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Association by Scent

post #1 of 15
6/1/10 at 7:43pm
Thread Starter 
I had been contemplating Virgin Island Water for awhile. I liked it - real summery, beach in a bottle. But wasn't ready to pull the trigger.

Last week on our vacation to Hawaii, I decided to bring several VIW samples that I had collected. The scent is still good - but our trip to the islands was spectacular. And throughout all our good times, I was wearing VIW - just can't get it out of mind. VIW has soared to the top of my "to buy soon" list!

Ever have a similar experience - good or bad? Maybe a scent that you like reminds you of a love gone wrong - or vice versa? Or scent associated with a geographical location like me? Or some other scent association?
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post #2 of 15
6/1/10 at 8:20pm
Last year I did a lot of traveling to my company's home office in Switzerland. The only frag I had at the time in a bottle small enough to carry on a plane was Hugo XY. So now, though I'm sure it doesn't represent the country at all, for me when I smell it I'm reminded of Switzerland.
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post #3 of 15
6/1/10 at 8:25pm
This is a good thread. Fragrances most certainly do bring back memories and associations for me.

The best example for me is Equipage. The first time I bought it was back in 2001, when I was on vacation in the Cote d'Azur in France with my wife and son. It was a great trip, with perfect hot, dry Mediterranean weather, great food, relaxing, etc., and I was wearing Equipage for a good part of that trip. I was also wearing Chevalier d'Orsay a lot that trip too. I now always associate those two scents with that trip and that part of the world.
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post #4 of 15
6/1/10 at 8:42pm
Yes I do.
Body Kouros - the emblem of passion has been engraved into this spectacular smoky hallucinating scent.

Also, VIW great scent.
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post #5 of 15
6/1/10 at 9:00pm
virgin island for me is the image of optimism and carefree happiness of the tropics i love it a lot, but i also like royal english leather which to me is success in a bottle, vintage tabarome reminds me of the 40s a couple of well suited actors in an old club in leather chairs gambling or conversing over drinks it is just a nice classic fragrance which exudes that era which i love, jas imp eug by creed which is a female fragrance i have smelled among others to me is a sexy scent that any lady should get and it reminds me of hot sweaty sex in a car at night, bois du portugal as one reviewer said is something james bond would wear a well dressed man that is also dangerous.
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post #6 of 15
6/1/10 at 10:43pm
For me too many scents and their memories to recount. A sample of L'Artisan's Vetiver along for a camping trip in dense woods. Had to buy a bottle after that, but now I can't think of being anyplace but in the woods when I wear it. For one vacation overseas I decided to try to buy into the advertising, and said since Jean Patou makes a scent named Voyage on a vacations theme, hell, I'll buy in. I wore nothing but that for vacation. It was outstanding fantastic! So now I can't wear it because I'm not on THAT vacation anymore. Great scent though. I guess I really hear you about vacations and scents, Funraiser.
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post #7 of 15
6/2/10 at 1:40am
Oh, definitely. Some scents evoke specific periods of time in my life. So, for example, Joop! Homme and Hugo Boss remind me of specific years in high school. And Allure Homme reminds me of my first year of marriage.

Whether a particular experience was good or bad doesn't seem to affect my wearing of the scent again. But I often don't return to such scents, more because I've outgrown that period in my life... and the scent, too.
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post #8 of 15
6/2/10 at 2:43am
I wore Body Kouros for the first time on a night out 2 weeks ago, it was a posh ball sort of thing (I know BK isn't particularly suited to that, but I was desperate to wear it).

I smelt it again for the first time since yesterday and it was crazy, everything came back so vividly. What I was wearing, who I was talking to, what the rooms looked like... I'd had quite a bit to drink that night, so didn't remember everything. On smelling it again many things I hadn't remembered came back. Not all good. xD

I've never had such an association before.
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post #9 of 15
6/2/10 at 11:07am
L'Air du Desert Marocain will forever be emblazoned in my memories with the association of New York City. I purchased it in the Summer of 2008 on my birthday with friends in NYC. It's really surreal, how when I smell it, to me it smells like New York City.
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post #10 of 15
6/2/10 at 12:25pm
I associate French Fern and Old Spice with my father, and Chanel No. 5 with my mother.
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post #11 of 15
6/2/10 at 1:12pm
I have both bad and good stories.....I'll stick with a good story or two.....My Wife and I with Our Son took a vacation North many years back.....My Son took The Dreamer by Versace.....I still remember that vacation when I smell The Dreamer.....We also took another vacation a few years ago.....I sampled Comme des Garcons Odeur 71.....Whenever I smell Odeur 71 it reminds me of that vacation.....I have so many good vacation stories.....I'll save them for now!!! Great Thread!!!
Gary
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post #12 of 15
6/4/10 at 2:52pm
Sure, I admit to being human. Most are too personal of stories to share though. I will say that I brought Aqua di Gio (Armani) on a vacation to a place that had natural jasmine, with the oceanic breezes, with grilled food cooking...outdoors. Paradise.
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post #13 of 15
6/4/10 at 5:40pm
Kouros reminds me of Italy. I must've smelled it on people there constantly.
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post #14 of 15
6/4/10 at 5:49pm
Many smell to me like times gone bye, places I lived in, schools attended, trips overseas, people I did not see never agian: Macassar, Equipage, Z-14, Eau Sauvage, Azzaro, Jules, Gentleman, Monsieur Givenchy, Tiffany, etc. I associate others with my relatives: L'Heur Bleu, Mitsouko and Shalimar with my Grandmother, Mystere and Magie Noire with my mother, Opium with my Sister, Signoricci with my Father, Guerlain's Vetiver and Habit Rouge as well as JHL with my Granfather, verbena - based scents with my Wife, etc.

Regarding my collection, I cannot trace any associations with many of them.
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post #15 of 15
6/4/10 at 5:51pm
It happens all the time. Yatagan makes me think of the Colorado high plains/desert with sage and rabbitbrush and dust, and metallic smells, reminds me of my childhood in the back of an antique pickup riding along the rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Aramis makes me think of college days and my friend Pat who gave me what she said was "I think it's Aramis" ... in a small green balsamic vinegar bottle. The scent was pungent and beautiful and I haven't found exactly that scent yet, but Aramis Classic Reserve and Havana both come close.

Some musk-based scents remind me of my grandmother, who gave me a little cloth book when I was three, that smelled of what I now know is musk.

And just today I wore Chamade for the first time and realize that this scent is connected with some memory from my past, but I can't quite grasp that memory yet. I think the memory is from the 70's, as it reminded me of the Émeraude I used to buy and wear back then. But it doesn't smell like Émeraude, just the memories are connected somehow.

Lucky Tiger Rose hair oil always makes me think of my Dad, as it is what he used when he was younger... and I used to bury my nose in his coats in the hallway when he was out of town for the week so I could smell his scent on the cloth.
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