Did you like your mom's favorite scent? - Page 2

My mother has worn Knowing, Beautiful, Miss Dior, Pleasures, Dolce Vita, and Bvlgari Eau Fraiche. Pleasures is the one I like best.

I remember Tosca; both my grandmother and mother wore them. It would be nice to smell Tosca again, I think the smell was rather powdery...

i remember my beautiful mother kissing me goodnight to go out with Dad -dressed beautifully with smooth skin she was wearing Chanel No 5 and noone smelled better in it than her - i have tried but it is not for me Also Shalimar and Joy sometimes i can wear Shalimar but i am looking forward to trying Shalimar Light. Joy also not for me.

note wow Bluegrass what a flash from the past i used to like that when very young!

I can remember back as far as my preteens. She wore mostly Estee Lauder scents. I loved Cinnabar because of her. It was her favorite back then. Then she wore White Linen, Beautiful, Pleasures, etc. I just recently turned her into a Chanel Girl!! She loves Coco Madam... What smells good on me ususally smells good on her and vise versa, but man the Coco smells soooooo good on her. I've bought her others, but she loves Coco.

I remember "TOSCA" very well. When I was little my grandmother had given me a small bottle as a present. I think you could find "Tosca" in Greece until recently, maybe even now. Last time I was looking, I only saw "4711", though. I must make a research... ( Only problem I promised myself not to enter a perfume shop, at least in September ... )

My mother doesn't like perfume. I remember that my father used to bring her small bottles from Paris when I was little, but she was indifferent. ( I was enchanted... I used to open her drawer and sniff them and spill them by mistake...) Now he buys perfume only for me, hehe! My mother only wears "Jovan musk", these years, and I believe she is thinking of stoping this too... When I start mention perfumes she rolls her eyes and says they are a waste of money...

Opium was my mother's special occasion perfume when I was growing up. When I was very small she kept it in her lingerie drawer and forbade me from using it; it infused the scent with mystery and beauty for me. I love it but rarely wear it; it seems to symbolise that moment when mother gets a sitter, kisses the kid goodnight, dresses up and transforms into a fascinating, alluring woman out with her husband.

When I was young my mom wore Chanel No. 5, which I appreciate but do not wear. When I was about 12, she started wearing Lou Lou by Cacharel. I do not like that one. Later, she wore Tuscany by Lauder, which is a bit strong. I claim she wore Ombre Rose during that time, too, but she does not remember that. She later switched to Lancome's Tresor, which I have always found to be too strong and nothing special. Since I was an older teen, I have been buying her perfume, so of course I like it! The first bottle I bought for her was Donna Karan Cashmere Mist, of which she went through maybe three bottles before growing tired of it. Since then I've bought her Helmut Lang, Angel Innocent, Peony Angel, Romeo Gigli, and Bvlgari BLV Notte, all of which she still wears.

I would have worn Angel Innocent, Peony Angel or BLV Notte had I not bought them for her, but since they are her scents, I do not wear them... I have enough of my own!

When I was a child up to the age of about 11 my mom always wore Cloe by Lagerfeld and nothing else. I can remember watching her get ready for an evening out and her dabbing on Cloe and then pretending to put some behind my ears after she had dabbed herself. I think this was my first experience with perfume.

My mom then discovered Alfred Sung Forever which she was worn since. It's ok but not something I would buy myself.

I gave my mom a small bottle of Cloe with her Christmas gift last year and I saw it a few weeks ago on her dresser and it appears to be untouched. Darn shame!

My mother also wore Chanel No 5 and I wore Chantilly as a girl. I started wearing No 5 some years after I left home, but I'm not attracted to the scent, anymore. Smells too much like my past, I guess.

