Following great tradition started by two wonderful bloggers, Birgit (Olfactoria’s Travels) and Portia (Australian Perfume Junkies), once a week I or one of the guest writers will keep the lights on in this virtual leaving room, but I hope that you, my friends and readers, will engage in conversation not only with me or the other host, but also with each other.
Saturday Question #23:
Are there Perfumes That You Associate with a Co-Worker or a Friend?
As California passed a half-million count of Covid-19 cases, and our governor in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus has announced new closure measures, it looks less and less likely that we’ll see inside our offices this year. And it got me thinking about the things we miss (or not) from the times before the “social distancing.” And since it’s a perfume blog, and we’re trying to keep the topics of these Saturday Questions somewhere in the vicinity, today’s question is about perfumes – just to stay on a lighter and less serious note.
Are there perfumes that you associate with a co-worker or a friend – either from the pre-Covid times or from the more distant past? Are those good associations or bad? Did you like those perfumes or couldn’t stand them? Do you miss not being able to smell them on those people now?
My Answer
In my current office I’m the only one who wears perfumes, so the only scented product I’m exposed to is rose oil one of my co-worker’s uses from time to time for her hair. It’s not my favorite scent (pure rose oil smells too soap-y to me), but I figured that it was a fair trade for me exposing her and others to all my daily changing scents. And after 5 months working from home, I would be glad to smell even that oil.
At my previous place of work though there were several co-workers who wore perfumes. One of them had a signature scent – Jo Malone Nectarine Blossom & Honey. This is one of rare Jo Malone’s perfumes that doesn’t work for me. But on that co-worker it smelled just amazing. Another coworker wore many different perfumes, and it was fun trying to figure out without asking her what it was. Sometimes I guessed/recognized correctly – unless, of course, it was perfume we both liked and wore, Deep Red by Hugo Boss (I told that anecdotal “skin chemistry” proof story a couple of years ago). While I do not miss that place in general, I still miss some people I worked with back there and perfume-related interactions that we had on a regular basis.
A friend of mine wears many different perfumes, but my favorites on her are Mugler Angel (she dares to wear it outside of her house) and Tom Ford Noir de Noir (It smells better on her than on me). We talk from time to time, but I haven’t seen her in the last 6 months. I miss her with or without perfumes.
Are there Perfumes That You Associate with a Co-Worker or a Friend?
Undina's Looking Glass 
Sadly none of my friends is into perfumes and my coworkers also don’t wear scents. So the answer is none
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At least you do not miss on this aspect of your life because of the current situation.
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Jo Malone Red Roses worn by one of my co-workers.
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Oh! I used to have a co-worker who wore that perfume, and it was nice on her. I miss her – in general, not perfume-related.
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I’ve been retired many years. I don’t remember any of my co workers wearing perfume.I worked at the front line in a public pace. One very attractive, beautifully dressed lady always wore Mitsouko.
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I wonder: did you recognize the scent or did you ask her?
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It was many, many years ago. I can’t remember I asked her because it was so lovely.I think that was the start of me becoming a Guerlain fan.
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Last year, when I started trying different perfumes every day, one day I wore Le Labo Thé Noir and my boss (who has since moved on to another company) just loved it – she then ordered a sample online and later bought a full bottle, and it became her new signature scent.
Chanel Allure is one I’ll forever associate with a friend from my teen years. Sometimes I guess it right (but nobody wears it every day to my work). But more times, I guessed it wrong, and people don’t seem too keen to say what they ARE wearing instead. It may have been SJP Lovely, but the conversation was jumbled, so I’m not entirely sure.
Hope you get to catch up with your friends soon, even if not in person.
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15+ years ago it was much easier to recognize/guess what others were wearing: I more or less new most of the perfumes widely available and popular at the time. These days, in addition to thousands of perfumes available, many of them smell very similar – so, it’s hard to guess.
For a “civilian” it should be hard to confess in wearing most of other perfumes once you mistakenly suggested Chanel ;).
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I’m also alone as a perfume wearer. My sister in law, though, has two perfumes – Burberry Brit for fall/winter and DKNY Be Delicious for spring/summer. Needless to say I don’t ever wear those. I keep giving her samples to try but she’s stubborn!!
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Well… Look at it this way: Burberry Brit isn’t the worse thing that could have happened for fall/winter holiday season. And usually family gatherings don’t happen that often in summer :)
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I love the way Brit edp and edt are so different, I enjoy them both quite a bit. The edp is quite rich.
