I grew up watching my mother prepare for the day in front of her vanity. I loved watching her primp and prep.
She was a college professor and took how she presented herself very seriously, yet she remained elegant and classy. She planned her outfits from head to toe and had matching everything: cigarette case, wallet, purse, boots/shoes, overcoat, etc. She would get obsessed with the idea of a certain color bag or shoe that she “needed”. We spent a whole season looking for “mushroom-colored boots”. She actually found them after many weeks of looking. Anyway, I grew up in awe of her “glamour”, and spend a lot of my time to this day collecting fragrances and beauty products. I loved beauty so much, I made a small career for myself in the industry.
My mom was a single mother and we were very close when I was young.
One of my fondest memories is when we went to Meyer Brothers and she decided to get a makeover at the Lancome counter, a very luxurious idea at the time. She didn’t like the makeup, but she loved the fragrance Magie Noire. Since she was on a tight budget, she passed on making a purchase. About an hour later, we both decided she deserved the perfume and she drove back to Meyer Brothers to buy it. Before she passed in 2020, she still asked for a fragrance as a gift.
I say all of this to explain how I became obsessed with fragrance and beauty. Whether it was a bottle of Skin Musk, Lily of the Valley, Exclamation or even Electric Youth, I always wore something each day of my teens. This carried into college with Sunflowers by Elizabeth Arden, Happy by Clinique and other fragrances my sorority sisters wore. After my first visit to Aedes De Venustas in the West Village during college, I learned so much more about how perfume can become a “calling card”, a signature of who you are.
Whenever I am unsure of how I want to present myself for the day, I reach for something bold, like La Panthere by Cartier. My godmother gave it to me and since she’s one of my role models and someone dear to me, I wear it when I want to feel supported and ready to show who I am.
Whenever I want to feel pampered and have a day at home, I reach for a body spray such as Lily Water Acqua Di Gigli by Santa Maria Novella. I learned of Santa Maria Novella during my first visit to Florence in College. Their soap is still the best I have ever used and when I found they had a location in Soho, I immediately went to the soaps and scents I loved when I found the brand in Italy many years before.
Fragrance can be simple, complex, or something in between. It can make a bad day a bit better, evoke memories of simpler times, and create new memories. It can be an inexpensive purchase (body spray) or something more extravagant (a perfume oil).
Much as I love fragrance for the body, I also love candles and home scents, and have found during my treatment that I have a candle burning almost all the time. I love woodsy and earthy scents, they comfort me and make me feel safe and nurtured.
Unsure of how to get started in fragrance? Start with a memory.
