1. Age 12: My parents bought me Tommy Girl by Tommy Hilfiger as a birthday gift. I wore (too much of it) for every special occasion. This meant I was becoming a woman who wore a signature scent— an affirmation that I was indeed growing up.
2. Age 13: With saved babysitting money, I purchased Victoria’s Secret Dream Angels (and the body wash, and the lotion) as an addition to my new collection of fragrance. Even now, when I smell this scent, it reminds me of a particular school dance.
3. Age 14: Christmas came around, and my parents bought me Davidoff Cool Water, after I had spent hours explaining why I loved it so much with magazine tear-out samples as evidence. The entirety of ninth and tenth grade was spent drenched (teens have no less is more radar) in this peach meets jasmine meets amber scent.
4. Age 16: Lolita Lempicka. After ordering online from Sephora, I received Lolita as a sample and quickly saved up for the entire bottle. The musky vanilla, violet, and aniseed blend with my skin in a way that brought out more spice, and it truly made this my signature scent.
5. Age 19: As a makeup artist for a small boutique that sold Laura Mercier, among other artist brands, I fell in love with the floral-citrus-musk called Neroli.
6. Age 20: Cartier Delices De Cartier. After a trip to Saks Fifth Avenue in New York with my family for the holidays, I was sold on a sample given to me by one of the salesmen in the Fragrance Department. He said in an adorable accent, and I quote, “Men will not stop following you around when you smell of cherries.” This scent smells of course cherry, bergamot, and musk. Super charming.
7. Age 22: Tocca has always had beautiful, relatable fragrances with scents that bring me back to traveling abroad. This one in particular, Cleopatra, is a gorgeous, sexy scent of grapefruit, jasmine, and musk that I always find myself going back to. The lightness of it is perfect for daytime.
8. Now: Thierry Mugler’s Alien. To me, this fragrance is my mature “Lolita”. Full of jasmine, vanilla, and amber, this scent has gotten many compliments and will remain in my collection.
Moral of the story: no matter where life takes me, I prefer to smell faintly of vanilla, amber, musk and some sort of flower or fruit. It’s that balance between demureness and toughness all at the same time. City Girls, what’s your fragrance story?
