Janey Holliday, founder of London's Fit for a Princess, has contributed this truly engaging guest post. Thank you Janey for your perfume story. What a captivating read. Your tastes are completely different to mine, so it's great to include a new perspective.
My earliest memory of perfume is watching my Nanna spraying herself with the classic fragrance, Charlie. I was about four years old. To this day, eight years after her death, whenever I smell Charlie, it instantly reminds me of that moment, the smell of my Nanna and all the other fond memories I have of her. Sometimes I have to do a double take, just to make sure it’s not her. That’s what I love about perfume…. It transports you back to a moment. If you close your eyes, you’re actually there.
My Mum was born in December and loves Christmas. She hates the wintry weather but she loves the wintry smells. She used to wear Estee Lauder Cinnabar, which is such a rich, warm and festive smell. Every Christmas, without fail, whenever the shops start to fill up with wintry gifts and Christmas spices, I can smell my Mum and I smile. She wore Cinnabar most of my childhood. The bottle had a brownish-red plastic top on a tall rectangular bottle. When my Mum went out for the night, I used to go into her make-up bag and put on some Cinnabar, hoping she wouldn’t notice. (She’ll kill me when she reads this!!) When I was about ten or eleven, my Mum upgraded her perfume. She stayed loyal to the Lauder brand and started wearing Spellbound, which is just as rich. Spellbound is more modern and invigorating than the relaxing and cosy Cinnabar. Without a doubt, my Mum inspired my taste in rich, warming scents.
On my sixteenth birthday, my Mum gave me my first bottle of perfume. It was Samsara by Guerlain. I LOVED it. Not only for its aromatic and addictive smell, but because it was my first bottle of perfume. I felt like a proper grown up! Samsara is so rich and strong. It’s a bit like Marmite, you either love it or hate it.
Perfumes are like boyfriends. Once you find one you like, you stick with it until you get either bored or tempted! When I was seventeen, the guy I was dating bought me a bottle of Obsession for Christmas. I was so disappointed, but had to wear it on Christmas Day and every day until the blasted bottle ran out! When we broke up, I reverted back to good old Samsara. It was like being reunited with an old friend – as if we had never been apart, and everything felt much better.
When I was eighteen and dating at University, my boyfriend and I decided to get matching ‘his and hers’ perfumes. (Don’t laugh!). We both bought a DKNY fragrance. I can’t even remember the name of it. It was in a swirly, swan-like shaped bottle, half in gold and half black. It was a very deep perfume, rich and sweet but more mysterious than Samsara. I wore DKNY for about a year. If I smelt it now, it would take me back to my carefree uni days in a flash.
When I was twenty, my Mum and I went on a girlie holiday to Crete (she’s fab my Mum!). At the airport I fancied a new perfume from duty-free. I was over half way through university and out of a relationship. Looking back, I was trying to establish a new identity and make a statement – something I think perfumes also do for women.
Picking up what I thought was aftershave, I said, ‘Mum smell this….. It’s gorgeous. Any man wearing this would get my attention!’ She said ‘It’s for women!’ It was Angel and it was love at first smell. To this very day, nearly thirteen years on, I have never ever ‘cheated’ on it, not even with Vera Wang Princess (which everybody thinks that I should wear because my business is called Fit for a Princess).
What do I love most about Angel? Where do I start…? That rich, sweet, gorgeous, chocolaty, velvety, cashmere-jumper-wrapped-around-you smell and feeling. The name of the perfume. The name of the maker. ‘Thierry Mugler’ you’re a star. Well of course, the star shape bottle. The blue box. (I used to keep the boxes, just because they are so beautiful). The glitter-like writing on the packaging as if someone is writing with a wand. The delicate, Parisian-style names like ‘ Celeste ’ body cream. Angel lifts you up out of normal life. It transports you to a fantasy, just for a moment, each time you use it.
Angel is one of those perfumes that smells incredible on some (and I believe I am one of those!) and not so good on others. A friend of mine, after smelling Angel on me, bought a bottle. It smelt TERRIBLE on her. She ended up giving it to me, and rightly so. She should never have tried to steal my smell in the first place!
Of all the girls I know, who wear Angel, they have all been quite like me: outgoing, passionate, ambitious, confident, positive, happy, and slightly mischievous — with of course a hint of angel in there somewhere!
Angel has seen me through some of the most special times of my life. When I travelled round the world by myself, you’d find a bubble wrapped bottle of Angel at the bottom of my beaten-up backpack. I wore Angel every day without fail, even when I worked on a Cattle Station as a Jillaroo. The last thing I did before I went into have a C-sec to have my twins 18 months ago, was to ‘scrub up’ with my beloved Angel.
Angel has also got me through some difficult times. I got married last year. Unfortunately my marriage ended after 5 months. Now, when I feel stressed, haggard or shattered with the modern day juggle between being a single mother of twins, running my fabulous but hectic business, keeping my house in order and all the usual 21st century female stuff, I have a hot bath and afterwards cover myself from top to toe with my Angel body lotion. It’s actually like my Angel sometimes and helps me feel wonderful again.
Jessica asked me to write this blog and said did I have any pictures around perfume, I jumped for joy! I spent over £3000 on my wedding photos and have never been, and probably never will be, able to do anything with them, apart from here.
Here is my life partner in its true glory (along with my garter!)…. Angel, I love you!
