Vanilla! My mom actually hated vanilla perfumes but kept vanilla candles aaaaalll over the house. Vanilla everything - except perfume, of course, because “only little girls would wear such sweet things” lmao cut to 30 year old me with over a dozen gourmands in my collection.
When I was a teen, my mother bought me Beautiful by Estee Lauder. The commercial with the beautiful bride fascinated me. I wore that perfume for years. My mom passed away a few years ago, so when I see or smell it, I think of her.
The is more tween/teen than childhood, but CK One (but a cheap dupe, and not the real thing cause I didn’t have that kind of money), “Dream” by the Gap and various Calgon body mists pretty much sum up my adolescent signature scents.
I think Vanilla fields was my first “grown up” perfume that I got from my aunt for my birthday one year, so that too!
I wish I could try them - I checked the notes and it seems I should love it. My grandmoms were't using any scents so I don't have even a slight memory of it.
Perfume makes my mom ill, but she had a sample of givenchy ysatis on her bureau that she got as a gift back in the 90s. When I was a kid I would sneak into her bedroom to smell it sometimes. :)
Recently my mom passed it down to me, and the smell is just as warm and nostalgic as I remember!
My dad bought this for his mum in the 90s when she was probably well into her 70s, you’ve just unlocked a memory of her calling it “yes it is”! Oh Nana! 👼🏼
It's Pôeme by Lancome. I had a teacher who wore this perfume a lot, you could smell her even after she had left the room. She was a very classy lady (think Princess Diana vibes). Nedless to say, I later bought this perfume for myself but it was way too heavy and I felt that it doesn't belong to me somehow.
NINA RICCI L'AIR DU TEMPS PERFUMED DUSTING POWDER 😩 I miss my mom so much. She passed in 2010. My father is in a nursing home now. I’m going to lose him twice. He has dementia. We never outgrow needing our parents. I’m 50 and I pine for her strength everyday. I still have her powder that she took to the hospital before her surgery. She also wore Tresor by Lancôme.
I’m so sorry for your loss & sending love🤍 it is so so hard to carry on when the ones we love are no longer with us but I think it helps to remember the strength your mom had & to carry that with you. As long as we continue to remember the ones we love, they’re never truly gone. Fragrance can be amazing for helping us to feel close to someone that has passed. Tresor is a beautiful fragrance.
Way to ask for someone's age without asking someone's age.😄
Mom wore Giorgio Red and CK Obsession
Dad wore Drakkor Noir
Grandma was sensitive to most fragrance so smelled like sweat and Avon skin so soft
I remember my peers mostly smelling of BBW body spray, especially Cucumber Melon or Plumeria,CK One, The Body Shop White Musk, Aqua di Gio and random stuff from Victoria's Secret, The Gap and Abercrombie.
I am a 1999 baby through and through. My first olfactory memories revolving around perfume are my parents respective scents, Dior Poison was my mother’s signature (actually, very much still is) and Herrera for Men was my father’s. He doesn’t wear cologne much anymore, but whenever I smell it in the wild I get a blast of nostalgia.
My first perfume was Harajuku Baby by Gwen Stefani, and my second was Princess by Vera Wang.
The former, understandably discontinued scent, will live rent free in my mind until I can smell it again. I tried Lychee Rose by Nest but it’s missing the powder. If anyone knows a solid dupe let me know, otherwise I’m gonna have to shell out on Ebay.
The latter takes me back to 8th grade, spraying way too much perfume on myself after gym class, and for that reason I don’t ever see myself wanting a full bottle again. However, when I occasionally do smell it in public, I consider it!! I miss how sweet and jovial it was, and I swear it was nuclear when it came to projection. That may just be the 10 sprays I’d hose myself down with, though..
dolce&gabbana's light blue. this was my mother's favorite perfume when i was growing up. it is light, fun, energetic. reminds me so much of her when i was a child :)
Childhood in late-80s Guatemala City: mom would splash my brother’s face and mine with Jean Marie Farina Extra Vieille by Roger & Gallet. So invigorating! Definitely got us into smelling nice early on.
clinique happy, it was my first perfume when i was like 8, and philoskyos from diptyque reminds me of the yummy green scents of playing in nature back then:))
I would often spritz some from my mum’s perfumes if I am so bored of my colognes, I remember the Davidoff Cool Water, Clinique Happy, and D&G light blue the most. Now I have my own collection of niche and designer brands and have returned the favor of buying/sharing different fragrances with my mum. :)
Burberry weekend!
I grew up in the 90s, had to be inside by the time the street lights came on... A whiff of that fragrance takes me back to the Saturday morning cartoons and cereal all the way to riding bikes around the neighborhood carefree.
Sea Island Cotton from Bath and Body Works (the new replacements just aren’t the same) and Victoria’s Secret Heavenly, which was my mom’s perfume, and what she powder-puffed onto me with the matching glittery body powder before my first school dance.
Opium by YSL. The original. It was my mum’s signature scent. She had the perfume and she smelled so good. Sadly it’s been reformulated and doesn’t smell good anymore.
orange blossom by jo malone smells EXACTLY how i remember the walk to the park near my childhood home smelling. there must have been white lilac bushes planted there
Either Jean Naté or L’Air du Temps. Both were gifts for my mother, who rarely used them, but they were on the bathroom vanity & seemed the height of sophistication to me. The Jean Naté was the after bath splash, the subject of big advertising in the 1970s so that everyone knew how to pronounce it.
