I can’t believe it’s Saturday again! I mean, I don’t complain; I enjoy the upcoming weekend. But I’m amazed how time flies: I had a post almost done that I planned to publish on Tuesday… then Wednesday… then… Well, now I’ll wait until after Portia’s Tuesday post, but hopefully, the next week will pace itself.
Saturday Question #158:
What Was The First Perfume You Bought?
I didn’t want to make the question too long, but I meant “perfume you bought with money that you earned.” So, it’s not about perfume you acquired with saved lunch money or money gifted by a relative but with salary/gig/etc. money that you received in exchange for your time and service.
Is it currently in production? If yes, how different is it from the one you bought then? Do you still have that perfume in your collection? Do you still like it?
My Answer
The very first perfume that I bought was a mini bottle of Yves Rocher Nature perfume. I wrote about it 12 years ago as an episode in my Week-long Test Drive series WTD, Episode 2.6: Nature by Yves Rocher. Even then, it was already discontinued. But by that time, I already went through half of one large bottle of it (it went off before I could finish it, so later it became one of the display bottles in my Thinking outside the Box project) and bought another large bottle, which I still have in my collection.
Years ago, I ran an experiment – Imaginary Signature Scent – where I tried to wear just one perfume for a week. I chose Nature for that exercise, and my conclusion was that even though I still liked it, I wasn’t ready to “go steady” with just one perfume. Any perfume.
I still wear Nature once in a while, and thanks to the fact that I keep decanting perfume from the large bottle into the original mini bottle that I bought decades ago, the fragrance in the second large bottle is still good. I like it enough to enjoy it when I decide to put it on, but I never think about wearing it again – until something like this post reminds me.
How about you?
Undina's Looking Glass 
Great question! Those are such beautiful bottles.
My first “proper” perfume from my first salary was Guerlain Jicky. That bottle was finished well over 40 years ago. Others recently there had been replacements but I sold my last bottle. Jicky just wasn’t Jicky anymore. Not surprising when vintage Jicky depended so much on real civet.
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Jicky! That’s an amazing choice for a young person!
I still have a couple of ml left in my decant of extrait from about 10 years ago version. I like it, and I will try the newest one if I get a chance, but something tells me that I won’t be adding a bottle to my collection.
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I know exactly what my first perfume was, but as I was still very young, the money was perhaps a combination of money earned and pocket money? I can’t quite remember that, but I did earn more money from an after- School job, and I absolutely don’t remember what my first perfume after moving out, and studying, so this is the one you get 😄
Teatro alla Scala by Krizia. I loved the name and the bottle. Of course it was way too grown up for me, but I loved it, and I still do.
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Ooops, second part of question, I can’t work out if it’s still in production, I haven’t smelled any more recent version, the bottles I have are vintage.
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Wow, what an outstanding perfume for a youngster. Bravo.
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I’ve never heard about this perfume before, but I’m not surprised that you liked it :)
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My first perfume was Calvin Klein Obsession. I still have the bottle that I bought 25 years ago. I don’t wear it these days because the top notes are off. The reformultions are very pale compared to the original released in 1985, when I fell in love with it. I have never tried to find a vintage because most likely, the top notes will be off, and I would love to experience Obsession in its full again. I love it deeply and the bottle will be always the number one in my collection.
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I feel for Obsession in 1985 also, when I was living in Miami. Everyone was wearing it at the time, women and men. It was the ubiquitous scent of Miami in the 80’s. Obsession and Must de Cartier. Elevators were pretty stifling then, as you can imagine. LOL
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I smelled Obsession for women in 1998/99, so I don’t know how different it was compared to the initial release. I liked smelling it, but I didn’t want to own or wear it. And I think I liked the masculine counterpart more (on men, not for me).
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I honestly can’t remember it’s so long ago. I’m enjoying reading what everyone else posts.
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I had to think a little. I had gifted perfume for many years, I think the first bottle I bought myself as an adult was J’Adore. We briefly had a Lord &Taylor store here (lasted not quite 4 years). I went in to check it out – they had converted an old bank building and there was quite a lot of controversy over the architectural changes – and was drawn to the perfume counters. Don’t remember why I chose J’Adore, and I still have the bottle but don’t wear it much. It would be several years before I actually went down the perfume rabbit hole.
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I remember when this perfume was released, and I remember the ads, but I never wanted to wear it.
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I honestly don’t remember it was so long ago that I became perfume obsessed.
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It might have been Banana Republic Classic, a fresh citrus-woody-musk. I wore it as a signature scent for a long time. When I decided to go back and find the perfumes I used to wear and buy them if they were still available and not extortionately priced, I was happy to see that Classic is still available, still cheap, and has a much improved bottle design with a magnetic cap! Seems to smell the same and I still wear it from time to time.
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Classic is a brilliant scent! I thunked a 4oz bottle years ago!
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I’m not sure if I ever tried any of BB perfumes. But I’m not surprised it’s still the same/similar: I don’t expect it to have any ingredients that could be cheapened any further.
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In my final year of high school, I went on a school trip to Paris, and purchased a small bottle of Femme. This was in 1973. When I think of it now, it was a pretty sophisticated scent for a 17 year old from a village of 800 people in Ontario, Canada, but I loved it.
