Saturday, September 20, 2008

The scent of a woman...(bonus blog!)

Anytime I smell Clinique's Aromatics Elixir I think of my Mom, it's what she has worn for years. I think she started wearing it when it came out, maybe not...but for over 25 years now. It's the only perfume that she wears. It's a strong, bold,sensuous perfume, but perfect for her. She embodies all of those things.

I, unlike my mother, like to wear different perfumes, different scents. I usually have 2-3 bottles at a time. One for day to day, one for night and going out and one for an option if there is a third. Right now I'm wearing Armani Mania and Ralph Lauren's Romance, both of them Trainer picked out. I've worn the Armani for over a year now, even replaced the last bottle, something I don't typically do. But, it works beautifully with my chemistry. The Romance I thought was going to be too heavy, but it's not. A little sultry and musky, but it works and Trainer likes it on me.

I'm almost out of my third bottle of Armani so I decided to switch it up. I have a gift certificate for Sephora (LOVE that store) so I took Trainer with me to shop for a new scent. I was going to send him with the g.c., but I thought it was only fair that I went too. (He hates shopping. Period.)

When you walk into Sephora it is just overwhelming. I could spend hours in that store... Anyway, we started on the men's side of the store, it was actually out of habit because that is where I go to purchase Trainer's cologne. I got to preview some of the new scents that would smell awesome on him, but the gift cert was for ME so we headed over to the women's side. SO many bottles, some classy, some juvenile, some just u-g-l-y. I like the bottles that are clear so I can see the color of the perfume. I have always stayed away from the perfume that is on the gold side. They are always a little too much for me. I think that those ones stay on a little longer too, but I could be making that up.

After smelling about 30 different perfumes my nose was tapped out. We were even using the coffee beans in between every three or so. And right as I was about to make my choice the sales lady walks up..."Can I help you find something?" My response usually would have been, "No thank you, we're doing alright." But today I guess I'm feeling a little chatty and say, "Well, I'm trying to find my next perfume...but I'm all tapped out." She grabs this big book and I tell her what I typically like. This book is amazing. It classifies all these perfumes into categories, then sub categories and then subs of the sub categories. She pointed out a few that I didn't even look at because they were dark bottles. I liked one and sprayed it on my arm. Okay..so...um, shouldn't have done that. The scent reminded me of my grandmother, which isn't a bad thing...unless you're looking for that "Come on honey, you know you want to take my clothes off" perfume. Yeah, the fact that I smelled like my grandma totally tripped me out.

I had another perfume sprayed on my other arm and it was quite please. I was just going to get that one when the sales lady said, "I can give you samples of a couple, a few days worth, so you can test drive them." Huh. I never knew they could do that!!! Another reason to LOVE Sephora!! FREE SAMPLES! So instead of just taking the one home I got a sample of that and then another one that Trainer and I both liked. Right now it's between Versace and Michael Kors. Who will win? Which perfume will be 'just right' with my chemistry?

It's funny what a simple scent can represent. Who is makes you think of...what memories that it can bring back. Do you have a signature scent? Or do you like a variety? I'll give you and update in a few days on which scent wins out for me.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My signature scent of the moment (yes, the moment because I love to rock the perfume, as you know) is Sensuous- the new one by Estee Lauder. I think my signature scent of all time is Ysatis de Givenchy. Fell in love with it when I was a teen; my mother had a big bottle of it and I'd always sneak a few spritzes. She hardly ever noticed because she, like me, is a fragrance freak and had so many different kinds of perfume on her dresser.

I may shop at Target and Kohl's for my clothes and shoes, but when it comes to handbags and fragrance, I'm high-end all the way, baby. ;-)

Anonymous said...

My favorite is Marc Jacobs Blush.

I'm a sucker for anything with hints of bergamot and sandlewood.

The Sports Mama said...

I know it kinda freaks you out...but you're now wondering just what you grandma was thinking every time she put that perfume on, aren't you? :)

I actually don't wear much perfume. But.... Coach found a vanilla sugar body spray that he absolutely loves on me, so I wear that more often than not. Hell, I figure if I can't bake for the man, I can at least smell like I do, right?