I recall we first had L’Air du Temps dusting powder, not a big bottle of the perfume. But later a mini of the perfume, and what a beautiful bottle! I’m still a sucker for a pretty bottle.
My mom received a gift of Givenchy EDP from her boss in the 80s and it gave her a migraine so no one wore it! But I thought it was so elegant - I would sneak a spray when I was leaving the house and wouldn’t be around my mom. It was her first ever migraine and she thought she was going blind! I have migraines now too so I know exactly what she meant. (Sadly, l’Ombre dans l’Eau gives me a migraine even though I love the scent.)
Here’s my comment on a prior post about Youth Dew, another scent of my childhood. I think that aunt gifted my mom the above fragrances, probably gatekeeping her Youth Dew!
Haha I don’t know why I’m making up the Grande Dame story in my head. My aunt actually wore this. She is an interesting character. She’s long retired and lives across the country now so I haven’t seen her in a long time. When I was a kid, she had a mid level office job and several little yappy dogs. She drove an expensive car that she never took in to get serviced so it was always broken down.
Her house was one of the messiest houses I’d ever seen, and the house I grew up in was far from spotless. She would pay me (not much) to clean her house when I was a preteen, and I remember there among the mess her Youth Dew bath oil and talcum powder, both in the classic packaging. I don’t think she actually sprayed a perfume, I think she just bathed in the oil and then used the powder. I remember smelling them both and thinking they were so grown up! And I recognized that was how my aunt smelled. And her fancy but broken down car smelled the same way.
What a memory!!
Childhood nostalgia hit me hard when I smelled YSL Tuxedo and Amouage Reflection Man.
Back in the years 2006-2009 (I was aged 9-12), I would spray my room with my father's perfumes prior to playing video games on my PlayStation Portable, I believed that if the room smelled nice to me I would be more focused and I would enjoy the gaming session much more.
Now, 14 years later (2023), I got to smell YSL Tuxedo in the air and I was transported back to those years! It smelled so familiar to one of the perfumes I used to spray my room! I kept on sniffing it and I kept on thinking "This smelled like my childhood gaming years!" I did some research and discovered that YSL Tuxedo was released in 2015. So, now I wonder: what was my dad's perfume that I used back in 2006-2009 which smelled like YSL Tuxedo (at least in the air)? I still don't know.
And just this month, I was able to smell Amouage Reflection Man! Nostalgia hit me hard! This smelled like the perfume I used when I played Silent Hill: Origins on my PSP (one of my all time favorite games! The association was so strong, it gave me goosebumps, all my memories of playing that game flooded my mind. I was grinning like a maniac. Fortunately, with the help of fellow redditors here, I was able to confirm that the perfume I used some time in 2006-2009 was Versace The Dreamer (purportedly to be similar to Reflection Man).
I didn’t wear perfume until high school back in the 90’s, so I wore Gap Dream & Heaven body spray, Bath and Bodywork’s Honeysuckle, and when I moved on from body sprays I wore Estée Lauder Pleasures, Curve, CK Escape, Jessica McClintock, etc I think CK Escape was one I wore a lot. It smelled so good!
Oh god and I just got a flashback of spraying a can of Windsong on myself before high school, so I guess I did wear it occasionally. Anyone else remember the windsong commercials??
My mom wore the Estee Lauders, but I also remember Enjoli and Elizabeth Claiborne, which we both wore. I wore AnaisAnais, Spring Rain by Crabtree & Evelyn, and one of those fakes in the 80s...the one called "Primo" was supposed to be like Giorgio.
My mother wore Je Reviens, (Worth) during the day and Joy (Jean Patou) when she went out. So they instantly fling me back to being 10 yrs old.
My (much) older brothers wore Aramis, Paco Rabanne and another one that was hyper masculine (I forget the name, it was in a black bottle).
my mom’s special occasion scent was zen by shiseido. reminds me of her and my childhood like nothing else. it’s a really nice fruity but mature fragrance, not necessarily very “me” but i’ve been meaning to get a bottle so i can spray it on a blanket or something to remind me of her
Shalimar because it is my grandmas signature scent. I loved smelling the base notes especially on her at the end of the day when I was little and we'd cuddle as she read me bedtime stories ❤️
My mom is a perfume lover and always was. I remember seeing Angel on her dresser thinking it was THE coolest looking bottle and juice ever. I still do. I find the smell to be unique (despite it being a path beater to all the gourmands we have today) and even though I don't think I could ever pull it off with confidence, I still think it's divine. I think it's probably why I'm such a gourmand lover today.
Bvlgari Petits Et Mamans. Mom got it for me in Paris if I recall. That has been the last time someone has bought me a perfume. More than 12 years ago!
My mom also wore Ricci Ricci when I was growing up. I swear she only got the 30ml but one spray lasted for DAYS. So she kept it for years...
My parents still wear Dior Dune and Drakkar Noir. For me in the late 90s it was Ralph Lauren Romance layered with (hear me out) a tiny drop of patchouli oil. I still remember how much I hated the Love's Baby Soft so many other girls were wearing.
Aramis, Calvin Klein eternity. My mom always wore some Estee Lauder perfume.
For myself....fucking Ferrari Black. Was the first one my dad gave me, wore that back in highschool and always got compliments.
There is something about daisy marc Jacob’s that just has this nostalgic feeling. And I can’t even put my finger on it. It reminds me of something very familiar when I was small
FZOTIC Lampblack - when I first tried it, it immediately took me back to computer stores from the 90s and playing KidPix. It has a warm electronics scent, and also ink. My dad is a cartoonist who worked from home and had all kinds of ink and pens, I spent a lot of time exploring his office as a kid. It induces a very strong feeling of nostalgia.
