Introduction

When people ask me about my nonnegotiables for dating, the very top of my list is “no smoking of any kind”. It is because I absolutely cannot handle the smell. For me, smell is everything, and it was everything to our ancestors. Noses were vital tools that allowed them to do things like building a mental map of traveled places or guaranteeing that food was not spoiled. Hey, we still utilize our sense of smell for these things today! Now, we rely on our noses less for survival and more for fashion. Perfume dates back to Mesotopamia (remember, the first thing that you learn about in any World History class), although many scholars believe that India was its inventor because of religious texts that utilized aromatics. Ancient Greeks created the first liquid perfume. Perfume then took France by storm in the 17th century, where it spread to other Western countries. While it is not on my list, it is important to mention that Chanel No. 5 was the first perfume that was created with modern methods (which usually include synthetics). I argue that one of the reasons that perfume is widely used today is because scents have an extremely strong connection to memory. Smells are in direct contact with the amygdala and the hippocampus, which are heavily involved in emotion and memory. Because of this, I have very strong emotional ties to perfumes. They invoke different memories and milestones of my life. Today, I would like to share those perfumes with you in hopes that you gain a mental (fragrance) map of my life.

Burberry’s Her

This was my very first favorite fragrance. I first discovered it when I was in middle school. Now, my parents did not buy me a full bottle of Burberry’s Her fragrance. My mom had gotten me a Christmas gift from Sephora, and a mini sample size of Burberry’s Her was the free gift that came with the purchase. It was love at first smell. I was obsessed with everything about this fragrance. I loved the sweetness of the berries, the warmth of the woody notes, and the simple yet subtle peony fragrance. It was the epitome of “adulthood” to me, but that is maybe because my mom would sometimes wear this fragrance as well. This tiny sample started my mom and my relationship around fragrance. We will constantly visit different beauty stores and share our favorite perfumes with each other. We still buy packs of body washes or lotion at Costoc and always split it because we both love the smell. We will pick candles or other gifts for each other by smell alone. Today, every time I smell Her, it reminds me of my mom. The sweet berries remind me of the times that my mom and I went to baking classes or had afternoon tea at The London Tea Room. The woody notes remind me of the time my mom took me camping with my Girl Scout trope or all the float trips we went on together as a family. The floral scent reminds me of when we went flower-picking together or the flowers that she would get me after my high school theatre shows. This perfume always takes me back home to my mom.

Bath and Body Works’ Black Cherry Merlot

If Burberry’s Her was the scent that started it all, Bath and Body Works’ Black Cherry Merlot was what cemented my love of perfume. I started wearing this fragrance right when it came out in 2019, so it reminds me a lot of my sophomore year of high school. Sophomore year was a difficult year for me. It was much like the sour cherry note in the perfume. The tartness reminds me of difficult-to-swallow lessons on friendships. It is the embodiment of the bitter taste of letting people walk all over you. Or the pit you find in the center of a cherry, as well as the pit in your stomach from tremulous relationships. However, like life and perfumes, one part should not overpower the rest. The sweet must balance out the sour. Alongside the dark cherry, there is a bright black raspberry in this fragrance. Unlike their red raspberry counterparts, black raspberries are entirely sweet. They are the friends who stood by me and the new friends I gained after standing up for myself. They are the everlasting support and love I find in my family unit. They are the happiness I refuse to allow other people to steal from me. And the merlot… the merlot is the good times that follow standing firm in your values, finding the friends that deserve you, and the joy that comes from forgiveness. When we look back on difficult times, we tend to only see the negatives. It then becomes a duty to ourselves to search for the sweetness. My sophomore year was much like Black Cherry Merlot. It was full of sour and sweet notes that, somewhere towards the end, found a healthy balance. This perfume always reminds me of the balance of life.

