopping in David Evans in Swansea with my friend from the office who loved it. It will always make me think of her.

Diorella - my husband bought me this and I wore it for years. It’s what I wore on our wedding day. Sadly doesn’t smell the same any more.

An aftershave - Dior’s Jules. Long gone from these shores but DH wore it for years and I loved it.

Perfumes that take me back - Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker and Chanel Chance which I wore as a student

Favourite perfume - Mitsouko, which I wore when I was first going out with my husband and it always reminds me of that time, which was great. I love it, but don’t want to wear it in case I ruin the lovely association! Probably neurotic of me ...

Anaïs Anaïs reminds me of my first holiday abroad without my parents. I treated myself to a bottle and it seemed so expensive and such a big deal. The smell takes me right back to that holiday.

Coco Chanel reminds me of the last Christmas with my grandad before he died. My nan and grandad had bought me a bottle. It was my first ever bottle of proper, very expensive perfume. The smell is quite spicy and wintry and Christmassy anyway so the fact that it was a Christmas present too means it has come to symbolise that time of year and in particular that last Christmas before he died; we knew he didn't have long left to live. It also mixes in my mind with the smell of little oranges as they also smell of Christmas time.

Then Roma oil by The Body Shop; it reminds me of my final year at uni and a boy that I was madly in love with. All those intense feelings somehow got mixed up with the smell of that oil.

Poison was my original pulling perfume when I used to go clubbing in my late teens & early twenties. Obsession I wore as I got older, White Linen I bought on the plane to Jersey & reminds me of my holiday romance with the barman in the hotel when I was 20. I loved Men's Tommy as it was more citrus & didn't have a floral note. Clinique happy makes me sad as it was my perfume when I was with my late dp & just a whiff takes me back to meeting him & the end of my marriage.

Chanel no 5 reminds me of my sister and the days when she first left home and got a flat in London. When I used to go and stay with her, and get taken round Carnaby Street, and made up to the nines and smuggled into clubs.
Patchouli reminds me of another sister and the hippy days; early festivals, being stoned and pre stadium gigs.
Happy days 😀

My mother didn't wear scent but used to smell of Pears soap, which I loved. I understand it's changed now, shame.

I used to wear Pagan by Jovan, which smelt divine and lasted so well. I haven't seen it for years.

@ageingdisgracefully It's so sad. I found a bottle of very vintage bath oil in a charity shop about 5 years ago and it was the most amazing scent. Obvs wore it rather than pouring it in the bath but the difference is shocking. Same with Obsession. The last decent formulation was in the bottle with the gold strip on the cap.

Ralph by Ralph Lauren (turquoise bottle)...memories of a completely different time

Deci De La by Nina Ricci reminds me of being at school and Gucci Accenti reminds me of being young with everything ahead of me, too.

Lovely thread.

Lou Lou blue in 1995... first holiday abroad without parents. It was a special edition and discontinued but I remember it as a vaguely soapy delicious violety scent, less heavy than the original. Reminds me of a summer of partying.
Also acqua di gio lovely crisp but semi sweet scent. My mum had Je Reviens too, I remember feeling very sophisticated when I borrowed it aged 12 ish.

OMG Ghost Deep Night!
How sexy was that!

Ghost Serenity :<

I still wear deep night all the time lol

Evocative perfumes:

4711 eau de cologne - my mum wasn’t a perfume fan, but did have a bottle of this for special occasions. I love it, it instantly reminds me of her. She also had the wet wipe versions in little sachets in her bag - I’m sure I had them rubbed over my face on occasion,but better than spit on a hankie!

Bulgari Blu for men - DH wore this when we first started going out 19 years ago. It instantly takes me back to that summer we fell in love and spent all our time together. I had a girls holiday booked at the end of the summer and I was still nervous of flying at this time, so I squirted some on a tester in the duty free and sniffed it when I felt anxious. Ah, young love .

Discontinued:

The perfumes Lyn Harris did for Marks and Spencers in around 2012. La Rose, La Poudree and La Fleur. All were gorgeous, good value, and the buggers stopped making them. I buy all the spare ones I can find on EBay, but it’s getting harder...

For pure nostalgia - Les Belles de Ricci. I’m a teenager in the 90s again when I smell this, but it was a good ‘young’ fragrance I wish they still made.

Paris- again someone else's perfume which I then bought for the nostalgia hit. Still my favourite rose. Big blowsy and fruity. Magnificent.

I often buy Pears soap for the memories, it's not the same, but it's still got a vestige of its old self.

Diorella- so wonderfully skanky all of the old classic Diors have been reformulated (as have most perfumes containing oskmoss due to regulations) eBay is your friend- I've got about 20 bottles of Diorella, Dioressence, Diorama, Dior Dior, Diorissimo etc. For some reason German eBay is particularly good for vintage perfume.

Hartnell’s In Love is the smell of my mum. When it was discontinued she moved on to White Linen, I have a spray which I use when missing her becomes unbearable.

Rive Gauche and Cabochard were the smells of my 30s, my happiest decade, I wear them still.

My most mourned is Miller and Harris Rose en Noir, I’m eking out my last bottle, closely followed by Jo Malone Jasmin and Honeysuckle.

I would love to smell Colors de Benetton again!!

Also I lived in Spain for a short time in the early 00s, what was the perfume that Mango sold? I loved it, but can't find any images.

I also used to wear Estee Lauder Beautiful, that would probably remind me of my nan buying it for me when I was at school.

A YSL one, rectangle gold bottle, I can’t remember what it’s called but reminds me of my youth and just being out and having fun!

JPG Le Male brings back very mixed memories of a highly unsuitable boyfriend who was terrible at relationships but Olympic class in bed

Paris, Rive Gauche, Magie Noir - all worn by my older sisters. Made me feel very left out as I wanted to be part of it too.

Je Reviens, Nina Ricci, Chanel No 5 - all worn by my mum

Loulou, Youth Dew, Estee Lauder perfume from late nineties - spell, enchanted, or something like that),White Musk, Amaya (I think?) Dewberry and - god help me - a vanilla oil from the Body Shop I used to soak myself in - early teen years

Fleur Interdit by Givenchy, Chanel Cristallec, White Linen - late teens

L’eau d’Issey - twenties

Used to wear Ysatis de Givenchy ‘back in the day’

And I really miss Ralph Lauren Polo Sport it’s gorgeous - still have a large bottle kept boxed in a drawer...

The original Monsoon perfume. I still have the empty bottle which retains the scent and every now and again I open it and am instantly in my early 20’s again! 😊 Happy days! Real shame they don’t make it any more - it was devine 🥰

LouLou Blue
CK One
Gucci Envy
JPG
Poison

LouLou Blue
CK One
Gucci Envy
JPG
Poison
Chanel Medemoiselle
Exclamation!