Since I was born, my mom has been wearing Coco Chanel in the EDP form. I remember that monolithic black sprayer since as far back as I can (im 24 shes.... 54...ishh ? maybe?). Before this she tells me she use to wear No.5 but not very often, she had a bottle of Givenchy parfum which she lost on vacation to Bulgaria when she was alot younger - but she doesnt remember the name of it and it isn't any of the givenchys that we tried at the frag. counter. She also told me that she wore soir en paris, no.19 and I believe one other but I dont remember at this time, but none were "signature scents". Her only long time signature was Coco and that was probably about 25 years. However, since about 2 years ago I have been buying her new frags which include: No.5 (which she hadn't worn in years), No,19 (Same deal), Bond 9 Eau De NoHo (or something like that??), SL Datura Noir, SL A La Nuit, and most recently Youth Dew Amber Nude, which I liked at first but now that musky cinnamon really annoys me!! so mistake on my part lol. she likes it tho so its all good in the end She also likes to borrow my SL Ambre Sultan from time to time and my Eau Noire. I think we both share a certain love for spicey frags since Coco is still her favourite. I actually just bought her a 2 oz parfum of coco on ebay so that will last her years neither of us has smelled the extrait form yet so it should be interesting! I think im going to pick up a Jicky extrait at some point soon for myself so we will probably end up sharing that as well!

It was and is OK.....White Musk by Jovan for Women or something of that nature.....My Mom can't do alot of fragrances....she has sneezing fits.
Gary

When I was a child/teenager and living at home, my mom wore White Shoulders and Ombre Rose. I loved them on her, but never wanted to wear them myself. As a teen, I preferred Opium, which she thought was loud and too spicy.

Now, at 67 years old, she likes Tresor and philosophy Amazing Grace, both of which I like, although my tastes run more toward Ava Luxe Madame X, Chanel Coco, SJP Lovely, and many, many more.

This thread makes me want to go out and buy a present for my mom! :-)

Edited to add: Smellyliquid's post reminded me...my mom can make a 1.7 oz bottle of EDP last for years! The only time I have ever known her to actually finish off bottles of scent is when I got her dupes of Amazing Grace lotion, shower gel, and EDP.

I just might, kbe! I love to give unexpected gifts, and Mom never buys scent for herself.

I bought my Mom L'Heure Bleue for her birthday last year. She loves it, I might not object to a bottle myself. We do have very similar tastes, I'm a bit more "out there" than she is, though.

I did like some of them: L'Air du temps, and her 2 bespoke scents she had made in Paris, and Chloe's Narcisse, Paloma Picasso,Rumba but i didn't like many others like Trésor (either formulation: old or new), Pôeme, Beautiful, etc etc...

sorry perhaps I didnt phrase this correctly, the bottle has been refilled over the years, its just the chanel sprayer that they refills go into that hasn't changed :P but there was a time period where she didnt wear much perfume that it did last quite a while for her

Yes! So much so that, even when she tried to get me to wear it, I couldn't because it was "hers". My mom wore - and wears - greens and chypres: First is the scent she wears now. She has worn Deneuve (80's), the green Estee Lauders (back in the 70's), and Sabi (more recent).

She tends to stick to a favorite for many years. Sometimes she dabbles with Givenchy and Ange un Demon smelled quite good on her when she tried a sample a ffew months back.

As a result, I gravitate to greens and chypres! Most musks and florals don't smell elegant and/or subtle and/or of qulaity to me, but that is house dependent.

Not sure exactly what she wore, but it smelled like lilies of the valley and I love that smell. But then again, our house was surrounded by lilies of the valley so maybe it was just in the air? Either way, I've always wanted to find the right smell- something a bit more complex than my childhood smell but still keeping the essence of those little white flowers.

Tough one. I remember the dark times when everybody was wearing that trash Pret-a-Porter here. I mean literally everyone. Lucky, I was young enough and poor enough(lol) to not afford it. I don't remember if you were able to find different fragrances, but I remember my mother had this one and I didn't like it. Then she used Givenchy's Extravagance D'Amarige which I liked and some perfume by Escada I don't remember right now, that was comme ci, comme ca. I have to say, she brought me a sample of Le Baiser du Dragon by Cartier which is totally amazing. It's lovely and if I'd have to use three words to describe it, they'd be:sensuous, seductive and lucious(sorry for how I spelled it).

