My Perfume Evolution

If you don't know me personally something you may not know about me is that I collect perfume. I have hundreds upon hundreds of fragrances.

My passion for perfume began when I was a little girl of around 6 years old. My Grandmother, a very stylish woman for the time, would have bottles of Estee Lauder's Youth Dew and Chanel No 5 sitting on her dresser. The bottles looked so pretty and I loved to stand there and look at them. I would sometimes sneak a spritz thinking nobody would notice not realising that I would stink to high heaven with those heady fragrances on my skin.

When I was eight or nine I remember getting my first perfume. It was Avon's Little Blossom collection. I thought I was so grown up with my matching lip balm. I think I went through the entire bottle in two days because naturally all my dolls and teddy bears had to have some Little Blossom Perfume to, it was only fair to share the love!

By the age of 13 I had graduated to the big time and started wearing The Body Shop's White Musk Perfume Oil. I was in High School and became very conscious of my sense of smell. This is largely because there were a few girls at my school who smelled like they hadn't bathed after weeing their pants three months ago! I tried to help them by spraying them madly with Impulse Deodorant but that didn't seem to mask the stench for long. Throughout High School I collected just about every single Perfume Oil The Body Shop ever released. The girls at school always told me how good I smelled and that is something I regard as a very high compliment to this day. It is something I take a lot of personal pride in.

When I turned 18 I had a fancy Birthday Dinner and all of my Aunts and Uncles gave me money and gift cards. I was stoked because this meant I had enough money to go and buy perfume from the big department stores. I remember like it was only yesterday buying Calvin Klein Eternity, Calvin Klein One and Elizabeth Arden's Red Door. Looking back on it now I can't for the life of me understand why I picked such shocking fragrances but at the time I loved them so much. I had them proudly displayed on my dresser.

By my mid to late twenties my passion for perfume had turned into a full on obsession. Every single cent I had went on perfume. I would have gone without food in order to buy perfume. My Mum told me I was demented but I just kept on buying fragrance after fragrance.

My scent tastes have evolved so much over the years. I have always loved sweet scents. When Britney Spears released Fantasy I got the 100ml bottle and I flaunted it every single day. Now Fantasy gives me an headache and it's just too sickly sweet for my liking. Lolita Lempicka have never done a fragrance I haven't liked. I have them all and I love them. I am also quite partial to a nice floral. Stella McCartney is and always will be one of my favourite perfumes. These days, I'm now in my 30's, I also love a great clean and crisp scent. Something that smells like clean cotton or linen.

My fragrance choices vary upon the season. In Summer I prefer lighter cleaner scents and in Winter I like stronger more heady scents. My current favourite perfumes are Jo Malone's Vanilla and Rosewater and Blue Agava and Cacao and another favourite is Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle. I still keep a bottle of Estee Lauder's Youth Dew in my collection even though I never wear it I like to spray it sometimes because it takes me back to being that little girl in front of my Grandmother's dresser where my love affair with perfume first began.

(Pictured Above: One of my dressers totally over loaded with perfume. That is just a fraction of my collection. I have cabinets and wardrobes full of fragrances).

Fragrance Facts: Yes fragrance does go off! I will never get through my entire collection and every few months I go through it all and if a bottle has gone off I either throw it away or if it's a bottle like Chanel I will just put it back away and keep it for decorative purposes.

Rubbing your wrists together after you apply perfume will bruise the notes of your fragrance and it won't last as long as it would had you left it to develop on your skin.

The best selling fragrance in the world is still Chanel No 5 by Chanel.

My current favourite perfume for Spring is Christian Dior's Miss Dior Cherie Blooming Bouquet.

Note: I am not sponsored by any of the above mentioned companies. All products were purchased by me and all opinions are my own.