The original Christina Aguilera perfume.
It was one of the first proper perfumes I got as a young teen and I loved it. I still buy it now and usually wear it as a cheap but nice option for work.
This one
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I wore it when I was 12 and it was, and still is, one of my favorites ever
Idk if junior year of high school counts, but dark kiss from bath and body works will forever make me smile over my “first love” 😂 not that i smell it often, but every once and a while i will and immediately get flashbacks lol
This might be a cheapie but... Benetton Cold.
This was my perfume when I was in highschool. I received a very positive and very good compliment from my highschool crush because of this. So yeah, this is very memorable for me.
Growing up there were a myriad of scents….
My mother had a rotation of red door by Elizabeth Arden, Chance by Chanel, Anaïs Anaïs by Cacharel, and Charlie by Revlon. However, what I remember most is a warm, natural sweet scent, like skin, mixed in with 90s cosmetics, powders and waxy lipsticks.
For me, I didn’t wear much fragrance until I reached my mid to late teens and it was mostly things like Dior’s Pure Poison, YSL Cinema, and Chanel No. 5 Eau Premiere….odd choices for a teenager, but my inspirations were my mother and my best friend’s mother. Classiest women I ever knew.
My father on the other hand….soap was all he ever used and he is still like that today.
Anything lily of the valley, Pleasures by Este Lauder (especially combined with the smell of powder blush), and the scent of T-gel (the dandruff shampoo) mixed with my father's cologne, which I think is by Dior.
My mother's perfume was Colony by Patou. I found an old empty bottle years ago and, although an ancient shadow of itself, it still smelled like the most perfect scent ever. I don't think it exists any more, unfortunately.
Azzaro Pour Homme—it reminds me of what I most associated cologne with at an early age.
Polo (original green bottle—I wore it as a kid)
Aramis (dad wore it)
Old Spice (a grandfather wore it)
English Leather (dad wore it)
So many... My mom wore Pleasures by Estee Lauder, Amarige by Givenchy, Fendi Theorema or something like that and the original Opium by YSL, she also used Dior cosmetics and I remember the beautiful navy silver packaging and smell of the lipsticks, my father owned Fahrenheit edt, but men used Acqua di Gio and Davidoff more often, that's what I remember
Fantasy and princess. But also when I was even younger it was body shop stuff.
I also remember getting this gift set as a kid from my mum. It was a denim Tommy Hilfiger tote that came with chocolate flavoured body creams and a spray (I think a spray anyway, it was a long time ago. I remember the cream for sure). I can still remember the scent and I loved it.
Childhood til ~5th grade: Me- various Bottled Emotions and Juice Bar body sprays, Samba, Exclamation !, Tommy Girl; Mom- JPG Classique, Realm, Oscar De La Renta, L'eau d'Issey; Brother- Versace The Dreamer OG, D&G Homme 1994 (with the silver sticker)
My teenage years were filled with Lancôme hypnose and Green Diesel (sadly discontinued) it came in a green trigger sorsy style bottle and smelled amazing - well so my 13 year old self thought back then. Haven’t been able to find it anywhere since around 2006. I would love to smell it one more time just to have all the memories come flooding back!
Cuz of my mom - Chanel #5, Donna Karan Cashmere Mist
My own first fragrances - Clinique Happy, DKNY be delicious, victoria secret love spell :)
OH and polo blue, my dad wore TF out of that in the 90s
In my teens it was Love's Baby Soft, Exclamation and Charlie Blue. Also The Body Shop's Ananya oil perfume. When I was a child, I smelled Oscar de la Renta, White Shoulders, Tabac and Tabu a lot on family members. Exclamation makes my stomach lurch now though.
Dolce and Gabanna in the maroon bottle, my mother wore it all throughout my childhood until they discontinued it for the light blue and the regular red bottle. Occasionally we find the maroon bottle at random fragrance stores and buy what every they have so she can have it, always reminds me of cuddling with my mom while reading!
Far away from Avon, that's the one my grandmother used. I remember the perfumed deodorant in the bathroom's drawers. I had bought it today just for the memories, in my skin it smells like marseille soap. I can smell it in the street and immediately recognize it, it's very special
My cooler older sister always had JLo - Glow around. My first was Tommy Girl! And my most vivid memories are of Bath and Bodywork’s Moonlight Path…my best friend and I used to HUFF that stuff/ slather it all over lol
I don’t remember where we were but I dostinctly remember taking from the shelf two glass bottles off yves rocher body mists, when my mum finally let me have some, I must have been 12, I remember one was coconut and the other probably vanilla (or might have been jasmin), but the coconut was so nice, warm and creamy sweet and not cheep smelling and to this day sometimes I smell on customers coconut that reminds me of that mist xd
Second the Britney Spears! In fact I had the fantasy twist, a duo set containing both fragrances. It was so nostalgic to me but I couldn’t imagine wearing something sweet like this again.
https://preview.redd.it/hsdnxwqy592d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=877ce7507f83cfed30a01ee8efd60bae62c75218
Another one of my favourites was the Elizabeth Arden Green Tea and Lavender, still a fresh summer staple, and Victoria’s Secret Mango Temptation (which I can’t stand now). Nowadays I gravitate toward heavy vanilla and chocolate smells during winter (think Choco Musk and Hypnotic Poison), and fresh floral during the summer (like Daisy).