How crazy is this? I don't remember my mum EVER wearing perfume. I don't recall seeing any on her dressing table and the only fragrance I can bring to mind is the smell of her lipstick. I can't ask her either, she's been departed for 17 years now. I wonder where I got my love of perfume from...

my mom has worn lots of different scents throughout the years
and i must say i love them all..

she has worn

dune (it was her signature scent for a long long time)
salvador dali (i love it and own it now)
passion (loved it back then, not sure if i would love it right now)
ysatis (she has the extrait..used to hate it with passion..it's starting to grow on me..)
pleasures (this one...i loved it when she got it..but i want it to be over soon..it smells rather cheap and synthetic)
bulgari pour femme (i absolutely love this one! it's been her signature scent for the last couple of years..)
bulgari rose esentielle (i love it as well..divine rose notes)
kenzo amour (it smells lovely lovely on her..sweet and romantic)
salvador dali laguna (i love it on her..in my opinion she wears most perfumes so so well..and this one's enchanting..i own the male version..)
coco mademoiselle (it started my loveaffair with chanel..i own this one as well yet do not wear it when she does)
armani code (this one's lovely but way too obvious for her and for me..i can't wait for it to be over)

she told me once that her first perfume was l'air du temps..yet she could never wear it again..(she says it smells too dated and "grandma"..i own it and love it..

i love talking with her about perfumes..we are scent lovers!

My mother had so many fragrances, but two of her favorites were Femme and Mystere from Rochas. I adore Femme, it is one of my favorites, and Mystere also is delicious on me. So yes, I do love my moms favorite scents.

My mom wasn't really into perfume until I started buying her some. I liked the following on her: Hermés Amazon, 24 Faubourg, Allure Chanel, Opium YSL, Coco Chanel, Samsara Guerlain. The best probably was Allure. Currently she's back on Opium and Samsara. Dad and brother don't give two hoots for perfume / cologne ;-(

I did like Youth Dew lingering on her clothes hanging in the wardrobe. Madame Rocas was lovely.
My mum also wore Tweed, Coty Lamaint, Moondrops which I just did not get.

There was also a cream perfume in a little black bottle with a dabber on it called Styx which I liked to. It seemed to lay in her handbag and I used to dab it on.

My mum's handbag always had an amazing smell waffing out when she opened it. A mix of all sorts of things, Halls throat sweets, tobacco, perfume other unknown things. The nearest I have found to it was Amourage Ubar.

I remember my mother wearing Miss Dior and later Eau de Rochas. Both the scents were the synonym of best scent for me then and I was really surprised when I tried them a few years later and found them not so nice at all - or reformulated? They created a track in my mind that didn´t come true, it has something to do with putting my mother on pedestal I guess.

My mom really isn't a perfume person, thought I keep trying to turn her into one. I rememeber as a kid seeing Chanel no 5 and Miss Dior on her dresser.

Ahh, being a guy, i'll pretend the thread says dad, simply because I want to contribute My dad currently wears AdP Colonia, Cool Water, BDP and GIT. I'm an admirer of all these scents, but can't bring myself to wear any of them as he wears all of them :P When I was little, I used to love how he used to smell, and I still do, he's always been a fragrance admirer, but before I was born, financially, his state was terrible, despite that, when flying out for his wedding, in the duty free, he spent a substantial amount on fragrances for himself and my mom.

My mom's favourite is Beautiful by Estee Lauder and Chanel No.19. I like both of these too, and it's always one of the two that shes wearing - Currently, she's also in love with Delices de Cartier.

My mom has never been much of a perfume wearer either, so I don't associate anything specific with her. Nowadays she tends to like the fresh, light scents that get neglected in my wardrobe -- she has my bottle of Manifesto, and that's it.

My mother has been a Chanel No 5 lady since the 1950's. Yes, I like it, but am more attracted to the description of the new Eau Premiere, which some say has a citrus note. Can't wait until it gets re-released.

