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Simply..a 'madeleines' moment....

15/6/2014

8 Comments

 

After reading this post over at Cornflower I indulged myself with a year's membership of The Perfume Society and received, for £25, this lovely box of treats.
Picture

I was busy when it arrived and it wasn't till very late that I opened the box and began to slowly sample some of the eight perfumes - each one comes with a card with questions to ask yourself 'smelling notes to delve a little deeper into the world of perfume' - all very intriguing and pleasant. I was really relaxed and enjoying the experience. After spraying a few on wrists and hands I found to my great surprise that tears were streaming down my face.

I don't cry easily. In fact I very rarely cry.

I asked myself what exactly is making me cry?

I smelled again the palm of my hand, and I was sixteen again and my extended family were all still alive, my aunts and my great aunts. My great Aunt Jen (I will tell you about her one day) wore a fox fur and perfumes from Switzerland, my Aunt Peggy had a pretty dressing table with pearly backed brushes and a perfume spray bottle of cut glass with a little pump, and my first boyfriend had just given me a tiny glass heart shaped bottle of Nina Ricci's Coeur Joie. I was back in the warmth of my family. I was in love.

It was such a powerful feeling!

It made me think of Proust and the madeleines and I stayed up for hours reading excerpts from La recherche du temps perdu (here and here) and all the time smelling this scent, perhaps Lady Million by Poco Rabanne, or perhaps it was the combination of the three or four I had tried, and the tears kept coming, silently. It wasn't distressing crying. In fact looking back they might have been tears of joy for happy memories of being loved.

So the box of perfumes, the world of perfume, can be an emotional place - I am fascinated.
8 Comments
Jane
15/6/2014 08:22:22 am

What a wonderfully moving piece of writing. This sounds like the perfect gift which could give so much. Thank you for sharing your experience.Do you know ot the wonderful shop on Columbia road where you can design your own perfume?

Reply
Freda
16/6/2014 07:14:35 am

I shall have to seek out that shop!

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elaine link
15/6/2014 04:41:47 pm

It's funny how different smells can evoke such memories - a charming happy/sad post.

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Freda
16/6/2014 07:16:01 am

It's amazing....

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cath
15/6/2014 11:58:59 pm

' I smelled again the palm of my hand and I was sixteen again.....', the memories scent can evoke, resulting in this beautiful piece of writing.

Reply
Freda
16/6/2014 07:16:37 am

Thank you Cath!

Reply
Cathy
16/6/2014 06:04:51 am

If you're readers, I'd recommend books about perfume: Coming to My Senses by Alyssa Harad and The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro. Harad's book is nonfiction - about her foray into the world of perfume. Tessaro's is fiction & I thought a good story spanning 2 time periods.

I agree scents can bring back a memory faster than anything. Whenever I smell lilies of the valley, I think of my mom. She could wear that perfume, but it just doesn't smell the same on me.

Reply
Freda
16/6/2014 07:17:46 am

Sounds like some lovely summer reading - and there are websites too apparently. Thanks Cathy.

Reply



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    An artist seeking a simpler life - (but not too simple!)

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