Fragrance and memory. A Target Giveaway.
I am a bit of a sucker for perfume. Growing up when Mum had an empty bottle, I’d prize the lid off and fill it with water, mixing any hint of fragrance left and using it.
As I got older, I ran the teen gauntlet that is aerosol body spray. I am certain if you lit a match anywhere near my room the whole house would have gone up. Something I am now re-living with my own daughter.
I remember the first time I was given perfume by a boyfriend. I applied it in much the same manner I did body spray. No doubt that’s why for much of my study in the local town library for year 12 exams the place was all but empty.
Over the years Hubby has given me a few different perfumes. The most current one being my absolute favourite.
I was recently invited by Target to hear about their new fragrance lines. I was more than a little pleased to learn they are moving into more high end perfumes, including fragrances by Dior, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci.
Scent is full of memory for me. Orange blossom reminds me of Christmas, some perfumes remind me of places and events. Some foods transport me back to Mum’s kitchen.
When I choose perfume, I am often guided by memory. A place, a time, a person. Any or all of these things have an influence on why I choose one over another. Target having more perfume range, for women and men is nothing but good news if you ask me.
There is good news for readers too. I have a $40 Target voucher to give away to one reader. To be in with a chance of winning, leave a comment below telling me what memories you associate with perfume.
Giveaway open to Australian residents only.
Giveaway open until 6pm SUNDAY 9th December. At this time comments to this post will be closed. Winner will be chosen and notified by email. So please ensure you have a correct email when commenting.
Disclaimer: I was invited to an event for Target and have been compensated for my time and for this post.
Image from Target.com.au
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Lou Lou by Cacharel takes me straight back to the 80′s and my teenage years! It was my first real perfume after “growing out of” body sprays. The slightest hint of it these days makes me violently ill but back in the day, with my funky prism’d blue bottle … I had it ALL going on!!
One of the best fragrance memories I have is that of being a child and walking into our home and knowing straight away that my favourite aunty and uncle had arrived from the bush, her perfume and his cigars just filled up the house, even if they weren’t actually there at the time. So recognisably J and R!
The smell of Opium takes me back to my childhood, mum always knew when I had been in her room.
I always have memories of the fragrance Thais. It was the first real perfume ever given to me in my teen years so it reminds me of youth and freedom.
My Dad all his life has worn BRUT, it reminds me of my childhood
My First real love was in the 70′s she always used Coco Chanel’s Nº19 whenever i get a whiff i start to sniff as we are no more
Romance and love, I have a perfume that reminds me of my wedding day..my hubby weres one that drives me crazy and I know my best friends favourite one…so all good and positive!
Tuscany per Donna (Aramis) always takes me back to my night clubbing days, a string of suitors, loving life & running amok, and all without a single care in the world!!
Just like a picture paints a thousand words, to me a scent evokes a million memories. Be them happy, sad or in between, different perfumes bring waves of past scenarios to my minds eye.
I normally associate a whopping great headache with perfume as synthetic fragrances don’t agree with me. But I have a great Aura Soma perfume at the moment which is great and I always wear when going somewhere special and occasionally to work just the brighten my day.
My mum used to keep a bottle of Chanel No. 5 on her makeup desk. I remember as a 5 year old, when she was busy in the kitchen, sneaking into her bedroom so I could use it and pretend I was a movie star!
My father passed away earlier this year and the scent of after shave always brings back fantastic memories of those special times with the most amazing person i have ever know.
(i know it’s not perfume but this is my favourite scent)
Oh gee, Mum deoderant, and who wore it? My Mum, of course!
As for me, so much more clar-see
, CK One (citrus-y and fresh) reminds me of lemons and the beach. Yeah!
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Unfortunately, I associate it with vomiting all over my clothes when I was a kid on a long family drive with my parents. The smell of perfume makes me sick and my mum had worn perfume that day that my dad had just given her. It sent me right over the edge!
Any lavender scent in perfumes will bring me back childhood times when I was constantly down with illness, but mum would burn a lavender aromatic oil and stayed by my bedside comforting me.
It reminds me of my manager who used to douse her hair with Red Door!
Its actually the perfume Red Door, my mum use to wear that all the time when i was little, so every time i smell it, it reminds me of my mum.
Where to start?! mum’s perfume, dad’s oilskin, roast lamb on Sunday’s, partners CK, coal BBQ I’m back in Turkey, juniper berries back in Nepal, baby poo back in reality!
So many fragrances … So many memories! The smell of johnsons baby wash propels me back to holding my own children as tiny new humans, Joop! Reminds me of a crush that I had on a man who became one of my closet friends. Lavender always reminds me of my mum, it’s her favourite scent. Opium takes me back to my early 20s when it was signature scent.
I recently saw in a catalogue that target were stocking high end fragrances and was impressed. Are even considering getting a bottle of Drakkar for my teenage son as his first aftershave.
The smell of the perfume ‘Vanderbilt’ which I always wore as a teenager. Takes me back to those wonderful carefree times of fun, friendship and first love.
Watching my mother get ready to go out as a little girl, standing in her bedroom doorway or on her bed, she at her dresser, cigarette burning away in ashtray, applying lipstick, comb in hair and finally her perfume Tabu. Whenever I smell Tabu it takes me back to being that girl again, watching my mother’s transformation. My girls sometimes stop yabbering and watch me apply make up on the rare occasion I do, I need a scent to go with their memory…. Smell brings back so many lost memories.
