Perfume is such a personal thing. I remember being 15 years old and buying Max Factor's Hypnotique and Electrique with some Christmas money. Both were ten shillings a bottle and both were disgusting. My best friend at the time went for Charlie and Flair by Yardley. I hated both of them and when she smashed a bottle of Flair in the kitchen the pong really was repulsive. I moved on to Revlon's Intimate, Rochas Femme and finally, Guerlain's Mitsouko which I still use, even though the fragrance is not quite the same. In my early 20's I had a very brief flirtation with Estee Lauder's Youth Dew until someone said it had a smell like fly spray (on me, it did!) I went back to Mitsouko and I find that I'm not good at changing my perfume. Recently, a lady sat next to me on the bus and I knew exactly what she was wearing but I had to ask her. It was Houbigant's Quelque Fleur. I had total recall of my mum wearing it back in the 1960's. Unlike me, she could wear anything and smell absolutely gorgeous. It's 11 years ago since she died, but how I miss her wafting around in that scent.