Pink’s Warm and Cosy

The whole reason I want to write about this perfume is because I want to write about my best friend, Maya. I have referenced Maya a couple of times on my blog, and every time, I always state that she is my best friend. I truly mean this. Whenever someone compliments me on something, it is usually because I stole it from Maya. Warm and Cosy is no exception. I am pretty sure Maya introduced me to this perfume sometime when we were in high school. Maybe I love it so much because it reminds me of our friendship. The soft vanilla reminds me of the time that we baked cupcakes in the middle of the night just because we felt like it. The coconut reminds me of the times I visited her in warm, vacationy Savannah (see attached photo for our first trip together). Now, the passionfruit note is the hardest. Frankly, it is because passionfruit does not have a single note that it is easiest to pinpoint a memory to. It is so unique… maybe that is why it symbolizes our friendship the best. Passionfruit can be grown in many environments because of its adaptability. Just like our friendship evolving and growing as we get older. Passionfruit is unlikely any other fruit because you only eat the pulp and seeds on the inside. Just like how not many twenty-year-olds can say that they have been friends with someone for fifteen years. Passionfruit is said to taste like many different kinds of fruit mixed together: melon, kiwi, lemon. Just like how we have been more than just friends to each other: confidants, therapists, sisters. This perfume will always remind me of Maya.

Sol de Janeiro’s 62

During my first-year at WashU, I learned a lot about making friends. For example, people are like the notes in perfumes. There are three kinds of notes: top notes, heart notes, and base notes. Top notes are the scents that you first smell after you spray a perfume. For Sol de Janeiro’s 62, the top notes are pistachio and almond. They are the first people that you meet in college. Sometimes, they stick with you until the end. Sometimes, they are just a precursor for what comes next. When you first start making friends in university, the first people you make friends with are not supposed to be your forever friends. Only time will tell if those top notes will stick around. Heart notes are the core of the fragrance, and they deepen the experience of a perfume. Once the pistachio and almond have settled, you are then hit with heliotrope and jasmine petals. They are the people who make the college experience. I attribute my sorority to my heart notes because joining my sorority is one of the best decisions of my life. They have helped shape how I experience college, and they have redefined loyalty and sisterhood for me. Base notes are the foundation of the perfume. They work with the heart notes to create the core fragrance, but they are also their own entity. The vanilla, salted caramel, and sandalwood of 62 are the scents that stick with you. Meris is this friend for me. I have talked extensively about Meris in another blog post, however, I truly believe that Meris is my base at WashU. He was my first friend and set the tone for all my other friendships in college. Sol de Janeiro’s 62 was the perfume I wore my entire first year at WashU. This perfume reminds me of true friendship and love.

Lush’s Sticky Dates

This is the newest fragrance on my list. So new, in fact, I bought it just last week. I have always used new perfumes to mark new chapters in my life, and this is no exception. I am currently studying abroad in the beautiful city of London. It is a big change from my life in St. Louis, and I am excited to take advantage of every opportunity to explore this big world we live in. Sticky Dates reminds me of the fireplace in my family’s living room that we would gather around during cold winter nights. The candied-toffee scent reminds me of my grandmother’s baked goods I will miss these holidays away from family and friends. At the same time, the sandalwood grounds me in this new city that I will call home for the next three months. The syrupy caramel notes remind me of the Chelsea buns I had on a day trip to Cambridge. This scent evokes both the places I miss so much and the places I cannot wait to explore. It is a back-and-forth between the past and the present. It will be a perfume that will slowly but surely become associated with the city of London. It will follow me from Big Ben to The Wallace Collection to the little restaurant that now knows me by name and order. This perfume will always be there to remind me of my bravery, my adventures, and my accomplishments from my time in London.

Conclusion

You might have noticed that all the perfumes on my list are characterized by their sweetness and warmth. There is research that shows that people are drawn to certain perfumes because of past experiences with those scent notes. For example, the passionfruit in Warm and Cosy could remind me of the strawberry in Her or the black raspberries in Black Cherry Merlot. Or maybe the vanilla in 62 reminds me of the caramel in Sticky Dates. Much like life experiences, our sense of smell is constantly building on itself. This is why knowing someone’s favorite perfumes can reveal so much about that person’s lived experiences. Through smell, we can better understand the human experience, and I hope that you all got a better picture of my life through my favorite fragrances.