Scents
If you're at all like me, this list of scents worn by famous people is a fun skim. Here are some highlights (no idea how true these are):
- Jean Harlow: Mitsouko (her husband was found doused with it when he committed suicide, reputedly due to his impotence)
- Zsa Zsa Gabor: had the extravagant habit of using Florence Gunnarson #67 to scent the pool
- Gertrude Stein: Jolie Madame Balmain, Snuff
- Grace Kelly: Fleurissimo (commissioned by Prince Rainer for their wedding day)
- Prince Louis Napoleon: was famously wearing Creed cologne when speared at battle by the Zulus in 1879
- Vanessa Redgrave: being a chain smoker, she prefers to burn blue hyacinth perfume rings around the house to lend a light scent
- Anne Rice: Dark Gift by Bourbon French perfumes was made for her. It now comes under the name Eau de Noir
- Blu Cantrell: Clean (that one’s for April and Millie)
- Jared Leto: CK one
- Ian McKellen: Ambre Sultan
- David Bowie: Silver Mountain Water Creed
- Edith Piaf: Le Cinq de Molyneux
- Dolly Parton: Gendarme
- Rod Stewart: Gendarme
- Bill Clinton: Gendarme
- Billy Dee Williams: Gendarme
- Frank Gifford: Gendarme
- George Bush: Gendarme
- Joe Montana: Gendarme
- Tom Cruise: Gendarme
- Rodney Dangerfield: Gendarme
- Dale Earnhardt Jr: Drakkar Noir
My grandmother’s name was Joy and she always had a large glass bottle of Joy on her vanity. My grandma bought a lot of Avon perfumes but I remember we gave her a White Shoulders gift set every Christmas. My unofficial godmother has worn Chanel No. 5 for as long as I can remember, and bought me a bottle when I was out of college. My mother wore L’Air du Temps and First by Van Cleef & Arpels when I was little, and wears Pleasures by Estée Lauder now. I used to swear by Philosophy Pure Grace, but I’m fickle with scents, even basic clean ones. I wore that one for years and now it reminds me of 2007. 2007 was great, but now I want to smell like something new.
At the moment I wear the perfume Nick bought me for Christmas. Neither of us can ever remember its name: I call it #4 Privet Drive and he calls it Hedgerow Porn, which turned into both of us referring to it as the Harry Potter Porn Perfume -- not something easy to ask for in a shop. It’s nice and light, but a bit more floral than I usually go for. Every time I go to Liberty, I ask for a sample of Blanche by Byredo. It smells like a very clean, calm rich lady. I will roll over and let you sell me that image, Byredo: a lady with mo money and no problems. However, a bottle costs £115, which even if I were an untroubled rich woman would still seem like a pretty frivolous purchase, especially when the samples last so long.
The other day we were walking through Selfridge’s and I stopped at the Jo Malone counter. Eventually Nick got bored with being bored and started sniffing around as well, and he picked up a bottle. “This one. I like this one, you should get this one.” I looked and it was the same one I bought on my first trip to England three years ago. So there’s £64 saved. Maybe I’ll be that problem-free rich lady sooner than I think, but I’ll still smell like 2007 to me.