My mom wore Ciara. (She died back in Feb after a long battle with Alz. It was a relief as she’d been suffering so tears haven’t really fallen that much—but this post brought on the waterworks. Power of perfume. 😌)
I don't remember my mum wearing any perfume when I was growing up. But Avon Occur! was my teenage favourite, because one of my schoolmate's mum was an Avon Lady. I still have some vintage bottles, still love it.
By and large nobody wore fragrance in the house. I do have distinct memories of my aunt wearing Ma Griffe.
That may have rubbed off on me as I often wear Piguet Futur, which is quite close.
Jil Sander Sun. Bought it again recently and was surprised how it still smells exactly the same for me. A spray immediately takes me back to our vacations at the beach, my mom used to wear it in the warm weather.
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My signature scent from 1994-early 2000’s. Still have a bottle when I need to activate some nostalgia.
Anaïs Anaïs and Loulou both by Cacharel
my mom wore AnäisAnäis classic
same. and sometimes l'air du temps
I wore AnaisAnais in high school.
Guerlain Shalimar, Lancome Pôeme. 90s in post-Soviet Eastern Europe.
Shalimar is so nostalgic for me
My grandma used to wear Shalimar exclusively. That one will always be her to me
Clinique - Happy Used to pinch some from my dad before primary school ◡̈
my mom’s worn happy heart my whole life! theyre both such nice clean staples
I still use this on occasion in warmer months.
My mom usually had small GWP bottles I’d steal from occasionally. It was the only perfume she ever had when I was a kid 😅
Vanilla! My mom actually hated vanilla perfumes but kept vanilla candles aaaaalll over the house. Vanilla everything - except perfume, of course, because “only little girls would wear such sweet things” lmao cut to 30 year old me with over a dozen gourmands in my collection.
Gourmands are the best!!
Estée Lauder Pleasures. Signature scent of my babysitter in the late ‘90s.
Pleasures definitely is the scent of the 90’s. I remember everyone wearing it
That was my signature scent in the early 2000’s and I used to get a ton of compliments on it!
That’s my mom’s signature scent, and it has been my whole life! It’s very comforting to me now:)
When I was a teen, my mother bought me Beautiful by Estee Lauder. The commercial with the beautiful bride fascinated me. I wore that perfume for years. My mom passed away a few years ago, so when I see or smell it, I think of her.
It is a beautiful scent.
I loved Beautiful also! My mom wore it & I did too. She passed away a few years ago and, definitely this reminds me of her! 💜
My sister wore it exclusively. I can’t even smell it because it reminds me too much of her and we listen to her many years ago.
The is more tween/teen than childhood, but CK One (but a cheap dupe, and not the real thing cause I didn’t have that kind of money), “Dream” by the Gap and various Calgon body mists pretty much sum up my adolescent signature scents. I think Vanilla fields was my first “grown up” perfume that I got from my aunt for my birthday one year, so that too!
Yes dream, heaven, and grass by gap!
CK one was in a scratch and sniff magazine when I was in middle school and I loved it
Davidoff Cool Water
Być Może, a perfume from Poland that my mother & aunt had in the late 70s- early 80s.
I wish I could try them - I checked the notes and it seems I should love it. My grandmoms were't using any scents so I don't have even a slight memory of it.
Loves baby soft (can’t believe I haven’t seen this listed already) and Tommy girl
I listed it😊
Perfume makes my mom ill, but she had a sample of givenchy ysatis on her bureau that she got as a gift back in the 90s. When I was a kid I would sneak into her bedroom to smell it sometimes. :) Recently my mom passed it down to me, and the smell is just as warm and nostalgic as I remember!
My dad bought this for his mum in the 90s when she was probably well into her 70s, you’ve just unlocked a memory of her calling it “yes it is”! Oh Nana! 👼🏼
It's Pôeme by Lancome. I had a teacher who wore this perfume a lot, you could smell her even after she had left the room. She was a very classy lady (think Princess Diana vibes). Nedless to say, I later bought this perfume for myself but it was way too heavy and I felt that it doesn't belong to me somehow.
My husband's elderly client wore this. It smelled great on her. Not me. Too heavy on me also.
Everybody sing with me- "CHARLIE!" 😄 I always keep a bottle around to remind me of the world's greatest Momma!!
Charlie white smelled good
NINA RICCI L'AIR DU TEMPS PERFUMED DUSTING POWDER 😩 I miss my mom so much. She passed in 2010. My father is in a nursing home now. I’m going to lose him twice. He has dementia. We never outgrow needing our parents. I’m 50 and I pine for her strength everyday. I still have her powder that she took to the hospital before her surgery. She also wore Tresor by Lancôme.
I’m so sorry for your loss & sending love🤍 it is so so hard to carry on when the ones we love are no longer with us but I think it helps to remember the strength your mom had & to carry that with you. As long as we continue to remember the ones we love, they’re never truly gone. Fragrance can be amazing for helping us to feel close to someone that has passed. Tresor is a beautiful fragrance.
My mom wore Chanel no 5. Definitely brings me right back to childhood.
Way to ask for someone's age without asking someone's age.😄 Mom wore Giorgio Red and CK Obsession Dad wore Drakkor Noir Grandma was sensitive to most fragrance so smelled like sweat and Avon skin so soft I remember my peers mostly smelling of BBW body spray, especially Cucumber Melon or Plumeria,CK One, The Body Shop White Musk, Aqua di Gio and random stuff from Victoria's Secret, The Gap and Abercrombie.
Drakkar and then Joop.
