Perfume

I sprayed some perfume on the other morning. First born said to me, ‘Mmmm, mum, you smell better!’

I’ve previously had things like, ‘Granny smells like perfume, but you just smell like lemons!’ Now I did used to smell like perfume, back in my teens and 20s, when I religiously sprayed myself every morning – even before school – with something like The Body Shop’s White Musk (didn’t we all in the early 90s), the heady LouLou, or Calvin Klein’s Eternity.

My first pregnancy put paid to that, as the smell of any kind of perfume made me wretch, and the only scent I could stand was fresh air or anything citrusy.

Ever since I’ve stuck to lighter, fresher scents such as Clarins Eau Dynamisante, Molton Brown’s Vitalising Vitamin AB+C Eau Fraiche or the most lemony of all, Verbena from L’Occitane.

I’m ready for something new now, and the other day caught a whiff of a fragrance worn by a friend and fell in love. Tom Ford’s Santal Blush. It’s definitely on my wish list.

In the meantime I could always make do with the perfume made for me by my son, after I had to spend a few days away this week with work. I came home to find him busy in the bathroom, making his own perfume just for me. He’d cut some flowers and fresh mint from the garden, added them to his bubble bath, poured it into a bottle, decorated the bottle with a face, and hey presto! Cutest thing ever, as was the note he wrote to go with it. I reckon he could teach Coco Chanel a thing or two.

What’s your favourite fragrance?