Nope. I didn't and don't like the scents my mother wore or wears today. She seemed to prefer cheap little girl drugstore perfumes: Love's Baby Soft (the lemon one, too), Vanilla Fields, the baby scent by Yves Rocher; but then there was something called Golden Autumn (I have to go and look that up; I never knew anyone else to wear it, and I remember it got discontinued and she filled her closet with bottles and bottles of it that all turned. I think that was the first time I saw my mother cry!). Now she wears Victoria Secret's body sprays. She is such a sophisticated lady...a reference librarian...I wish she would wear a more mature "real" perfume.

Golden Autumn was by Prince Matchabelli. Maybe you could buy your mother a gift or some samples to try, lookingglass, it just sounds like she doesn't know where to look for something nice, so doesn't bother with it. She might like Penhaligon's Artemisia or Rosine's Un Zest de Rose, you can find deals on that at parfum1.

At least she was passionate about perfume

Thank you, beachroses! I'm going on a hunt! Really, I have tried. I always have something new for her to try and she says "blech". She does wear a scent that I made for her with grapefruit, pepper, and vanilla. It is really a fairly simple blend, but it is even too complex for her nose.

I want her to smell like a LADY.
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Indeed, Vivek. She has passion, for sure. I want her to be able to express it in fragrance. For me, and many of us here, it is a means of expression! Her perfumes are always so...vulnerable.

My beloved late mother was a scent mistress in her own right, her favorites included Bal a Versailles, Zadig, and Ma Griffe. I liked all of them very much, though the Ma Griffe does not work on my skin. I now own bottles of Zadig and Bal a Versailles, which I wear on certain days in her honor. My bottle of Ma Griffe has gone to another BN lovely that this scent truly suits.

When I found my first "signature" scent (YSL Opium, the only fragrance I wore from age 15 to age 35), my Mom enabled me with a passion... I still have several unopened bottles of Opium EDT and body lotion that I can share with the Basenotes community. Let me know if there's an interest in a BN roving bottle of Opium...

A few years ago, my Mom confessed that when she missed me especially sharply, she would go to the nearest department store, spray Opium into the air, and walk into it.

At the end of her life, my Mom was wearing Alfred Sung. Now, when I miss my mother especially sharply, I go to one of the Boston department stores, spray "Sung" into the air, and walk into it. Have to be careful about this, though, since I tend to dissolve into tears for awhile immediately afterwards.

My mother is 91 years old and doing very well for her age. When I was a child I remember big bottles of Femme, Madame Rochas and something by Dior. Later when I was older, I remember her wearing Caleche, Miss Dior and Chanel No.5. In the last few years, she does not like strong scents (lucky for me, she gave me her Shalimar and Joy). She still wears perfume, though, and her favorites are Sentiment by Escada and Tocadilly. I guess this shows that she has always loved Rochas scents.

My Mum is 65. The first ever perfume she bought was Coty L'aimant and that was the only perfume she used until she was in her 30's and then moved onto Kiku by Faberge - She loved that perfume and had the matching big yellow ball full of talc with the yellow powder puff - it used to sit on the windowsill of our bathroom! Ah...... fond memories.

The next perfume I remember her having a true love for was in the early nineties when Ralph Lauren brought out Safari. She loved it - it was her evening perfume and when she would get ready to go out you could smell it all over the hours and for a long time after she had gone! Such a gorgeous captivating scent that it is! Why did he discontinue this perfume? It's the best one in his collection imo!

My Mum tends to wear Givenchy Organza now and also wears Eau de beaux by L'occitane which is a mans scent but she smells lovely in it. Unfortunately she has lost some sense of smell in recent years so some of the perfumes she used to love don't smell the same to her now!

I do love the scents my mum wore! Coty L'aimant smell like Chanel no.5 to my nose exept the no.5 is richer and creamier than the L'aimant. I asked my Mum once if she liked no.5 and she said she had never smelled it! I think if she had she would have been wearing it instead of the L'aimant!