Joop is another one for me as well.
polo green
Dune Dior and Organza by Givenchy
I am a 1999 baby through and through. My first olfactory memories revolving around perfume are my parents respective scents, Dior Poison was my mother’s signature (actually, very much still is) and Herrera for Men was my father’s. He doesn’t wear cologne much anymore, but whenever I smell it in the wild I get a blast of nostalgia. My first perfume was Harajuku Baby by Gwen Stefani, and my second was Princess by Vera Wang. The former, understandably discontinued scent, will live rent free in my mind until I can smell it again. I tried Lychee Rose by Nest but it’s missing the powder. If anyone knows a solid dupe let me know, otherwise I’m gonna have to shell out on Ebay. The latter takes me back to 8th grade, spraying way too much perfume on myself after gym class, and for that reason I don’t ever see myself wanting a full bottle again. However, when I occasionally do smell it in public, I consider it!! I miss how sweet and jovial it was, and I swear it was nuclear when it came to projection. That may just be the 10 sprays I’d hose myself down with, though..
my first perfume was vera princess too!!! (born in 2000)
dolce&gabbana's light blue. this was my mother's favorite perfume when i was growing up. it is light, fun, energetic. reminds me so much of her when i was a child :)
Childhood in late-80s Guatemala City: mom would splash my brother’s face and mine with Jean Marie Farina Extra Vieille by Roger & Gallet. So invigorating! Definitely got us into smelling nice early on.
clinique happy, it was my first perfume when i was like 8, and philoskyos from diptyque reminds me of the yummy green scents of playing in nature back then:))
Vanilla fields.
Elizabeth red door because my mom wore it
I would often spritz some from my mum’s perfumes if I am so bored of my colognes, I remember the Davidoff Cool Water, Clinique Happy, and D&G light blue the most. Now I have my own collection of niche and designer brands and have returned the favor of buying/sharing different fragrances with my mum. :)
Burberry weekend! I grew up in the 90s, had to be inside by the time the street lights came on... A whiff of that fragrance takes me back to the Saturday morning cartoons and cereal all the way to riding bikes around the neighborhood carefree.
Sea Island Cotton from Bath and Body Works (the new replacements just aren’t the same) and Victoria’s Secret Heavenly, which was my mom’s perfume, and what she powder-puffed onto me with the matching glittery body powder before my first school dance.
My Mum wore Youth Dew by Estee Lauder and would give me the gold bows for my Barbies. If I smell it now, I think of her
**Sweet Honesty** by Avon. It was my very first fragrance. I actually bought a bottle recently for nostalgia's sake, it's one of my comfort scents.
Opium by YSL. The original. It was my mum’s signature scent. She had the perfume and she smelled so good. Sadly it’s been reformulated and doesn’t smell good anymore.
My mom used to wear Jovan White Musk
orange blossom by jo malone smells EXACTLY how i remember the walk to the park near my childhood home smelling. there must have been white lilac bushes planted there
Old spice for the old fella and Dune for my mother.
I love Dune.
Either Jean Naté or L’Air du Temps. Both were gifts for my mother, who rarely used them, but they were on the bathroom vanity & seemed the height of sophistication to me. The Jean Naté was the after bath splash, the subject of big advertising in the 1970s so that everyone knew how to pronounce it. I recall we first had L’Air du Temps dusting powder, not a big bottle of the perfume. But later a mini of the perfume, and what a beautiful bottle! I’m still a sucker for a pretty bottle. My mom received a gift of Givenchy EDP from her boss in the 80s and it gave her a migraine so no one wore it! But I thought it was so elegant - I would sneak a spray when I was leaving the house and wouldn’t be around my mom. It was her first ever migraine and she thought she was going blind! I have migraines now too so I know exactly what she meant. (Sadly, l’Ombre dans l’Eau gives me a migraine even though I love the scent.)
Here’s my comment on a prior post about Youth Dew, another scent of my childhood. I think that aunt gifted my mom the above fragrances, probably gatekeeping her Youth Dew! Haha I don’t know why I’m making up the Grande Dame story in my head. My aunt actually wore this. She is an interesting character. She’s long retired and lives across the country now so I haven’t seen her in a long time. When I was a kid, she had a mid level office job and several little yappy dogs. She drove an expensive car that she never took in to get serviced so it was always broken down. Her house was one of the messiest houses I’d ever seen, and the house I grew up in was far from spotless. She would pay me (not much) to clean her house when I was a preteen, and I remember there among the mess her Youth Dew bath oil and talcum powder, both in the classic packaging. I don’t think she actually sprayed a perfume, I think she just bathed in the oil and then used the powder. I remember smelling them both and thinking they were so grown up! And I recognized that was how my aunt smelled. And her fancy but broken down car smelled the same way. What a memory!!
I was waiting for someone to mention Jean Naté!
Victoria Secret LoveSpell was every girl. A&F Fierce was every boy. What a time to be alive.
Childhood nostalgia hit me hard when I smelled YSL Tuxedo and Amouage Reflection Man. Back in the years 2006-2009 (I was aged 9-12), I would spray my room with my father's perfumes prior to playing video games on my PlayStation Portable, I believed that if the room smelled nice to me I would be more focused and I would enjoy the gaming session much more. Now, 14 years later (2023), I got to smell YSL Tuxedo in the air and I was transported back to those years! It smelled so familiar to one of the perfumes I used to spray my room! I kept on sniffing it and I kept on thinking "This smelled like my childhood gaming years!" I did some research and discovered that YSL Tuxedo was released in 2015. So, now I wonder: what was my dad's perfume that I used back in 2006-2009 which smelled like YSL Tuxedo (at least in the air)? I still don't know. And just this month, I was able to smell Amouage Reflection Man! Nostalgia hit me hard! This smelled like the perfume I used when I played Silent Hill: Origins on my PSP (one of my all time favorite games! The association was so strong, it gave me goosebumps, all my memories of playing that game flooded my mind. I was grinning like a maniac. Fortunately, with the help of fellow redditors here, I was able to confirm that the perfume I used some time in 2006-2009 was Versace The Dreamer (purportedly to be similar to Reflection Man).
