Perfumes That Have Shaped My Life (so far)
Reviewing the memorable fragrances I have grown up with since 2004.
Fun news: the planning of my first perfume oil has officially begun. This whole process regarding the thoughts and planning of the oil blend inspired me to look back at the perfumes that have had an impact on my life up until now, starting from the very first bottle I got as a present from my father in 2004, to my most recent favorites and those I am currently enjoying.
In some sense, I have been doing a bit of research to discover what scents make me who I am or could be considered ”a part of me”. Bottling up this specific essence in a handmade perfume oil feels more meaningful and interesting than creating something that simply smells nice to me without any other explanation or depth. I also hope to somehow incorporate this handmade perfume in one of my upcoming photography assignments at school. Possibly my autonomous project which is due at the end of this semester.
All of you are about to get an intimate glimpse into my perfume archive, if you will, as well as some random moments from my life, as I go over the scents that have had the most impact on my sensitive nose throughout the years and also how I first discovered them. I am happy to share these fond memories with you too.
Where this madness all started
I got my very first perfume from my father as a gift in 2004. This means it’s been twenty years, which I don’t think I want to accept. Twenty years ago I was around 8 or 9 years old. You are very welcome for the maths.
Pepe (my father) used to travel a lot because of his work at the time. I remember often missing him and being excited for him to come back home, not only to hug him again but also for the gifts he remembered to bring back for me from the airport, of course. He was the one who got me Curious. This was the first perfume by Britney Spears which I can proudly say was also my very first fragrance.
I called Pepe now and asked him if he remembered this himself.
You do know that you bought me my first perfume, right? Just wondering if you remember anything from the time you got it for me.
Yes! It was some kind of fairy tale thing, wasn’t it?
Hmm. The second Britney bottle you got me was called Fantasy, so you are not completely wrong. What was the story or thought behind you buying me a perfume?
Maybe I’m mixing them up. I remember thinking what the hell to buy for you. Then ultimately in the plane, the gift trolly pulled up and I asked the flight attendant what would be perfect for a little girl. We both agreed this bottle would be good.
It was a good choice as I was the biggest Britney fan at the time. Did you ever smell the perfumes you bought me yourself?
Nooo. I thought I’d trust them to not sell anything that smelled bad.
I said fair enough and that I appreciate his honesty about the matter and we had a good chuckle.
Both of the Britney fragrances my father got me, Curious and Fantasy, were my most prized possessions at the time. I remember how I kept admiring the bottles and packaging and smelling the sweet scents daily as if having some odd ritual, sitting cross-legged underneath my single bunk bed. Then I’d ultimately get back to playing with my toy horses, Bratz dolls, or The Sims on my PlayStation, just smelling a bit more amazing.
Curious was fruity and floral and Fantasy was extremely sweet and edible (possibly because of some white chocolate and cupcake notes, oh yes). Similar notes I still like in my fragrances today are jasmine, musk, vanilla, and woody notes which can be found in both of these Britney bottles. In all honesty, I can’t recollect if I ever wore either of the perfumes to school. I hope I did because that would have been super cool and cute.
Teen spirit and a new Christmas tradition
One embarrassing teenage stage I went through was smelling of some cheap and sickening perfumes. This was when I started to very wisely use up my pocket money on makeup and clothes. I still have the bottles from this stage to prove it. There’s a Snoopy perfume called Let’s Mango (yup) and this bottle of greenish liquid called So…? Superstar, both of which are extremely sweet and fruity and horrible. Of course, my collection included Victoria’s Secret body mists and an Abercrombie & Fitch perfume but as I’m getting an icky feeling just at the thought, I won’t get into those. Keeping up with the trends was important then. However, I never really got into celebrity fragrances other than Britney’s. My only exception is Rihanna’s first perfume later on. Sweet coconut teenage memories with that one, too. I will always make exceptions for Rihanna.
My mother must have had enough of me smelling offensively sweet, bubblegum-y, and causing everyone to get severe migraines when I passed by because she started a new tradition of gifting me perfumes for Christmas. Ones that are pretty. Elegant and timeless classics.
Christmas perfumes I received from Mama, which I remember, were Dior’s Miss Dior Chérie, Gucci’s Guilty, Michael Kors’ Glam Jasmine, and a forever favorite of mine, Salvatore Ferragamo’s Signorina. Adding a note to myself to get new bottles of Miss Dior and Signorina, as they would easily suit my collection now. Floral, soft, spicy, fruity, sweet, woody, musky.
