"A WOMAN WHO DOESN'T WEAR PERFUME HAS NO FUTURE." Coco Chanel

Well,I don't know how much that can be proven, but it is an interesting quote.

I was recently searching for a certain perfume called Magnolia or Eau de Val sold by L'Occitane.  They no longer sell it, but once in awhile you can find it on ebay.  I first found it in Paris when my daughter and I made that very special trip there a few years ago.  All I have to do is smell it and I am transported there. While searching online  I came across a very interesting blog for those people who love all things vintage and especially perfume.   Amelia at The Vintage Perfume Vault  has a blog wholly devoted to vintage scents.  It is fascinating.  After reading some of the posts, I began to reminisce about the first scents I remember.

The very first time I can recall being impressed by a perfume was when I was about five years old.  I was visiting my Aunt Esther in New Jersey for a few weeks.  I don't recall the reason for the visit, but I do know that my parents were not with me and neither was my younger sister who would have been a baby at the time.  There were several things memorable about this visit:  the wringer washing machine, my uncle cleaning fish he had caught in the lake on a picnic table behind the house, my aunt cutting off my long hair and giving me a perm, and my teenage cousin Joanie preparing to go out on a date with her future husband.  Those four things stick in my memory like glue.  My memory of Joanie was that she had a pink bedroom and she sat on a bench in front of a vanity and was putting on some cologne from a small bottle.  I almost remember the scent and I think it may have been an apple blossom scent.  It may have come from the local 5and 10 store. Oh, how I admired her.

My second memory of perfume was the black bottle of "Nuit de Noel" by Caron that was enclosed in a dark green box and sat on my mother's dresser for years and years.  It had been given to her by one her brothers when he returned from World War II.  I can vaguely still remember the scent.

Another vivid and favorite memory is that of the round handpainted bottle of violet cologne that sat on a shelf in my grandmother's bathroom.  I dearly loved that bottle and the smell of violet.  To this day, violets are my favorite flower and I now display that same bottle on my vanity and I have added more recent bottles of violet cologne to my collection.

Of course, there is the unforgettable "Evening in Paris" which was bought at the local 5 and 10 in Willow Grove and given to my mother at Christmas.  You can still find it at the Vermont Country Store.  I have added a few vintage bottles to my collection.

The scent of "Tweed" perfume that my mother wore when I was young is another memorable one.  I wore it out on my first date.  Recently I found it in my favorite catalog from The Vermont Country Store and ordered it.  After all these years it still smelled the same, but my taste had changed and I returned it.

Isn't it amazing that certain smells will evoke memories just as sure as if they tapped you on the shoulder?

Thank you for joining me on my little trip down memory lane!