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alfresco living, memories, moments, Paloma Picasso, perfume, quote, scent, smells
Scent is the first sense that is activated when we are born, but it is one we often neglect. However the power of smell is incredible, it can call up memories and transport us back through time, it can evoke emotions and much, much more.
Maybe that is why many women, and men too, indulge in perfume, a squirt of deliciousness in a bottle, a sprinkling of luxury in every day life.
I, for one, found the scent I love when I was 18, Paloma Picasso, the self-named perfume by the famous artist’s daughter. It may have been an unlikely fragrance for someone so young, but the heavy base-note of musk, patchouli and amber paired with upper-tones of honeysuckle, jasmine and tuberose, was one I instantly fell in love with and still adore to this day, more than twenty years later.
Recently, for the first time ever, I ran out of my “signature” scent without a replacement bottle waiting in the wings, well my sock-drawer. And while I do have a selection of alternative perfumes, some I wear more than others, I soon found myself missing my favourite flavour.
But since my funds are running low I decide to wait and spritz my substitute smells. As days passed and evenings went, I discovered that replacements just aren’t the same thing and I decided to give in to my noses pleas and buy a bottle of Paloma.
So yesterday evening, after an exhibition opening at the RHA, as I wandered down Grafton Street I decided to see if Boots had my perfume on sale, like they sometimes do. Lady Luck was gracious and I was able to buy a bottle of memories and moments at a reduced price.
Today I feel hugged by an old friend as the well-known scent wafts around me as I move, my sense of scent happy once more.
A perfume is like a piece of clothing, a message, a way of presenting oneself, a costume that differs according to the woman who wears it.
Paloma Picasso
my choice of scent – Paloma Picasso
jensinewall 
great choice of perfume,I love it.
me too – not a very popular one, not many know it
Would love to smell this one! I have lately been enjoyng an Hermes scent, Un Jardin sur le Toit, but for years wore Shalimar. Also enjoy the heady warmth of Amber by Prada. And Tory Burch’s signature scent for a bit of light cheer. Ah, perfume!
well you seem to have loads of smelly friends
I think the perceived extravagance of buying perfume is just the sort of thing Julia Cameron is referring to in ‘The Artist’s Way’ and that such things need to be done to nurture oneself. As a young women it was Opium that was the scent of choice, then I worked my way through the house of Dior, ending with Diorissimo; at the moment it is Molton Brown’s Mahina. In the summer I tend not to use it much, but in the winter it is more important to me. A really nice scented candle (Molton Brown again!) is a pleasure and a treat in my study through the long evenings. The flip side of this is of course, that I am not very tolerant of smells I don’t like, and they seem to stick! I once had an almost ‘flashback’ response to a tube of hemp hand cream from The Body Shop. It smelt so like the ointment I was coated in as a child when hospitalised with a skin condition…
oh you poor thing – that is bad – I too have a low tolerance of bad smells or extreme smells. And yes think nurturing oneself is really important in a world that tends to be so filled with hectic and stress