I used to always wear perfume. My first one ever was Lentheric’s Tramp (whichever way you look at it, not a good name for a perfume!).
It was closely followed by Charlie, Body Shop Dewberry and Goya Aqua Manda – this was while I was at school. How we must have reeked!
As I grew up I flirted with Revlon’s Fire and Ice (which I still love, incidentally), Yardley’s Lace, Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds (as well as Diamonds and Emeralds, Diamonds and Rubies, Diamonds and Saphhires), Yves Saint Laurin Paris, Calvin Klein Escape, YSL Champagne (renamed Yvresse), Red Door (Elizabeth Arden), White Shoulders by Evyan, Pleasures by Estee Lauder, Naomi Campbell’s eponymous perfume, Vanilla Fields, Le Jardin and Gucci Rush among others. Many of them burn my nose now when I smell them – for example YSL Paris, which I used to love.
When I moved to Sweden, so many people were allergic or sensitive to perfume that I stopped wearing it altogether. Outside of work I used less and less perfume but when I did it was Body Shop perfume oils (my favourites are Cozy Cashmere and Crisp Cotton), St Michael’s Fig and Jasmine and Antonia’s Flowers (which is my all-time favorite). I have actually lost interest in perfume. So I really surprised myself when I dashed out and bought Marc Jacobs Daisy when it came out. And then went out and bought various versions of the solid perfume which were set in jewellery and accessories. It smelled nice enough (on me, nothing extraordinary) and I ended up selling it – but I had bought it purely for the bottle. And all the other versions of these perfumes have also attracted me because of the way they look – Dot, Honey, Lola and Daisy are really very prettily packaged. A coup for Marc Jacobs – they are all instantly recognizable.
