A Signature Scent | Live Lovely

For my Sweet Sixteen I wanted a bottle of perfume for my birthday. To me, having my own perfume would transform me into a lady. My favorite movie as a kid was Fairytale: A True Story and I remember that one of the characters got a bottle of French perfume for her birthday. 

As I kid I would play with my grandmother’s purple perfume bottle because I loved the squeeze ball at the end of it. I always knew the women in my family by the way that they smelled. There were certain scents that were instantly recognizable to me as my mom and aunts. My mother always wore Avon’s Far Away perfume. 

So for my birthday, my father, who was baffled that all I wanted for my birthday was perfume, took me to the mall and I smelled a lot of perfumes at the Macy’s counter. I never did find what I was looking for that day, as most of the perfumes I smelled had a chemical quality to them. They didn’t smell natural or beautiful to me. I later settled on Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea perfume because it was in my price range and had a sweet scent that my teenage self really liked. 

All throughout high school and college the Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea was my signature scent. My mom nicknamed me “Sweet Pea,” after it. My fiance, who I started dating my first year of college, attached the scent of Sweet Pea flowers to my identity. Every time he caught the scent he told me he was reminded of me. To this day, whenever I smell it I think of my freshman year college dorm, early dates with Matthew, and Taylor Swift’s song Love Story that was very popular that year in 2008. I have always found it lovely that we can associate a specific scent to a person, a special memory, a time, or a place. 

When I studied abroad my senior year of college, I was in Bath England when I tried on Roses et Reines Eau de Toilette at a L’Occitane shop with a friend. (At the time, L’occitane was very rare in the United States and I had never heard of it, but they now have stores at most U.S. malls.) I didn’t buy the perfume that day because it was a little out of my budget, but that scent clung to me the entire day and bus ride back to our town house in Canterbury. The scent lingered on my sweater for days. I missed it when it was gone and regretted not buying the perfume. When Matthew came to visit me during our October break, we took a bus to Paris and I brought back a bottle as a souvenir. That bottle is nearly empty and has long since expired now, but I still keep it on my counter as a lovely reminder of our first trip to Paris. 

It is amazing how a scent can define a time in your life or an experience. Every time I smell Roses et Reines Eau de Toilette, I am transported back to the cobblestone streets of Bath and the first level of the Eiffel Tower where I wore the perfume during our trip. It is a light and airy floral scent that is both youthful and timeless. 

Which is why after all of these years I decided to purchase a new bottle of that very same perfume for my wedding day in June. I ordered this L’Occitane Fresh & Delicate Roses et Reines Eau de Toilette bottle on Amazon so it would arrive on time. It is a much larger bottle than the tiny bottle I brought home last time so I am hoping it will encourage me to wear it every day. What I also love about this perfume is that the company, L’Occitane, is dedicated to natural products.

Roses et Reines translates to Roses and Queens, and who doesn’t want to feel like royalty on her wedding day? When I walked down the aisle, I was wearing that perfume. I would like for Matthew to smell it and be reminded of our first trip to Paris and the excitement of our first journey together in France. Every time I wear it after, I hope we will be reminded of our wedding day. I wish to remember how it felt to walk down the aisle to Matthew waiting for me at the front of the gardens. I hope he will remember me in my white wedding dress and be transported right back to that special moment.