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I have one of the two… I think, EdP but I’m not sure, have to check: I hadn’t bought it – I re-homed it.
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Yes! Tom Ford Black Orchid at nuclear levels from a co-worker who’s still in the same company but a different work location. I like Black Orchid and it smells nice on her but all day everyday is too much. Then we have Ms. La Vie est Belle whom in the current office but whom I haven’t seen since we started working from home in mid-March. Thank goodness she was only there twice a week because, yeah, LVEB is too too.
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I suspect your Black Orchid co-worker has been using that perfume long enough to stop noticing it – that’s why she does it in those qualities. I remember a co-worker from long time ago: seating in the office on the second floor of a small building, I knew she was coming to work when she would just open a door on the first floor – that much Victoria’s Secret Halo she wore. And she said she could barely smell it on herself.
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Funny, I can’t think of many at all! My sister wears Clarins’ Elysium as her signature scent, although it’s discontinued (she raids eBay periodically). A young friend to whom I gave Oscar de la Renta’s Something Blue as an engagement/shower gift has made that her signature fragrance; it smells lovely on her and it is so affordable that she can easily replace it if/when she wants.
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It’s so strange to read about signature perfumes :) I mean, I know people who wear one or two perfumes all the time, and many-many years ago I was like that, but today I can hardly imagine wearing the same perfume every day. I think though that I wouldn’t mind smelling the same perfume from someone else.
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I agree! I always had a rotation of a few fragrances, not just one, but now I wear so many different ones.
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Many of of my co workers wear perfumes. I work in a large organization, I meet several people daily, many wear fragrances that I can’t even mention their names.
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Is your organization hiring? :)
I’d love to smell perfumes “in the wild” – at least from time to time.
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i live in perfume phobic Nova scotia, so hardly anyone around me ever wears perfume. I find that so dreary. A good friend of mine wore Eau D;Hadrian-That blew me away when I smelled it on her, thirty years ago :) Even now when I put some on I think of her and how good she smelled. Now since everyone is wearing masks I feel a bit more free to put on a drop of something special. I think it’s been keeping me sane (ish) for the past few months. During the start of the craziness here I kept wearing Suede de Suede, and it brought me comfort. Now I’m choosing a lot of Annick Goutal scents because they’re beautiful and wearable, and they eellike a hug from a friend.
Years ago there was a very elegant lingerie shop, and all the women there wore different perfumes. One wore L’air du temps, one wore Casmir Chopard, one wore Chnael 19. That place smelled fantastic, and it was all about women-there was beautiful lingerie, and people to talk to, and perfect wedding presents, and proper undergarment fittings. It was a great place to buy things :)
I hope everyone is staying as sane as possible and I hope for a vaccine soon.
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Annick Goutal has a special place in my heart. I went, I think, through three bottles of Petite Cherie, and still like it and several more perfumes from the line.
In our area people wear perfumes, but much less than what I experienced in Europe. I think it’s sad when culture dismisses perfumes: in our lives there are much less pleasant odors than we can get from someone’s perfume, so I think we should fight and protest those scents first.
You described that lingerie shop so wonderfully that I want to get there… in the past.
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Interesting, I had not thought of there being places where people don’t wear perfume much (other than some countries where the perfumes worn are traditionally light ones). I guess they wear it quite generously where I live, I often smell perfume on people of all ages.
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Not a colleague, as I have worked from home since 1991, but friends, yes. Mostly in a negative way, indeed it was googling a friend’s perfume wardrobe to see why I didn’t like what she wore that fateful got me into this topic. She has since discovered many more (to my nose) congenial things, and even if she hadn’t budged from what she first loved, I’d be forever grateful to her for the nudge down the rabbit hole! But yes, Gwen Stefani LAMB, and foghorn applications of Paris were two of the culprits.
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Fatefully, sorry, predictive text fail.
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Since I don’t like either of the two perfumes you mentioned, I completely understand how those could push you into the hole ;)
Though, these days if I do not have to spend too much time with somebody, I think, I’ll rather appreciate them wearing perfume (the act itself) – even if I don’t like it.
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Hey there Undina,
Yes. I have a couple of friends whose fragrance is them, even though they may wear more than one.
My BFF Kath wears Queen by Queen Latifah. It smells amazing on her and I can often smell her before we see each other.
Another really close girlfriend of ours is alice and she is CHANEL Coco.
Jin will always be Bottega Veneta EdP.