My mom, being a nurse, rarely wore perfume, but when she did, it was ONLY Chanel No. 5. Nothing else. Unfortunately, I can't bear most aldehydes, they smell absolutely horrible to me. I can't go anywhere near any of the Chanels, though I wore Cristalle very briefly as a teenager. Fortunately mom went a bit hippie for a while and smelled like patch and homemade granola, love those smells to this day!

To answer your question in a word, "NO". My mom wore big white florals, White Shoulders mostly. Years later my brother bought her a bottle of Joy extract. I own the remnants of that & wear it sparingly when I want to think of her.
But her favorite White Shoulders makes me gag to this day.

A big YES. She used to wear Chanel No 5, L'Air du Temps, Madame Rochas.
Not a big fan of Madame Rochas but huge fan of No 5.

...

My mom (she'd prefer I said Mum, I think) claims to be allergic to perfumes but wears soliflores, mostly from Yardley, Woods of Windsor, Taylor's. Almost all the bottles are rose, lily of the valley, or lavender. I gave her a small bottle of Yves Rocher's Rose Absolute, just so she could try something that would have an identifiable big floral note but with more to it than her usual scents. I'm not going to push the issue farther - she has enough scent and bath and body products hoarded up already, and doesn't need to start down the path of more expensive scents.

I do find that I like rose scents that have some complexity to them, but tend to stay away from lily of the valley and avoid lavender. There is one soliflore in my collection - a Woods of Windsor jasmine, which I use for layering over woody or citrus scents. I don't think this says anything about my relationship with my mother. We simply have different styles.

My mom used lots of different fragrances throughout the years. Palamo Picasso and Il Bacio are two that come to mind. She passed away when she was 77. In her latter years she wore Chanel Allure Eau de Toilette. Now, whenever I smell Allure, I get the "warm fuzzies" and can't help but smile at all the great memories. I liked all of her scents. She was MOM and she always smelled WONDERFUL.

My mom's favorites:

1. Laura Ashley No.1
2. Guerlain Samsara
3. Guerlain Mahora
4. Jean Patou Sublime

Yes! I love them all

LE DE GIVENCHY EDT-orginial version ..... my childhood

My mom wears Dior Addict, Very Irresistible Givenchy and Tresor by Lancome, those I like. She also uses (only sometimes) Charlie by Revlon and I hate it.

What a great thread.

I remember my mother wearing Je Reviens and, before that, Shalimar and Emeraude. She had a compact of Emeraude solid parfum, and I remember sitting in the back seat of the car, sniffing it, and thinking it was the most beautiful smell in the world. I recently sniffed a vintage bottle in an antique store, and it took me right back there.

I don't wear either of these, and I figured I wouldn't wear anything my mother did. This past year, though, I fell in love with Chanel No. 5 in a big way (EDP and parfum), and just recently my mother told me she used to wear that one, too. I have no memory of it on her.

Today, she likes White Linen and Oscar. She also sniffed my Shalimar Light and prefers it to the original! (So do I, but I realize it's sacrilege to admit this.)

When I was little, she smoked cigarettes (she quit when I was 8 or 9). I remember I loved the smell of her breath -- coffee and cigarettes. It was a "mom" smell to me. She's horrified by that now, but I think it contributed to my love of scents like Borneo 1834!

White Linen and I still to this day cannot stand it.

My mother has worn Estee Lauder's Pleasures consistently since it came out. I don't mind the smell of it, but would never wear it - I don't want to smell like my mother!

Oh, god, Friday nights, circa 1975, were a heavy cloud of Newports, Chowards violet scented gum, Coty's Emeraude and a blast of Aqua Net.

I just tried my mom's old juice, White Linen, which she wore quite well. I smell like I've just been sprayed with rodent urine!

My mom has a bottle of White Diamonds that she has probably had for oh at least 7 years. on special occasions she will wear it. she also used to wear Passion. Elizabeth Taylor junkie maybe. I like the scents in an abstract, warm fuzzy way because they remind me of her. But I have not gone back and resniffed since becoming seriously interested in perfumes. wonder if my opinion will have changed?

My mother never wore perfume while I was growing up. She does like Chanel No. 19 now though and Cristalle.