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Great choice!
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I got a Saturday job at 14 in a drug store that had a small but nice selection of perfumes. I can’t remember which of the following I bought first but definitely one of them was first purchase with my own money – Max Factor Blasé, Max Factor Le Jardin, Max Factor Épris, Yardley Chique, Prince Matchabelli Chimere. When I moved to London at 18 and started earning proper money my first perfume purchase was Fidji, had been much longed for. Thought I’d died and gone to heaven☺️.
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I knew about Fidji when I grew up, but I had no access to it, so I’ve never smelled it
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Dior Poison, bought with my money ($3.85 per hour!) earned working at the public library. Still in production, but reformulated of course.
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This is one of perfumes that I smelled back in … whenever it was still young. But since back then I was a strictly floral fan, I didn’t want to own or wear it. I would be curious to try it now (the real one, not the current reformulated).
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Hey Undina,
Well, this is interesting. I can remember the first bottle I was given: Aramis. First bottle I bought for Mum: Samsara. My sister: Dad and I bought her Byzance. For Jin: Bombay Bling.
Do you think I can remember the first I paid for with my own money? Nope.
Mum bought me a perfume every year till I was about 18 years old. Various girlfriends did too. There was always perfume in my cupboard, so buying one for myself can’t have been such a big deal.
Bummer.
Portia xx
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Portia,
It was Samsara for me, too. I remember the bottle was clear and small-maybe 30 ml. Probably EDT. I also was given the pretty Meteorites set-lipstick case, compact, and the perfume holder. I managed to find a refill for the perfume. The cases were meant to be refillable but Guerlain stopped selling the refills. I’d probably save these items if I was ever in a fire-they mean a lot to me. Some of the newer cosmetic companies that are making refills can be used to fit into the old holders-the Hermes refills do fit in the lipstick case, and so I can use it again. This brings me an unreasonable amount of happiness!
Love reading about what other people first bought, or were given. Excellent question, as always.
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Love it Carole. Those Meteorites cases are beautiful. I have a few of the fragrances here in them. Never even knew there was a lipstick case. Guerlain used to be so cool and generous.
Portia xx
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I love that you kept that case! It is similar to how I feel about those things that I used to love – and still keep the bottles, decades later.
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It’s interesting that you had so much perfume in your early years! No wonder you’re addicted to it now :)
Samsara was so beautiful! That was a great gift!
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Oh yes, I was so lucky Undina. Mum was very perfume generous with us.
Yeah, Mum wore that bottle to the dregs. It was killer on her too.
Portia xx
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I think it was Ambush. I liked the name. I liked to consider myself a femme fatale (I was so not), so I tried Tabu, Tigress, and My Sin, too, but I didn’t like the smell of those. My biggest love was Cabochard, but I decided I’d wait to buy that until I grew up and became a famous writer.
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Ambush was the first perfume I received as a gift.
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Wait! You cannot leave us with that cliffhanger! Have you bought Cabochard eventually? :)
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Well, I did get samples!
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First bottle was Faberge Tigress bought from Giles drug store with $ saved from my meager allowance. I think I was 13 when I bought it.
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Not familiar with the brand. But I’m sure it was very special to spend your money on it.
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This was a brand sold only in the US, I believe. There were 3 main fragrances, Faberge Tigress, Flambeau and Woodhue. They came in 10 or 15 ml bottles with caps matching the name. Tigress had a fuzzy tiger striped cap, definitely something that a young teen would want! it was a nice, spicy amber scent. Flambeau had a red and orange, flaming look top and wood hue had a wooden cap. It was popular in drug stores during the 1960’s. I should look for some vintage on eBay. That would be fun!
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It may have been the travel spray of Chanel No. 5 edt that I bought for my mother as a gift, with my own money, when I was in 8th grade and spent part of the summer in Brussels. I don’t remember buying any perfume for myself before then. The first I bought for myself may have been Jontue.
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I see that Jontue is still available. Have you tried it recently?
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No, I haven’t! I wonder what I would think of it now that I have more sophisticated options …
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I am not 100% positive, but the first bottle I purchased with money I earned may have been Anais Anais. I know I went thru at least two bottles when I was a teenager since my perfume collection was small at the time. I haven’t smelled it in years and I am sure its been reformulated multiple times in the last 30+ years. I am not sure if I would still enjoy it today.
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I had a bottle of Anais Anais when I first got married. I remember it as a lovely LOTV scent. I haven’t smelled it in 20 years myself.
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I had a bottle of it at some point (I was gifted it), but it was quite popular (and expensive) back then, so it could have been a fake. I don’t remember how it smelled, and I’ve never tried it again.
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Salarywise, my first purchase may actually have been Loulou by Cacharel! Around the same time were Ysatis and Magie Noire, but my memory went straight to Loulou when I saw your question.
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I smelled Loulou only in it’s relatively modern reincarnation (around 2015, I think), and I still have a mini of it, but I don’t remember whether I liked it.
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Great question! Mine would be either Calvin Klein’s Eternity For Men or Dior’s Fahrenheit. I recall buying them both around the same time in the ’90s.
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Fahrenheit was soooo good! I remember being surprised when I smelled it later and couldn’t understand what it was that I liked so much before (back then I wasn’t aware of reformulation games).
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