Scent of an Older Woman
Back in the day, perfume for me was a huge splash of Jean Naté, like a half a bottle of splash. Worked well too for those after school sports moments when meeting friends (boys!) but when the other kind of friend prevented you from taking a shower in the girls locker.
My mother had a vanity full of gorgeous perfume bottles, my recollection is that her favorite was Ma Griffe and one that had a squeeze bulb to spray the perfume.
And of course, no 1960s girl would be authentic without wearing Emeraude. It was strong and too much would take over the whole room but for whatever reason, it was the scent du jour. Funny that Emeraude’s tag line is “for the woman who dares to be different.” Greenville was hardly the stronghold of being different, unless it was wearing pink with purple instead of pink with green!
At some point I developed my own scent, I think it goes back many decades. Fendi. Parfum. Simple. Light. Yet distinctive.
Then it happened. My nose roamed. An ad with a scent strip for Bottega Veneta. One whiff was all it took and I bought it. Fendi has been sent to the back of the vanity, shunned. Maybe only temporarily as the Fendi is classic. Not to mention that Mr. EOS loves the Fendi and using only one perfume made his gift shopping easy.
I don’t wear perfume every day anymore but I can remember a time when I wouldn’t dare go out without my lipstick on and a spray of Fendi – so as not to Offend-i! 
Lipstick still but that’s a topic for another day.
I won’t want to make you feel older, but MY MOTHER used to wear Jean Nate. It’s amazing how we can smell something and be transported back decades.
I’m not a perfume wearer, rather I use scented body wash. Perfume can give people the hives and worse, can overtake a room if the wearer doesn’t use discretion is applying.
Yes to lipstick. In my age group (40s), I’m in the minority.
I remember buying my mom Jean Nate when I was a kid, not that you are in any way old enough to be my mother! Although I wouldn’t mind if you adopted me. My mother also wore Chloe and my daughter kept the bottle so she could always remember her.
By the way, I’ve started looking at houses in Greenville. Because I like looking at houses, they make me swoon.
How sweet to keep the bottle of Chloe. I like that idea alot. Does Derwood wear cologne? I don’t know many men anymore who do. In my day it was Canoe or Royal Lime.
Do you read the blog Hooked on Houses? She always has tons of good house posts and her readers are all house junkies. You’d like it.
1960s guys wore English Leather, Bay Rum (not Lime), and British Sterling. And Canoe.
Man: You are right. I stand corrected. Bay Rum came from Brooks Brothers, didn’t it? Had fake rattan around the front? Help me out here.
Hilarious that memory of Jean Nate! God, everybody got that for Christmas — it was crazy! Don’t even get me started on the GUYS’ fragrances … they were hysterical. Two interesting things: I’ve worn Aliage by Estee Lauder forever — literally, about 35 years. When we stayed in Mexico, we were at a famous Swiss perfumer’s house and he was telling us how he was concocting Christian Dior’s signature fragrance — and he mentioned trying to add the “green” notes that were in Aliage! I was SO thrilled with my own good taste — ha!!! Also, remember the Taboo advertising line: If you want him to be more of a man, try being more of a woman” ?? My favorite poster in my 20s was a take-off on that with the same lust-filled photo and this caption: “If you want her to be more of a woman, try being less of an a**hole.” It still makes me laugh!!
I’m subscribed!
Derwood doesn’t wear cologne. He likes when I remember to wear perfume. Either boudoir by Vivienne Westwood or Knowing Elizabeth Arden.
Did anyone in my age group (60-ish) use Elizabeth Arden “Bluegrass” as a teenager? My mother confiscated my Tabu (retroactively, I can’t say I blame her) and Ambush that I’d bought with my own babysitting money, and bought me Bluegrass instead. Although I hated to be compliant, I had to admit I liked the smell.
Does anyone remember mid-60s radio ads for “Imprevu,” by Coty? “Turn me loose, Imprevu, doing anything I want to do …” etc., etc. A few years ago I got to meet the woman who wrote that spot, Lois Ernst. She was thrilled that I could sing it back to her. No problem, it is seriously cemented into my brain. It was the first time a perfume was advertised on the radio — quite a breakthrough idea — and a boost for her career, needless to say, back in those Mad Men days.
Original Betty: Gosh, I neither remember Bluegrass nor Imprevu. How could that be? I’m going to have to hunt for the Imprevu ditty to see if hearing it rings a bell. I do remember Tabu and Ambush but don’t think I ever bought them. My babysitting money (at $1.25/hour tops) was to buy records.
Maybe others here remember Bluegrass. I can’t even conjure up in my mind what I think it should smell like. I think Bluegrass and I think the Kentucky Derby and I am sure that’s not what Elizabeth Arden had in mind!