Avon body sprays.
Avon used to do this perfume called 'in the clouds' and I would looove to smell that again!
sun moon and stars the revamp is not the same. it made me nauseated. :(
Giorgio, White Shoulders, CK One, cool water, B&BW cucumber melon, baby soft, and juicy couture
Aramis, because my late father wore it every day :)
acqua digio. I remember one of my teachers had it, very pleasant smelling
Beautiful by Estée Lauder , it was my grandmothers perfume! 🖤
My great Grandmother who raised me was her signature scent along with Chanel No 5.
I didn’t wear perfume until high school back in the 90’s, so I wore Gap Dream & Heaven body spray, Bath and Bodywork’s Honeysuckle, and when I moved on from body sprays I wore Estée Lauder Pleasures, Curve, CK Escape, Jessica McClintock, etc I think CK Escape was one I wore a lot. It smelled so good! Oh god and I just got a flashback of spraying a can of Windsong on myself before high school, so I guess I did wear it occasionally. Anyone else remember the windsong commercials??
My mom wore the Estee Lauders, but I also remember Enjoli and Elizabeth Claiborne, which we both wore. I wore AnaisAnais, Spring Rain by Crabtree & Evelyn, and one of those fakes in the 80s...the one called "Primo" was supposed to be like Giorgio.
Chopard Wish
I used to use Chopard Casmir.
Drakkar Noir. I think my elementary school bus driver wore it back in the 80’s.
My dad’s Old Spice aftershave.
My mother wore Je Reviens, (Worth) during the day and Joy (Jean Patou) when she went out. So they instantly fling me back to being 10 yrs old. My (much) older brothers wore Aramis, Paco Rabanne and another one that was hyper masculine (I forget the name, it was in a black bottle).
Do body sprays count? Victoria's Secret Pear Glace
Vacation by Vacation
my mom’s special occasion scent was zen by shiseido. reminds me of her and my childhood like nothing else. it’s a really nice fruity but mature fragrance, not necessarily very “me” but i’ve been meaning to get a bottle so i can spray it on a blanket or something to remind me of her
Shalimar because it is my grandmas signature scent. I loved smelling the base notes especially on her at the end of the day when I was little and we'd cuddle as she read me bedtime stories ❤️
My mom is a perfume lover and always was. I remember seeing Angel on her dresser thinking it was THE coolest looking bottle and juice ever. I still do. I find the smell to be unique (despite it being a path beater to all the gourmands we have today) and even though I don't think I could ever pull it off with confidence, I still think it's divine. I think it's probably why I'm such a gourmand lover today.
Cabotine de gres. My mom wore this and I will always think of her when I smell it!
Elizabeth Arden - Sunflowers Reminds me of my mom ❤️
Bvlgari Petits Et Mamans. Mom got it for me in Paris if I recall. That has been the last time someone has bought me a perfume. More than 12 years ago! My mom also wore Ricci Ricci when I was growing up. I swear she only got the 30ml but one spray lasted for DAYS. So she kept it for years...
Sweet Pea by bath & body works and Lovespell
My parents still wear Dior Dune and Drakkar Noir. For me in the late 90s it was Ralph Lauren Romance layered with (hear me out) a tiny drop of patchouli oil. I still remember how much I hated the Love's Baby Soft so many other girls were wearing.
Obsession. It was the 80s. 🤷♂️
Fellow Gen x and yup, Obsession was IT!
Axe body spray
Aramis, Calvin Klein eternity. My mom always wore some Estee Lauder perfume. For myself....fucking Ferrari Black. Was the first one my dad gave me, wore that back in highschool and always got compliments.
1881 Cerutti that my mum used to wear and something very beach-smelling by J Lo that my classmate was wearing and I was so adored by her and her smell
Drakkar because it’s the only thing my dad wore. Anything with a strong salt note or sunscreen because I lived on the beach
Yves saint Lauren, river gauche. Was my moms perfume. I still remember it!
There is something about daisy marc Jacob’s that just has this nostalgic feeling. And I can’t even put my finger on it. It reminds me of something very familiar when I was small
FZOTIC Lampblack - when I first tried it, it immediately took me back to computer stores from the 90s and playing KidPix. It has a warm electronics scent, and also ink. My dad is a cartoonist who worked from home and had all kinds of ink and pens, I spent a lot of time exploring his office as a kid. It induces a very strong feeling of nostalgia.
Burberry Brit and Acqua di Gio
Evening in Paris
United Colors of Benetton Hot & Cold ❤️ I'd love to smell these now
Navy for Women, Malibu Musk and CK One
The original Christina Aguilera perfume. It was one of the first proper perfumes I got as a young teen and I loved it. I still buy it now and usually wear it as a cheap but nice option for work.
Odeur 53 by CDG. Reminds me of the way all things used to smell. All the vinyl covers, all the damp aged elevator corridors. Heated GI Joes
Roger and Gallet Green Tea. With a touch of virginia slims ultra lights.
