August 1995. I’m about to turn 12.
I’m on a ferry to Denmark with my Mum, Step-Dad and sister. The crossing takes 24hrs and feels like a great adventure. The boat is huge and my sister and I loose ourselves exploring its lengthy corridors and numerous levels. We wander outside onto the deck to admire the North Sea, our teeth chattering as we press ourselves against the guard rail. There’s a strong wind and the water is choppy. Later that evening we watch as one of the boat’s cabaret acts teeter dangerously across the stage in their 4inch heels while the boat keels from side to side.
The boat has a modest duty-free shop. It lacks the glimmer and glam I’d associate with, and expect from, tax free shopping these days but to my untrained eye it was a marvelous sight. I wander from one display to another, not daring to touch a thing. The glass bottles look shiny and inviting, the white and red packaging of the Clarins products call to me. In a moment of boldness I grasp a small tube of exfoliator, imagining, no hoping, that some of it’s sophistication might rub off on me.
I pause in front of the Elizabeth Arden display. Braver now, I pick up a bottle containing a golden-hued liquid. Not daring to actually spritz myself with the scent, I hold the perfume close to my nose and inhale. It smells yellow, like sunshine and warmth. It’s sickly sweet, almost headache-inducing but to my pre-teen nose it is perfection. I’ve never worn perfume before but now all I can think about is dousing myself in this scent and loosing myself in daydreams of adulthood and refinement.
I returned to that spot numerous times during that crossing, fingering the smooth glass bottle longingly each time, running my fingers over the logo and inwardly wishing it was mine.
I have a jellyfish on my head. Don’t ask.
We spend our holiday in a beach house that belongs to my Step-Dad’s cousin. It’s old with no hot water but the beach is our back garden and my sister and I can ride our bikes into town alone to buy cakes from the bakery. If we take the road in the opposite direction we can cycle up and down hilly roads that cut through seemingly endless fields of corn. We play by a small stream and catch baby frogs in jam jars. We bury each other in the sand on the beach. I have a small room downstairs to myself and I write in my diary religiously each night before I go to bed: ‘Dear Diary, Today we…’
We eat breakfast outside on the morning of my birthday. My Step-Dad decorates my place at the table with pink flowers and my Mum lays out the party-poppers she’s brought over from England.
I open my presents inside, curled up on the couch and dressed in my Mum’s t-shirt. My gifts include a Bon Jovi cassette {which I listen to obsessively on my Walkman for the rest of the trip} and a promise that I can have my ears-pierced upon our return to the UK.
And then, the perfume.
It’s mine.
My first ever scent, Sunflowers by Elizabeth Arden.
Tell me about your first perfume, pretty please?!
Loveaudrey xxx
This is so sweet 🙂 Look forward to hearing more Scent stories.
My first perfume was Body Shop White Musk. I was in first year so maybe 11 and the school bus was a wonderful heady (read toxic) mix of Body Shop White Musk and Dewberry. The bottle was tiny, 15ml at most and I was so careful with it, that it lasted me for an age <3
Loved this post.
I have to say, I’m the same age as you but I didn’t get my first perfume ’till I was 15.
I remember ‘stealing’ my mother’s Chanel and Gucci when I was 12-13-14 and wishing she’d buy me a scent too. I begged her for months and months… But I come from quite an old fashioned family and the usual reply was: ‘Why do YOU need a perfume?’
So imagine my surprise when on a beautiful summer eve’99 my mother gave me this box with ‘Naomi Campbell’ written on it. Yes, it was Naomi’s first scent. Her signature scent.
And oh how I want to smell this right now. I remember loving Naomi Campbell (the scent), I remember respraying it every couple of hours and I remember feeling grown up and proud and good about myself. Summer’99 was a beautiful one.
xo
@Arlene Haha! Yes, The Body Shop was very popular among my high school friends too. I think it was the Vanilla fragrance that I liked the most. Was pretty addicted to that along with their kiwi lip balm 🙂
@Miss A What a lovely memory 🙂
It’s a amzing how special a little bottle of liquid can make you feel. I sometimes let Izzy have a spritz of my perfume (just for fun you understand, she is only 6!) and she instantly carries herself differently in an attempt to match the sophistication of the fragrance.
You know, reading other people’s perfume memories really makes me want to go out and smell all the scents they mention!
Loveaudrey xxx
I wish I could remember. Such a delicious story though!
I remember how I always envied my 9 year older niece who had a bottle of Jean Paul Coultier (I especially loved the corset shaped bottle).
My first perfume was Python (sweet but with a spicy cinnamon kind of scent) by Trussardi when I was 13 years old… at least that was what I was going to say but then I read Arlene’s comment and then I remembered it actually was Fuzzy Peach from the body shop (and I too loved the kiwi lipbalm!). I think I was 11 then.
Python became unavaiable a few years later and then I swithed to Burberry Brit. I wasn’t really smitten with it but it was the best I could find. Nowadays I use Rose the one from D&G, which I love again. Though I must admit that the Boss Orange bottle always makes me doubt to switch again when I see it in a store.