I’ve been writing this blog for over seven years, but I’ve never really posted about my favourite perfumes before. I guess it’s because I was almost a bit scared to, which is crazy. Why was I scared to blog about perfumes? Well give me a second Karen and I’ll tell you. I’m sorry, I have no idea where the name Karen came from – I’ve just downed an espresso coffee in an attempt to wake me from my mid afternoon slump and I think it’s starting to work.
Anyways, perfume. Yes that’s where I was. I love perfume, doesn’t everyone? But I never really spoke about them on my blog as I never knew how to describe them. The proper way is to discuss notes and tones of blah, blah, but quite honestly, a lot of the time, I’ll see the description of my fave perfume and I’ll be like ‘yep I do not get this notes thing whatsoever.’ I guess my nose isn’t too sophisticated.
Well, I was having a bit of a clear out the other day and I sorted out all of my perfumes and made myself a perfume shelf in my office/blogging room, I say I made myself a shelf, Henry put it up and I put the perfumes on it – but you get my drift. I thought I’d share my favourite perfumes, but I’m not going to talk notes or hints of jasmine or whatever, I’m going to tell you why I love them. Most of the time the fact that they smell nice isn’t the main factor that I love them so much, usually my fave perfumes are because they hold a special memory for me and I think that’s way more important than describing the notes, don’t you?
I’m going to start with the perfume that pops in to my brain first when someone asks me ‘what’s your favourite perfume?’ And that is Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb Bloom which was added to my perfume collection last year. I was introduced to Flowerbomb when I worked in a department store as my supervisor always used to wear it and smelt lovely. I would sometimes take a trip to the fragrance aisle (purely for research purposes for my personal shopping customers ;)) and would spritz myself with it. It’s quite an expensive perfume, so I never bought it or anything but I loved the floral yet delicate smell of it. I was beside myself with excitement when I received Flowerbomb Bloom last year as a press sample, and I’ve loved this one just as much as Flowerbomb. It’s still fruity and floral, and it’s my favourite perfume from my whole collection I think. I am quite tight with it though, and only use it now and then, but it’s gorgeous and I love the bottle too!
Next let’s move onto some perfumes which hold special memories for me, first of all let’s talk about Marc Jacobs Lola which I think has the coolest bottle ever. This takes me back to 2009 when I was at uni, and my friend had a bottle of this which she’d let us spritz ourselves with before a night out. I used to go on about it so much that Henry bought me this bottle as a present on our first Christmas together. So even when this perfume goes off, which it probably will do soon considering it’s almost 9 years old (gross) I will always cherish it. I also have Oh Lola which is the pink version which I also love the bottle for but was also another gift from Henry. I also have Marc Jacobs Dot which is quite fruity, but I’ve almost finished now, but is very cute. I felt like the Marc Jacobs perfumes were my first ‘grown up’ perfumes if that makes sense as previously to this, I’d only ever worn Britney Spears Fantasy perfume (which I do still have as I was sent a press sample a couple of years ago haha) and these felt really sophisticated.
The Cheryl Stormflower perfumes remind me of Summer 2014 and Summer 2015. The original version which is just called Stormflower is one of my faves because I love the scent. It’s fruity yet sweet, and I’ve almost used it all, however it’s weird as whenever I wear it, it instantly takes me back to how I felt in the summer of 2014. Don’t you think it’s weird how a smell can do that? Back in 2014, I was having my quarter life crisis, and that summer I remember being unhappy with a lot of things, and that perfume takes me back which is weird, cause I shouldn’t still like it right? But it almost makes me realise how far I’ve come. How much happier I am now. It’s like I love the scent but it also gives me a reality check all in one. I don’t know if I’m talking absolute rubbish but yeah.
Then we have Stormflower Noir which Cheryl released a year later, which I was really excited to go to the launch of. I’d been invited to the original Stormflower launch but it was one of those launches which everyone seemed to be invited to (though I was still really excited and grateful to be there!) We were stood in this restaurant whilst Cheryl was interviewed on stage and we were all trying to get a glimpse of her. I remember two magazine journalists taking the mick out of me for ‘shaking’ which was ridiculous and I’ve never read that magazine since (not that I hold a grudge or anything haha) but the Stormflower Noir launch however was something else.
For those who have been long time readers of my blog, you will know of my obsession with Cheryl. My first ever blog post was about her book signing that I went to in 2010, and I was obsessed with her for a good few years. I was very excited to be one of the few invited to this launch, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I remember getting an invite in the post which had been hand signed by her and I was like ‘woah.’ The event itself was in a private members club and it was like speed dating with Cheryl.
She came round and spoke to every single one of us and took pictures with us. I talked a load of waffle to her that when I remember what I said to her, it makes me want to vomit but apart from that, it was an amazing event. I remember going home on the train that night thinking how lucky I was. Also I felt so bloody proud of myself for how hard I’d worked on my blog. My first ever post was about going to a book signing for Cheryl and a few years later, I was one of the few bloggers invited to her perfume launch. It was insane. So that perfume will always remind me of that event and that feeling. It was also around that time that I went to NYC where Henry proposed so that perfume just reminds me of a really happy time.
Hopefully a perfume that will hold a special memory in the future is Jo Malone’s English Pear and Freesia, which I’m saving for my wedding day later this year. I had a fragrance consultation with Jo Malone in London, where I chose my wedding fragrance, and this is what I’ll be wearing on my wedding day. I’ll be popping it into an engraved box ready to be opened on my wedding morning and hopefully that scent will always remind me of my wedding day in years to come.
I also love and use the Body Shop’s Coconut Body Mist a lot as perfume, as I love the scent of coconut. It reminds me of summer holidays, suncream and I’ve always been a huge fan of the Body Shop coconut range. My Mum bought me a set for Christmas and I have been loving having this back in my life.
You’ll be glad to know that I’m going to stop now with the reminiscing down memory lane, hopefully it’s not just me who has loads of memories for perfumes and talks about them like this.
Other perfumes I like and wear a lot are :
Ariana Grande Sweet Like Candy
and not pictured but the Escentric Molecules 101 is also another of my faves.
I’m also a fan of the good old body mist, and use these for going to the gym. Please tell me it’s not just me who covers themselves in body spray before going to the gym? Henry always says it’s weird as it doesn’t matter if you smell at the gym, but I’m really weird about smells so always want to try to smell nice all the time haha.
Anyways, I’m a big fan of the Body Fantasies sprays (my faves are Vanilla, Coconut Fantasy and Candy Floss)
For now that’s it, I’ll leave you in peace. But I hope you’ve enjoyed my round-up of my perfumes and why I love them so much.
What’s your favourite perfume?
