Certain scents have a unique skill - teleportation. Most of us have experienced getting a whiff of something that immediately transports us to a time and place in the past. For example, whenever I smell Michael Kors, I am taken to my honeymoon in New York 2001. If I smell Fahrenheit by Dior, I am whisked back to my hubby's flat to the wonderful loved up days when we first started dating.
But not all scents take us to a pleasant point in history, for example, L'instant Magique by Guerlain takes me back to a very unhappy time in my life, because it was what I had been wearing during that whole time. Every time I smell it now, I get knots in my stomach and I tense up. The reason it comes to mind now is because of my commitment to work my way through my entire perfume collection and my dread of wearing it again.
This relationship between smell and memory fascinates me. For me, music has the same ability to transport me to another time and place. Just the opening bars of 'Follow you, follow me' by Genesis takes me back to the late 70's in my childhood home, in the back room with my mum doing the ironing. Unlikely as it sounds, 'No Limits' by 2Unlimited is a favourite song of mine because it reminds me of when Kid 1 was born as it was a massive chart hit at the time.
I could list hundreds of songs and smells that hold a special meaning for me, not because they are great smells or songs, but because of where they take me, but is it possible to change what a smell or song represents? I suppose it depends on the strength of the attachment to the memory. Because the period of time that L'instant Magique takes me back to is so unpleasant, I could never imagine that it would ever be a scent that I could wear again which is a shame as it is a truly lovely scent (although not as nice as the original L'instant). Likewise I feel the same about the song 'Baby baby' by Amy Grant. That song takes me right back to the day my dad died. Again, I can never imagine that I will be able to enjoy the true meaning of that song which is a celebration of love.
So I'm going to conduct an experiment. Baking is one of my favourite past times and I'm going to have a baking day this weekend. I normally listen to very cheesy pop very loudly and abstain from wearing any perfume so as not to detract from the heady scents of the baking, but this time, I am going to listen to 'Baby baby' and I will wear L'instant Magique. Nothing bad happens when I bake and I find it a very blissful way to spend the day, so I'm hoping that this will have an impact on the hold they have on me.
I'm under no illusions that this will magically happen in just one afternoon, such is the power that the scent & song have to take me back to such horrible times, which is why I will deliberately wear L'instant Magique when I have a fun event planned and will have 'Baby baby' ready on my iPod to be the soundtrack to happier times.
This has turned out to be quite a morbid blog hasn't it? Sorry. I didn't intend it to be. It was just me being curious and wondering out loud, as it were, whether I could change the meaning of a scent. I'll get back to you with my results.
XX
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Celebrity perfumes - do you buy it?
I like to think that when it comes to fragrance, I am a purist rather than a snob. If it's a lovely scent and lasts all day without turning bitter or over powering than it goes into my 'like' category regardless of the brand, or celebrity endorsement. However, it just so happens that most celebrity perfumes smell like cat pee.
Let me just explain what I mean by celebrity perfumes. I don't mean brands that get celebrities to pose in their adverts to endorse the scent, for example, I heartily condone Josh Holloway (Sawyer from Lost) promoting Davidoff Cool Water*. Yes, that's perfectly OK in my book. What I object to is so called celebrities releasing perfumes under their own name, claiming to have had a pivotal role in developing the scent, when in reality, they have most likely just had their first whiff minutes before the media launch. Frankly, I just don't buy it.
To be fair, I can understand why the 'Z' list celebs go down that road. After all, their fame is fleeting and they have to earn as much as possible while they can, but it's the likes of Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez that annoy me. They have no business dipping their toe in the perfume production world as far as I am concerned. I own both their debut scents (gifts, not bought by me!) and they are both vile. It's just so unnecessary. They have contributed nothing to the perfume world. In fact they taint the genre with their terrible concoctions.
Take Jennifer Aniston. Now, I like her, she is a good actress who makes the occasional good film and she is also exceptionally beautiful. So what in the name of Chanel is she doing bringing out a perfume and then admitting during the press launch that she is not a 'perfumey kind of girl'?! That's just rude. And more importantly, does not exactly fill me with confidence that she was in any way involved in the development.
All that being said, I will still give Jennifer Aniston a good sniffing before I discount it completely, because as I said, I am not a perfume snob. Which leads me on to my next point. There are two exceptions to the 'all celebrity perfumes smell like cat's pee' rule - please step forward Kylie Minogue and Kate Moss. I will explain....
