My mother also loved perfume, just like me. Maybe I'm a little more obsessed, but still. She wore Chanel No. 19, O de Lancome and First by Van Cleef & Arpels for many years. Sometimes she made trips to Cuir de Chanel or stole something from my perfume collection when I still lived at home. In her last years I also bought her L'Heure Bleue and Mitsouko from Guerlain. She hated L'Heure Bleue, Mitsouko immediately became a favorite. She was an oversprayer, she could use up a bottle in one month. When she was without Mitsouko for a while, I gave her Guerlain Champs Elysees as a temporary solution, not her favorite, but she was fine with it for the time being. I decided to order a new bottle of Mitsouko, because she hated being without it. She never touched that bottle, it arrived at my house the day after she passed away.
Mistouko is a master creation, but I can't stand to smell her anymore. The memory and the above situation ruined it for me, forever. Champs Elysees isn't my favorite either, but the bottle that served as an interim solution for my mother is still in my house. Every now and then I smell it and it reminds me of the last months with my mother, although it was not "her perfume". My daughter sometimes asks me to spray this scent on Grandma's shawl, so she can take it with her to bed. For me, scent is that strongly connected to emotion.
When I smell Chanel No.19 or First, I can evoke memories of yesteryear. From parties, dinners, a beautifully dressed up mother. Memories of a little me, of people around us who are no longer with us. I can pick up any old photo and almost immediately remember what the setting was like, how cozy things were and what it smelled like.
My father is Chanel Antaeus, Giorgio Armani Eau Pour Homme, apple pie, homemade sausage rolls and stew. My father loved cooking and was very good at it. A cabinet full of cookbooks, a cupboard full of spice jars and a cellar full of preserves and stock. I liked everything he made, but I think the ones mentioned were my favorite, because those smells immediately bring me back to our old kitchen.
And just as much as it makes me happy, it sometimes also makes me sad or melancholic. My parents are no longer here. But how beautiful is it that certain scents can immediately take you back to a certain time in your life or a certain person. It doesn't matter if it is sad sometimes, more often it is beautiful. I believe it's not about how much you have or what you have, it's about what you hold in your heart and you can always recall that. Memories always last. And I'm glad that perfumes can sometimes help me with that...
Judith,
Founder