My mother and I definitely differ on the scented front a little bit. I definitely adore my Chanels (including No. 5, neener, neener! LOL!), but she's more for clean, inoffensive, citrus scents. On the high end she wears Elizabeth Arden Green Tea and Clinique Happy, two scents which she tends to overdo a little bit.
On the low end she wears this Bath and Body Works perfume that I can't name right now, but it comes in a light blue glass bottle and has the name "water" somewhere on it. It's not bad, but it reminds me a little bit too much of Davidoff's Cool Water.

I've recently been successful in getting her to try new scents (though she complains about money, which is understandible), but I've recently gotten her turned on to Coco Madmoiselle which she's been wearing more of. I've also got her interested in some of the samples that I've been toting around, including Quelques Fleurs (which also smells excellent on her).

My grandmother (her mother) had the same kinds of tastes. She used to work for Unilever, so she'd always bring back a HUGE grab bag of all kinds of scents, including numerous Calvin Kleins, Elizabeth Ardens, as well as some Estee Lauder choices here and there. Her favorites used to include Eternity (which she would give me a bottle of from time to time), CK One or CK Be. On the rare occasion she would wear something such as Elizabeth Arden Diamonds, or she would wear Obsession (which she had tons of). My parents now own her home, and whenever I visit I still find the odd Calvin Klein bottle here and there, or Diamonds.

My mother refuses to spend money on frivolities such as her own wellbeing (*sighs*) so through my childhood she wore Charlie. I do quite like it, but it's not something I'd choose.
She wore Miss Dior in her teens and I did want to buy her that for her birthday in a month, but apparently 2 perfumes (Charlie and my old Chanel#5) is enough and she'll take it back if I get it for her. Aaargh.

My maternal grandmother wore Blue Grass and I can't remember whether I liked that or not. I haven't seen it in ages.

My step-grandmother wears Opium, and Poison, and those I adore. They strike me as the sort of scents the feisty heroine of some romantic adventure should wear as she defeats the rest of the world to get to her man/woman.

My mom's favorite is L'air du temps and I do not care for it at all. Mom couldn't stand my Gram's scents and I differ, (rediscovering Gram's perfumes is what brought out my newfound indulgance in scents.)

Even the scent of my mother's face lotions make me ick. Go figure.
Gen
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Hi Chaoskitty,

Hmmm, my gram just passed, (86) and she liked scents similar to Opium. Opium is now one of my absolute favorites. I've just made quite a few purchases but, I will look forward to testing Poison sometime based on your post.

Thanks,
Gen
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Hello,
My gram, her sis ate sen sen...so did I. I found it years after her sister died and it was no longer in the little bits but the bits seemed ground and added to regular shaped mints and came in a roll. They were strong but yummy and I used to load my mouth up with them until I couldn't stand it anymore and had to spit them out!
Gen

Ooh! I remember something like sen-sen, which they still have in Asia, and in some Asian food stores in the States. Yummy stuff!

As for my mom's favorite scent. . .

My mom very rarely wore her perfume, Norell. She saved it for special occasions. Sometimes I would spray it on myself, and she'd caution me not to waste it, because we didn't have a lot of money to buy more.

As I grew older, we had more money. Towards the end of my time living with my parents, we moved to California, where my mother fell in with women who collected perfumes. However, they collected them for the bottles -- not caring about the scents. To that whole group of women, opening the bottles was a NO-NO. (These women are the kind who rent entire storage sheds to store their collections. . . . Thank goodness, my mother was never that bad.)

As a result, my mother started buying perfume bottles, unsmelled, and even started sending me some! Most of her collection are floral perfumes, which I abhore. So I just give them away. A pretty bottle doesn't cut it for me.

I still associate her with Norell, though, and recently saw a small mini which I purchased. It doesn't smell the same, and I came to find (through Basenotes and Perfume Emporium) that it's been reformulated by Five Star. I've worn it on occasion (as I'm not averse to OPENING and actually USING the perfumes I buy. . . Horrors!), but it doesn't suit me the way it did her.