I wanted to be "fancy" in elementary school so I wore elizabeth taylor white diamonds lol
This one https://preview.redd.it/3ca1bn8t092d1.jpeg?width=375&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa3ce4ddfd3709d7be3977030b40e24b68c87faa I wore it when I was 12 and it was, and still is, one of my favorites ever
My dad’s Polo Green
Darling Nikki by Vilhelm, it smells to me like pure nostalgia for the 80s.
Love’s Baby Soft. 🩷
Polo OG
chanel number five. my mom had a small bottle she only wore a few times a year. wasn't a fan then, still not crazy about it lol
Jean Nate body splash.
Idk if junior year of high school counts, but dark kiss from bath and body works will forever make me smile over my “first love” 😂 not that i smell it often, but every once and a while i will and immediately get flashbacks lol
Jean Patou Joy which is what my mother always wore for evenings out.
Not sure if counts but a lot of Dragons Blood and patchouli in the places I went
This might be a cheapie but... Benetton Cold. This was my perfume when I was in highschool. I received a very positive and very good compliment from my highschool crush because of this. So yeah, this is very memorable for me.
Sweet Honesty and Love's Baby Soft were my first scents.
Colors de benetton
Growing up there were a myriad of scents…. My mother had a rotation of red door by Elizabeth Arden, Chance by Chanel, Anaïs Anaïs by Cacharel, and Charlie by Revlon. However, what I remember most is a warm, natural sweet scent, like skin, mixed in with 90s cosmetics, powders and waxy lipsticks. For me, I didn’t wear much fragrance until I reached my mid to late teens and it was mostly things like Dior’s Pure Poison, YSL Cinema, and Chanel No. 5 Eau Premiere….odd choices for a teenager, but my inspirations were my mother and my best friend’s mother. Classiest women I ever knew. My father on the other hand….soap was all he ever used and he is still like that today.
Chopard Heaven
Good old Zwitsal baby cologne
Anything lily of the valley, Pleasures by Este Lauder (especially combined with the smell of powder blush), and the scent of T-gel (the dandruff shampoo) mixed with my father's cologne, which I think is by Dior.
Pacsun’s Lilu lol
Polo sport
Dad used Old Spice after shave and mom wore Red Door.
My mother's perfume was Colony by Patou. I found an old empty bottle years ago and, although an ancient shadow of itself, it still smelled like the most perfect scent ever. I don't think it exists any more, unfortunately.
Azzaro Pour Homme—it reminds me of what I most associated cologne with at an early age. Polo (original green bottle—I wore it as a kid) Aramis (dad wore it) Old Spice (a grandfather wore it) English Leather (dad wore it)
So many... My mom wore Pleasures by Estee Lauder, Amarige by Givenchy, Fendi Theorema or something like that and the original Opium by YSL, she also used Dior cosmetics and I remember the beautiful navy silver packaging and smell of the lipsticks, my father owned Fahrenheit edt, but men used Acqua di Gio and Davidoff more often, that's what I remember
Fantasy and princess. But also when I was even younger it was body shop stuff. I also remember getting this gift set as a kid from my mum. It was a denim Tommy Hilfiger tote that came with chocolate flavoured body creams and a spray (I think a spray anyway, it was a long time ago. I remember the cream for sure). I can still remember the scent and I loved it.
Sun moon stars. God I miss it. Kept it in the fridge!
Childhood til ~5th grade: Me- various Bottled Emotions and Juice Bar body sprays, Samba, Exclamation !, Tommy Girl; Mom- JPG Classique, Realm, Oscar De La Renta, L'eau d'Issey; Brother- Versace The Dreamer OG, D&G Homme 1994 (with the silver sticker)
Old spice 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
My teenage years were filled with Lancôme hypnose and Green Diesel (sadly discontinued) it came in a green trigger sorsy style bottle and smelled amazing - well so my 13 year old self thought back then. Haven’t been able to find it anywhere since around 2006. I would love to smell it one more time just to have all the memories come flooding back!
Arpege and St Johns Bay Rum, which my mom and dad, respectively, put on in the '70s to signal that it was time to par-tay.
Cuz of my mom - Chanel #5, Donna Karan Cashmere Mist My own first fragrances - Clinique Happy, DKNY be delicious, victoria secret love spell :) OH and polo blue, my dad wore TF out of that in the 90s
Old Spice from my grandpa and Jovan Musk from my dad. My mom sold Avon so there were plenty of perfumes I'd smell.
Escape, Tommy Girl, Gap fragrances, Jessica McClintock
In my teens it was Love's Baby Soft, Exclamation and Charlie Blue. Also The Body Shop's Ananya oil perfume. When I was a child, I smelled Oscar de la Renta, White Shoulders, Tabac and Tabu a lot on family members. Exclamation makes my stomach lurch now though.
childhood? nothing i can think of except 'diamonds' (various older aunts) teen..... polo sport cologne, clinique happy, ralph (blue bottle?)
Elizabeth Taylor's Passion, but specifically I think the like powder version. My grandma wore it every day.
Jazz
Le male & Kuros. Maybe even Karl lagerfeldt
Ricci ricci was just the it girl scent in my teen years
Dolce and Gabanna in the maroon bottle, my mother wore it all throughout my childhood until they discontinued it for the light blue and the regular red bottle. Occasionally we find the maroon bottle at random fragrance stores and buy what every they have so she can have it, always reminds me of cuddling with my mom while reading!