How wonderful you got to meet (and better, impress) the jingle creator. That’s a once in a lifetime great moment.
Betty L: I haven’t heard of what you wear either, Aliage. I must live under some rock or you and Original Betty are just enough younger than I that I missed the perfumes you both wear. What a compliment from the Swiss nose. My sister has a good friend who is “a nose” and he makes a fortune, going from house to house creating scents.
The Mad Men age of perfume advertising surely had us women going – I should dig up all those ads one day. The Taboo one was quite memorable!
Here’s a great website called Vintage Ad Browser. I’ve linked to the 1960s scents. Just the print ads, no songs or video that I’ve found yet.
http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/perfume-ads-1960s
In college, my mother would send me care packages of things like My Sin, Muguet de Bonheur, Bellodgia, Joy, Arpege, Chanel No. 5. Any of these ring a bell? Classic scents but the formulae have changed. I learned that when i replaced a bottle of vintage Joy and watched it evaporate quickly. No more ambergris, I’m afraid.
Tabu, Jean Nate and Canoe ( which was used by both sexes back in the day) were standard college scents. Men used Bay Rum from the Virgin islands and Lyme from Bermuda. English Leather was a common gift.
I refuse to spend the big bucks for perfumes that are about as intense as toilet watersII of my youth. Happen to like Jo Malone products these days because her stuff is fun and reasonably priced.
Mom also sent me cigarettes- Vogue in different colors, English Ovals which impressed my boyfriends and unfiltered Pall Malls which I smoked. Oh, she sent chocolates, too.
One cool mom you had. Perfume, chocolate, and smokes!! You must have been the most popular girl in the dorm.
I’ve heard of all the scents you mentioned and have a vintage bottle of Chanel #5. It doesn’t smell right on me, whatever my own body scent is conflicts with 5.
I’m a huge Jo Malone fan. Addicted to her grapefruit body wash, but I’d argue about being reasonably priced. Isn’t the small body wash $50+?
EOS, you never fail to crack me up! How about Love’s Baby Soft?
Oooh, that’s another good one, Nature. Seems we all wore some scent back when we were young(er) yet few of my friends use perfume now, except for some special occasion. I wonder if its a marketing shift?
I suppose now it’s body wash instead?
Absolutely. Body wash comes in anything but plain. Mango. Peach. Strawberry. Grapefruit. The whole fruit bowl!
I remember my mother’s perfume bottles lined up on a small table in her bedroom. It was a mysterious place. Everything seemed expensive, too, although now I’m sure it wasn’t.
BB: How times have changed that most of us of a certain age remember our mothers with a vanity full of perfume bottles. First of all, how few of us have a dressing table anymore, and fewer of us take long to get ready in the morning to sit down, primp and perfume. There was such a femininity about all the perfume bottles, as you said, mysterious too, but most of that has been taken away and women are supposed to be neutral. I’m not sure I think that’s a good thing.
We had EA Bluegrass soap and the pink one too a flower name but can’t remember now. It seemed special in the christmas box my grandmother put together for each of the ladies to have a box of Elizabeth Arden Bluegrass soap. I still keep a bar in my linen closet….much better than a lavender sachet. Probably the nostalgia at this point. Never knew there was a perform or toilet water. I remember my mother’s dressing table. Seems she had more stuff from the 30′s and 40′s and was less interested in cosmetic and fragrance when she reached middle age. L’Air du Temps was a light fragrance I used in my youth. I still have a Madame Rochas bottle (lingering scent from long ago evaporated contents) on my bureau. Gift from a former suitor long long long ago. Funny my husband has never inquired about it and probably just as well.
Funny you mention soaps. My grandmother loved soaps, had them in the guest bath. I think as kid I used Ivory, the bar that floated, or good old fashioned Zest, that came in all sorts of colors to match the bath decor.
I adore soaps and have a few of the huge bars made in Portugal.
L’Air du Temps was wonderful. And how nice to save the old Rochas bottle.
As a guy, when I was far younger an after shave called Hai-Karate was big. It was expensive too and I didn’t have much, so if I didn’t get it for a gift then I was out of luck. I could get by using Downey fabric softener though. I know, I know, but it’s all I had.
Downey Fabric softener, that’s a great idea. I betcha Mr. EOS wishes HE thought of that! Hai- Karate had some of the best ads. I don’t think I dated anyone who wore it though.
Been traveling, so late to this topic. But when I was last in London, Harrods had a history of perfume exhibit. I found a link which has more links. They had the actual bottles displayed and in many cases you could smelll samples of the products.
http://voices.yahoo.com/the-perfume-diaries-sweet-smell-harrods-6944920.html?cat=69
Neat. Thanks. Are you back on Connecticut soil or still on the road?