The scent of Signorina takes me back to the day of my graduation when I only shook hands and drank bubbles, forgetting to eat. Michael Kors’ Jasmine reminds me of the time of my prom when I danced and felt like a princess. Miss Dior was what I smelled like when I was 15, which was certainly a level up from walking around with some invasive cloud of So…? Superstar hovering in the air around me.
Signature fragrances
Finding my first ever signature scent was when I went on my first solo girls’ trip abroad to Rome after my high school graduation. Roughly about the time when I was 19 years old. This was with two of my high school cutie pies, Jenni and Roosa. At the time we prioritized going to all the Sephoras in the area, multiple times, rather than indulging in any culture or art.
At one of the Sephora’s we went to (for possibly the hundredth time), I got a sample of Valentino’s Donna, which had just launched that year. Never had I ever experienced a similar reaction to a perfume like I did with Donna. I remember I couldn’t stop thinking about it, even way after the holiday was over. The perfume suited the vision of how I imagined myself to be at the time. It also embodied how I wanted others to experience being around me. The perfume excited me and it clearly still does with its floral, powdery, leathery and vanilla notes. Sadly the formulation has since been changed and the original perfume was discontinued after Valentino was bought over by L’oreal. I think Donna was the first signature “Milja” fragrance I chose for myself and deeply loved. I still have some left in an old bottle and will use it this week, as I now feel inspired.
In My Early 20’s…
Moving into my early twenties I was heavily influenced by my co-workers at the clothes store I used to work at in Tampere. As mentioned before, in a previous newsletter, it was here that I got myself Byredo’s Pulp. Pulp was my signature fragrance for a good couple of years before it was discontinued as well.
To me, the fragrance marks independence and young adulthood as well as growing up. It’s riding my mustard-colored Pelago bike through the parks in Tampere. Living by myself in Paris. It’s walking to my favorite bookstore near Republique and it’s me on my way to a bubbly picnic by the Seine with the sound of heels clicking the asphalt. Pulp is also a reminder of the time I was in love, so this was all around 2018 and 2019.
For my 25th birthday, which was during a lockdown, I got myself Eau Duelle by Diptique as a gift. This perfume felt personal and I feel slightly protective of it still, now as I write about it. Spraying Eau Duelle before leaving home comforted me and it felt grounding. The scent made me feel safe, especially as I was going through pretty tough times then. Smelling warm and sweet somehow forced and reminded me to still hold my head high. Maybe the vanilla notes in it resembled something familiar. Very possibly because of those first Britney perfumes being warm and sweet, with their slight nuances of vanilla. Can anyone relate to this feeling?
Summa summarum. What do I smell like now?
At the moment I don’t have a signature fragrance. This is because of the huge amount of samples I currently have in rotation (this week I’ve enjoyed Le Labo’s Tonka 25, Commodity’s Velvet and Leder 6 by J.F. Schwarzlose, which is super sexy. Thank you for inspiring me, Valerie!) as well as the fact that I easily get bored. The perfume of the day is chosen very much according to my mood or how I want to feel like, before leaving the house. However, I have been layering things with either Matiere Premiere’s Vanilla Powder or the perfume oil that was gifted to me (and that was inspired by me). For some extra help to pinpoint and put my signature scent into words, I asked some of my closest friends what I smell like and the answers were heartwarming.
“You smell clean and groomed. Like someone who has their life together. Fresh and adult. Vanilla.”
“But you always smell wonderful. It’s refreshing, your scent is so naturally you, it makes hugging you so much better!”
“Your hugs smell like the cologne of someone handsome I don’t know and won’t know but who passes me at the train station and so I smell it. It’s this warm scent. Spiced stew slowly cooking. A forest of pine trees. Almond praline sprinkled over vanilla bean ice cream.”
“I’ve known you for so long I can say your scent has changed during the different stages of your life. But firstly I think of Miss Dior around you, always when we met, I remember it vividly. You have always smelt like good perfumes. But your own specific scent is very good, too. It’s clean, feminine, fresh and somehow strong. If I would have to recognize a piece of your clothing just by smelling it I would immediately know which one is yours.”
This scent is what I’m going to try and re-create and bottle up. Having the perfume that was inspired by me as a base, and tweaking it slightly, I have so far come up with these following notes. Top notes of pink pepper, cloves and bergamot. In the middle some, jasmine and coconut or yuzu. With a base of Ceylon sandalwood, patchouli, musk and vanilla.
Let me know what you think! I hope you enjoyed this memory-filled newsletter.
x
Milja