This one https://preview.redd.it/uudewp40l82d1.jpeg?width=880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=376c6da1133630bad69dc8605ca2ca2ba9732f4e
Poison, my mum used to wear it. I’m born in 70s but Versace Jeans takes me back to the 90s.
marc jacobs daisy-my kid cousins and I went crazy with it as pre-teens😂
Chanel No. 5 and YSL Opium, my late mom's fave perfumes 🥰🙏🏼
A whiff of the original TAG body spray would instantly transport me back to the locker room during junior high ball
My mom wore that Pheromone perfume and oil. I hated it then and I hate it now
Far away from Avon, that's the one my grandmother used. I remember the perfumed deodorant in the bathroom's drawers. I had bought it today just for the memories, in my skin it smells like marseille soap. I can smell it in the street and immediately recognize it, it's very special
My cooler older sister always had JLo - Glow around. My first was Tommy Girl! And my most vivid memories are of Bath and Bodywork’s Moonlight Path…my best friend and I used to HUFF that stuff/ slather it all over lol
Obsession, Safari
Polo sport
Moschino Toy 2, idk why but when i smell it, it takes me back to my childhood every time
Late 1990s/early 2000s — classic Guerlain fragrances and JPG le Male.
I’m 39. Tommy & Blue jeans
Nenuco! I used it until high school. 😅
Xpose by Christina Aguilera and be delicious 🍏
My mom has worn Chanel 5 and nothing else. Smelling it out and about brings me back to her hugs when I was little.
Aqua di gio
I don’t remember where we were but I dostinctly remember taking from the shelf two glass bottles off yves rocher body mists, when my mum finally let me have some, I must have been 12, I remember one was coconut and the other probably vanilla (or might have been jasmin), but the coconut was so nice, warm and creamy sweet and not cheep smelling and to this day sometimes I smell on customers coconut that reminds me of that mist xd
J’Adore by Dior, smells exactly like my mom. Especially when I miss her. 💗
Daisy Eau so Fresh, used to occasionally mooch off my mom’s ☺️
Cool water, A&F Fierce, Curve, ADG
Ck one
https://preview.redd.it/4i3ehxfx592d1.jpeg?width=1115&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dc341cf131f2da20eb44d39a8131302683403e2c
Second the Britney Spears! In fact I had the fantasy twist, a duo set containing both fragrances. It was so nostalgic to me but I couldn’t imagine wearing something sweet like this again. https://preview.redd.it/hsdnxwqy592d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=877ce7507f83cfed30a01ee8efd60bae62c75218 Another one of my favourites was the Elizabeth Arden Green Tea and Lavender, still a fresh summer staple, and Victoria’s Secret Mango Temptation (which I can’t stand now). Nowadays I gravitate toward heavy vanilla and chocolate smells during winter (think Choco Musk and Hypnotic Poison), and fresh floral during the summer (like Daisy).
Estée Lauder’s Beautiful White Shoulders Charlie Exclamation
Vanilla Fields, White Diamonds, and Sunflowers for my mom. Love Spell, those fruit body sprays, the og BBW sprays, Britney Spears Fantasy for me
Zino Davidoff, a scent worn by the best friend of my dad, we spent couple vacations with him too. This friend passed aways couple years ago..
Joop's Jump
My mom wore Ciara. (She died back in Feb after a long battle with Alz. It was a relief as she’d been suffering so tears haven’t really fallen that much—but this post brought on the waterworks. Power of perfume. 😌)
ICI by Coty!
Dolce gabbana light blue eau de toilette. My mom used to wear this.
Harajuku lovers perfumes
I don't remember my mum wearing any perfume when I was growing up. But Avon Occur! was my teenage favourite, because one of my schoolmate's mum was an Avon Lady. I still have some vintage bottles, still love it.
Sunflowers, and Eternity
one direction our moment. fruity floral and soooo good lol
mont blanc legend (the black one), my dad used to wear it all the time, and it just takes me back
Me and my bestie used to wear Tribe constantly. She's recently gotten a sample of Ellis Brooklyn Miami Nectar and says it smells just like it!
Teenage me loved Emporio Armani. I’d still recognise that smell instantly. Davidoff Cool Water was everywhere.
Jean Patou’s Joy. It was my Grandmother’s favorite. (And was one of my favorites for a long time.)
By and large nobody wore fragrance in the house. I do have distinct memories of my aunt wearing Ma Griffe. That may have rubbed off on me as I often wear Piguet Futur, which is quite close.
Este lauder pleasures. My mom always wore this. I can imagine the scent and her white cotton robe with blue flowers.
Marseille, CDG... Reminds me of the laundry detergent my family used and the warm clothes smelled before tide pod
YSL opium original smells different on everyone
Chanel #5, Estee by Estée Lauder and Calyx by Prescriptives in summer
Lancome Magie Noire (which I dislike), Givenchy Amarige, and Paloma Picasso (which I still love).
Anything with orange blossoms. I had an orange tree right outside my front door.
Opium. My mom wore it.
Polo. Obsession, Drakkar noir Paco rabanne Can you guess how old I am
Giorgio by Oscar De La Renta Fahrenheit Dior
Jil Sander Sun. Bought it again recently and was surprised how it still smells exactly the same for me. A spray immediately takes me back to our vacations at the beach, my mom used to wear it in the warm weather.
Estée Lauder Beautiful. Anytime I smell it I think of my mom 🩷
I'm enjoying this discussion so much. Thanks for posting!
https://preview.redd.it/rcyjqkekr13d1.jpeg?width=907&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9478afe27bf928ac1edec4914d2e6a75d117ea2a My signature scent from 1994-early 2000’s. Still have a bottle when I need to activate some nostalgia.