Scent and Memory

[prosodic]

After I got out of the bath this morning, I reached into the back of my cabinet and pulled out a bottle of perfume that I haven't seen in awhile.

It's one of my favorites, but I hardly ever wear it. I don't think it's being made anymore, and I want to keep it for as long as possible.

Every time I use it, it makes me think of my summer abroad in England. There are two scents that I associate with this time in my life - the Strawberries & Champagne scent from Victoria's Secret, and Ananya, which was made by The Body Shop.

Before I left for England, my boyfriend at the time gave me a bunch of Strawberries & Champagne stuff: body spray, shower gel, lotion. I used it everyday while I was in England, so that scent brings back strong memories for me of my time there.

When my Grandpa died and I went home for the funeral, my classmates back in England pooled together their money and bought me an Ananya gift set from The Body Shop. When I came back, heartbroken and sick (I had food poisoning on the plane), they presented me with this present, along with a half dozen pink roses and a card. I don't think I've ever been more touched in my life than I was at that moment. That simple gesture meant everything to me at that time in my life...they couldn't bring back my grandfather, but they could, to some small extent, soothe my wounded soul.

Wearing this perfume makes me think of that time, and of all those lovely people. Sadly, I didn't stay in touch with any of them. But right now, as I'm wearing this scent, I'm thinking of Susan, Kim, Alisa, Lacey, Leslie, Amy, Tara...all those people with whom I shared my life for 6 weeks.

I always tell this story fondly, and it always brings a laugh. We occupied 3 floors of the dorms at Bath Spa University College. I was on the top floor, which I shared with several other girls (we each had our own room, though). The Spice Girls were still somewhat popular at the time, and we decided to each give ourselves a Spice name. I don't remember all of them. Kim was an ice skater, so she was "Skater Spice." I was the oldest one in the group, so I was given the name "Old Spice," which made us all laugh and laugh. We each made a poster with our Spice name on it to hang on our door. I can't recall how many times I heard sniggering when people passed my door. To this day, I smile whenever I think about it.

It's funny how something as simple as a scent can evoke so many memories.

I have a necklace that once belonged to my Aunt Patty. She died of breast cancer when I was really young - just shy of 3, I think. She adored me. She had two boys and desperately wanted a little girl, and since I was her first niece, she doted on me whenever I was around (which was rarely, since they lived in South Carolina and we were in Ohio). Sadly, I don't really remember her. But this necklace is actually a little vial in which she once kept perfume. Every time I take off the cap, I can still smell it. I just wish it could trigger some memory of her, but all I have are pictures of us together.

Comments

Aww

[carbonatedbabe.livejournal.com]

I stockpiled as much Ananya as I could before The Body Shop discontinued it. I probably would still have it had I not moved. I recently relocated from Los Angeles to Alameda, right outside San Francisco. I tossed out my beloved Ananya. Things start to happen to perfumes after years. The alcohol content intensifies. These were all nine years old, so...

I located the bottle of Chanel Allure I thought I'd lost when we moved in 1997. Ten years later, the color had changed dramatically. It had been kept in the dark too. Oh well.

Re: Aww

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

I think my oldest bottle of perfume is Elizabeth Arden's Sunflowers, which I've had for about 10 years. Oddly enough, the scent doesn't seem to have changed much since I got it. Same with the Ananya. It still smells pretty much the same.

I'm mad at The Body Shop for discontinuing it. It's a great scent.