Darling by Kylie Minogue was Kylie's debut into the fragrance world. As with all celebrity perfumes, I approached the bottle with caution and was pleasantly surprised, not because of any slight on Ms Minogue, far from it, I am a big Kylie fan and one of my mantras in life is 'what would Kylie do'. Darling is darling. It sweetly dances on the nostrils and then once it's finished twirling** around your senses sprinkling them with the scent equivalent of pretty pink sparkles, it settles down into a warm and comforting snuggle.
Kate Moss' self titled scent was released after the whole debacle of her being caught on film sniffing cocaine and her other ungainly antics with Pete Doherty. Again, I approached the bottle with caution, but this time because of what the name Kate Moss represented and was again surprised, but this time to my utter annoyance. It was lovely. It's edgy, dark and dangerous - exactly how you would imagine the lady herself to smell, minus the stench of booze and cigarettes.
In conclusion, I am not suggesting that you avoid celebrity perfumes completely, but please don't allow yourself to get sucked into believing the hype. If you can, ignore whoever it is on the box and judge the scent based purely on your own standards for assessing the merits of a fragrance.....unless it's Celine Dion, in which case it's OK to use it as drain cleaner!
xx
*my opinion is based purely on being OK with celebrity endorsements and nothing to do with Josh being semi-naked and walking out of the water looking so yummy that you could spread him on a cracker.
**I could have gone for the obvious and typed 'spinning around' instead of twirling but that would have been too easy and silly for a serious blog about perfumes!
Let me just explain what I mean by celebrity perfumes. I don't mean brands that get celebrities to pose in their adverts to endorse the scent, for example, I heartily condone Josh Holloway (Sawyer from Lost) promoting Davidoff Cool Water*. Yes, that's perfectly OK in my book. What I object to is so called celebrities releasing perfumes under their own name, claiming to have had a pivotal role in developing the scent, when in reality, they have most likely just had their first whiff minutes before the media launch. Frankly, I just don't buy it.
To be fair, I can understand why the 'Z' list celebs go down that road. After all, their fame is fleeting and they have to earn as much as possible while they can, but it's the likes of Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez that annoy me. They have no business dipping their toe in the perfume production world as far as I am concerned. I own both their debut scents (gifts, not bought by me!) and they are both vile. It's just so unnecessary. They have contributed nothing to the perfume world. In fact they taint the genre with their terrible concoctions.
Take Jennifer Aniston. Now, I like her, she is a good actress who makes the occasional good film and she is also exceptionally beautiful. So what in the name of Chanel is she doing bringing out a perfume and then admitting during the press launch that she is not a 'perfumey kind of girl'?! That's just rude. And more importantly, does not exactly fill me with confidence that she was in any way involved in the development.
All that being said, I will still give Jennifer Aniston a good sniffing before I discount it completely, because as I said, I am not a perfume snob. Which leads me on to my next point. There are two exceptions to the 'all celebrity perfumes smell like cat's pee' rule - please step forward Kylie Minogue and Kate Moss. I will explain....
Darling by Kylie Minogue was Kylie's debut into the fragrance world. As with all celebrity perfumes, I approached the bottle with caution and was pleasantly surprised, not because of any slight on Ms Minogue, far from it, I am a big Kylie fan and one of my mantras in life is 'what would Kylie do'. Darling is darling. It sweetly dances on the nostrils and then once it's finished twirling** around your senses sprinkling them with the scent equivalent of pretty pink sparkles, it settles down into a warm and comforting snuggle.
Kate Moss' self titled scent was released after the whole debacle of her being caught on film sniffing cocaine and her other ungainly antics with Pete Doherty. Again, I approached the bottle with caution, but this time because of what the name Kate Moss represented and was again surprised, but this time to my utter annoyance. It was lovely. It's edgy, dark and dangerous - exactly how you would imagine the lady herself to smell, minus the stench of booze and cigarettes.
In conclusion, I am not suggesting that you avoid celebrity perfumes completely, but please don't allow yourself to get sucked into believing the hype. If you can, ignore whoever it is on the box and judge the scent based purely on your own standards for assessing the merits of a fragrance.....unless it's Celine Dion, in which case it's OK to use it as drain cleaner!
xx
*my opinion is based purely on being OK with celebrity endorsements and nothing to do with Josh being semi-naked and walking out of the water looking so yummy that you could spread him on a cracker.
**I could have gone for the obvious and typed 'spinning around' instead of twirling but that would have been too easy and silly for a serious blog about perfumes!
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