For some time, I have been wanting to do a blog post sharing my perfume collection. It’s nothing extravagant, but the few I do have, are worth mentioning. In fact, one of them has been in my arsenal for at least a decade or more, with many repurchases over the years. Although I will eventually share those fragrance-loves, today’s blog post is not going to be about those particular perfumes. Today’s blog post is going to be about ‘Finding Your Signature Scent’.

My first experience with finding my signature scent happened in my late teens. It was called Calyx by Prescriptives. I’m sure it is still around and out there somewhere. In fact, I believe I stumbled across it a while back and took a nice whiff. It took me back to the day when I was a wild and mischievous teenager. I wouldn’t wear that fragrance today, but it was a lovely and youthful scent … very clean and citrusy. From there, we jumped into my early twenty’s. I am sure plenty of you will recall the obsession many girls had over Calvin Klein’s Escape. Gosh, did I love that scent. To this day, if I pass someone wearing it, I get a sudden boost of energy. But after getting sick of everyone and their sister over-spraying themselves with it, I moved on to another wonderful CK indulgence, Euphoria. I had never considered myself a fad or trend follower, but I always seemed to end up falling in love with a perfume that wound up being the latest-and-greatest fragrance at that time. There was nothing pleasant about an entire room that smelled like a spilled bottle of Euphoria. For that reason, once a fragrance became too popular, I quickly moved on. I had a few years where I didn’t really have what I would consider a ‘signature‘ scent. I wore different fragrance and clearly loved some of them, but I didn’t have that one ‘true’ scent. If you have a signature scent yourself, you know exactly what I am talking about. Just like the difficulty that comes with explaining different notes in a fragrance, explaining why something is our signature scent is no different. I was basically in limbo with my perfume collection. Clearly, I had ones I liked to wear, but I just didn’t have that one show-stopper. I’m not sure how, but after some time I stumbled across one that I fell completely head over heels with … Thierry Mugler’s Angel. OMG – swoon!!! Well, a couple years of that, and guess what? Yep, you guessed it, everyone and their sister-in-law were bathing in it. Even now, quite frankly, a few still are. Not judging, I love the scent. But again, just over-kill in the popularity department and I can’t keep something like that in my life. There I am AGAIN on the search for my ‘signature’ scent. I don’t know how many years exactly it’s been since my ‘Angel’ days, but definitely a few. In the meantime, I just continued to wear the current perfumes in my collection that I do indeed love, but it’s clearly not the same. I’ve picked up few samples here and there from Sephora and Nordstrom, and really liked some. In fact, I keep a list of a few I may eventually want to pick up or ask for as a gift. But again, I just hadn’t landed on that one particular fragrance.

That was up until recently. It’s funny how things appear out of nowhere…. when you’re no longer on a quest searching for them. I am in LOVE again! How this relationship developed was quite by accident. During a shopping trip this past fall, I parked and entered the mall through Neimen Marcus .. I know, big dreamer! I needed to make a stop at the Chanel counter to take a look at the new limited-edition fall collection. I proceeded to make my way out of Neimen’s and into the mall. There stood the typical sales lady armed with a loaded perfume bottle and ready to attack. I usually try to inconspicuously meander my way around these particular confrontations…but, you know how beauty department commission works: they pounce and pounce hard! There I stood, face-to-face with the commission-seeking, perfectly coiffed hair sales lady. Stunned, not only by the bottle she held in her perfectly manicured fingertips, but also to see that Prada’s daughter had released a fragrance. Now that I’m interested and she’s seeing dollar signs, I enthusiastically mutter to her, “OK, hose me down”. Meanwhile, in my head I’m muttering “You’re not getting my money, lady!” To which I follow up with, “Cuz frankly, I don’t have any!” I made my way out of the store and proceeded to shop for several hours. During the course of the day, I kept coming across a scent that was different, but amazing. I couldn’t figure out why I would randomly come across this intriguing aroma, but then it would be gone, only to resurface and make its presence known again. It was like I had never smelled anything so incredibly amazing. But I was baffled where this scent was coming from. Could that many people be wearing the same perfume? Throughout the day, random people would comment on how amazing I smelled. I didn’t realize, nor did I believe this beautiful fragrant smell was coming from me. After a couple hours of draining our family debit account, I decided I had better head home in time to hide my bags. Since I had parked my car at Neimen’s and had to go back through the store anyway, I stopped at the fragrance counter and asked if I could get a sample of the Miu Miu fragrance to take home. I really wanted to test this out and see if the scent that I had been energized by, and received so many compliments on, truly was this fragrance. Believe it or not, truly it was!  After a couple days of wearing this unique, energizing scent, I celebrated in the fact that I, once again, have found my signature scent! I just love Miu Miu’s first fragrance. It is so much more than a pretty scent!

The fragrance Miu Miu was launched this past September, 2015. This is designer Miuccia Prada’s first fragrance. At a time when many designer and celebrity scents veer safely towards the sweet, sexy, and sugary, this one distinctively stands out as a bright floral. “We wanted to open the doors and open the windows with this fragrance,” says perfumer Daniela Andrier. “We didn’t want another gourmand; we wanted something different, enjoyable, and unexpected.” The company also didn’t want packaging that looked like all the other fragrances on the shelves, either. They wanted to get away from the conventional, girly bottle and instead chose to make the bottle what they call ‘anti-pink’. The flat red topper is supposed to look like a piece of cherry candy.

Now what does this hard-to-define, unexpected, barrier-breaking fragrance smell like? Well, I’m not as good at describing fragrance notes as I am in describing aromas in wine. But I do know a few that I find pleasing and could easily pick up on in the Miu Miu. At first whiff, it’s straight up lily of the valley, which is always a love for me. It’s almost as if you had a bouquet of them sitting around in your room for a few hours. The lily of the valley is mixed with jasmine and rose. To get the fragrance of Miu Miu exactly right, it took over 1200 tries. It was worth it because they certainly nailed it. This fragrance is charming and appealing, unexpected and intriguing. It has qualities I find inspiring and I think that’s what really makes it my signature scent. When the bottle looks like a piece of expensive decor sitting on your dressing table, it’s even more appealing.

In a future blog post, I will share my other perfume loves. For my everyday go-to fragrance, I generally wear one of those and save my signature Miu Miu for those special occasions, when I just need that boost of energy feeling, or I want to feel a little sexy. Valentine’s Day is a great time to give and receive fragrance. This set would make a lovely gift. Don’t hesitate to silently slip this post into your hubby’s email in-box and see if you get a special little ‘anti-pink’ treat along with your chocolates and flowers this Valentine’s day.

Miu Miu Ea De Parfum  3.4 oz. :: 1.7 oz. :: 1 oz.  |  Shower Gel  |  Body Lotion  |  Body Cream

“She’s not only charming; she has allure. She’s not just pretty; she has something more interesting.”