Scott is YSL Rive Gauche
I love it when people have a signature scent, hugs feel even more personal when I’m breathing you in.
Portia xx
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When we finally meet, I promise to wear Climat :)
Do you ever wear yourself those perfumes that you associate with your friends?
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YAY! I’ll love it if you wear Climat Undina.
Coco and Queen are two second tier faves for me. They get a bit of wear and I love them. The girls both wear them really differently to me. It’s kind of the same but quite different.
I was buying Bottega Veneta for myself at Seoul Duty Free. They were having a sale and it was US$35 for 75ml. Jin tried it on and I knew I could never wear it after smelling it on him. It is exquisite, 1000 times better than on me. So I bought him a bottle. I wish I’d bought 5 at that price because he uses it like water.
Many years ago I bought a bottle of Rive Gauche because a GF of mine had worn it as we were growing up and I always thought she smelled so sophisticated. Imagine a young teen wafting Rive Gauche in the 1980s! It was killer. Anyway, it sits here unopened, maybe one day.
Portia xx
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I wore BV today in Jin’s name :)
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Woo Hoo! Isn’y iy gorgeous?
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Given that you and I worked together for many years, I do miss our regular face to face conversations about perfumes and trying to figure out what the other was wearing. I do miss the days of Deep Red by Hugo Boss. I will forever associate that with you, along with Osmanthus Blossom by Jo Malone – as that is the first Jo Malone you gave me a sample of and kicked off my Jo Malone collection. I do have Nectarine Blossom, but that scent is another co-worker’s signature scent. Thanks for the memory of Victoria Secret’s Halo, as I had blocked that out of my mind. That particular former co-worker’s overdose of that perfume or any perfume she wore has stayed with me and I always try to make sure I don’t over do it with whatever perfume I on for the day.
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Exactly! :) Even though I kind of liked that perfume, I learned the lesson that there is such thing as too much of something good.
Do you wear perfumes daily now when you work from home?
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Yes I still do. I’ve maintained my regular morning ritual, which includes putting on perfume before starting work from home. And still try to wear a different fragrance everyday.
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I have a friend who always smelled so good, and I knew that I could guess the perfume if she gave me time and eventually I did. It was Byredo Gypsy Water. This was a perfume I’d been sitting on the fence about buying because it seemed so light on me, but I adored the notes. She smelled so subtle but good everytime I saw her that it tipped me into purchasing. Then one day she came with another one by the same brand, Rose Of No Man’s Land, which I also guessed. It thrilled me I guessed because i’m not good at that sort of blind identification. So now when I wear Gypsy Water I always think of her.
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I’ve found Gypsy Water very light myself. It’s really wonderful to test a perfume on someone else, totally different experience!
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I’m better at recognizing perfumes that I know than at recognizing notes (even when I know that they are supposed to be in perfume I’m smelling). So, whenever that recognition happens, I feel extremely excited :)
I remember testing Gypsy Water but I don’t remember how it smelled. It wasn’t bad but I don’t think I needed more. But I’m on the fence with another Byredo perfume – Mojave Ghost. As my sample gets closer to the end, I like it more and more…
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My esthetician and I often discuss perfumes while I’m getting a facial. She wears Gypsy Water by Byredo and gave me a small travel size spray to try. It’s a great scent on her but unfortunately not so great on me. I’ll finish up what she gave me, but don’t love it enough to buy it. There’s a particular note that I can quite identify but it’s one I don’t enjoy or appreciate on myself.
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I wonder if it’s the juniper?
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Mojave Ghost is truly a ghost on me. I can’t smell anything. Which makes me sad because so many seem to like it.
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Look at it this way: money saved! :)
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My friend often wears Guerlain L’Heure Bleue and BPAL Green Tree Viper which is a soft minty musk. Both of them wear beautifully on her and smell completely different than I’ve experienced wearing them myself!
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I like LHB on others, but still cannot do it.
It is interesting how differently sometimes we perceive perfumes on different people and on our skin.
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My dear friend Monica wears La Vie est Belle all the time and it smells wonderful on her. La Vie doesn’t suit me at all, but it shines on Monica. Similarly my friend Carmen glows in Ralph Lauren blue, the one that smells tropical with melony beachy vibes. I like it, too, but it doesn’t smell the same on my skin.
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I think I’m too snobbish perfume-wise when it comes to me wearing perfumes but much more accepting towards others’ choices. I think it’s because I appreciate people wearing any perfumes – as an opposite to being perfume-phobs.
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