Whenever I smell ‘Red Door’ I’m immediately reminded of my Nanna. She was a real lady and I still miss her 12 years later
My mother always had different perfumes, so my sister and I would go about the garden collecting petals, mixing them with water and trying to make Mum a new perfume. She was always lovely and told us it was beautiful
My Great grandmother always wore Lillies of the Valley and everytime i smell that i know she is very close to me and is telling me a secret
Isadora was in a bottle with a little Isadora Duncan figure on top; aa perfume that smelt divine, but sadly was discontinued around the end of the 1970s; the scent in my memory was absolute perfume heaven
Perfume is a scentsational smell that says I’m wearing well
Yardley Lavender reminds me of my grandmother. It was the only perfume she would wear.
Everyone has their own special scent when mum died i would sometime spray hers and when a good friend went suddenly i did the same it gave me some peace and lots of memories
I always associate my childhood and my mum with the Tabu perfume she used to wear. The smell was always overpowering for me and made me feel ill. I always thought it was so appropriately named and is definitely tabooed by me!
When i was little,mum would have a bath just before dad
got home from work,she would perfume herself,
the smell would fill the air!
Dune as I wore it for my wedding day and also for the birth of my 3 wonderful children
I associate Chanel No 5 with my dear grandmother who used to bathe me and my cousins when we were little and give us a little spray of it as we came out of the bath. Whenever I walk into a department store and smell it, I get a smile thinking of Nanna.
‘ Charlie’ always reminds me of my late grandma. I am not even sure they still sell it? Oh the other strong scent in her home was moth balls!
Lavender scents remind me of my Grandma…
Tabu reminds me of my life in the 80s
Roses take me back to my childhood when
we scattered rose petals in the church
on Holy Thursday. Each of these three scents
take me ‘to another time and place’ in a
micro-second!
Chanel No 5 reminds me of younger years when I was a teenager and my Mum bought me a small bottle which I adored.
My foster mother wears Red Door, and it always remind me of the Christmas’ I had spent with her family. They are such wonderful and cherished memories.
My Nana, and how lovely she was
The memories I have are of being a tiny little thing and entering Grandmas treasure trove. A huge mantle filled with all types of powders, perfume, lipsticks, jewelleries, body creams, makeup.. Oh it was such an exotic mix of smells, when I think of it Im right back there showered in necklace chains with rouge on my lips and smelling just like her. They are memories I really treasure.
I remember nice floral scent everytime when mum went to work. The smell would linger for hours. It was nice
‘Maroussia’ in my memories
Seductive scent,
so heavenly.
Reminds me of Summers,
Young love and lust.
My total nostalgic memory infused musk!
Beautiful by Estee Lauder has always been my mums favorite. Unfortunately my mum is not with me anymore but when ever I smell it, I am overcome with such wonderful, lovely memories of her.
I loved the Ekka, especially the animals…the smell of horses and cows, straw and oats was my favourite smell!! A farm girl at heart!!
Musk always reminds me of my grandmother
I associate it with throwing up – I remember my Auntie dousing herself in perfume just as we had to take her out one day and I spent the whole hour of the car journey throwing up all over my favourite leggings.
Vanilla musk scent, I have no idea what it was called, anytime i smell anything that resembles it, reminds me of my nanna, when she use to visit, the scent would hit at the front door after I got home from school and I knew she was there, you could sniff your way to her house, the smell use to radiate down her driveway and on to the street, it was never a strong smell, very pleasant, but very noticable
Obsession by Calvin Klein. Mum used to wear it all the time. Now when I walk into a room and smell it I have to stop and get myself together as it brings back flooding memories of my mother.
I remember my grandma used to always have a little bottle of roll on 4711 Eau de Cologne that she took everywhere with her,I think of her whenever I smell it
I only use one perfume at a time and always one I have’nt used before so it would be great to try a new perfume
Lavender always takes me back to memories of my late Grandma. She always wore a lavender perfume and whenever I smell it now it makes me feel safe and secure – just like my grandma did.
My favourite is and best memory one is Oscar De La Renta my aunt use to own a French perfume and lingerie shop and my grandmother had received all stock when it closed up perfume and creams of course and my grandmother gave me a bottle of Oscar when I was 14 since then has always been my favourite and reminds me of my time with her
my nannas house
The scent of certain perfumes always brings to mind the memory of when I was a small child, watching my Mother readying herself to go out. I remember perching on her bed, thinking my Mother was the most beautiful lady in the world(she still is)as I watched her curl her lovely long eyelashes to make them look even longer, then spray her neck and wrists with a floral or musk scented perfume. Mum always wore expensive perfume, usually Estee Lauder or Coco Chanel… I’m forty years old now and my little girls watch me getting ready to go out and always sneak a spray of my Este Lauder or Coco Chanel perfumes…
My late Gran wore Yardley April Violets and every year when my native violets bloom,their intoxicating scent brings back the most happiest of memories about this beautiful, amazing woman I adored!
As a child we were extremely poor and this is soul destoying in high school. One year one of my church friends class members me a small bottle of Summer Rain. I could not bring myself to open something i saw as so expensive. For the next 12 months I worried about how I could ever return the favour when Christmas came again and in the end I re-gifted it and hoped she would forget what she have given me or or think I had loved it to much I had purchased another bottle for her. Of course she jsust took one look and said I had given her back the bottle I receved from her last year. I was devasted and humiliated. Teen years are so cruel.
On my way to a 2 week holiday on the French Riviera, I bought a bottle of Lolita Lempicka Au Masculin at the duty free store. Memories of long dinners al fresco in great company (including my wife-to-be) with a glamorous view of the Mediterranean sea are only a spray away.
Growing up my mum always went without for us kids but every christmas she would get a bottle of Paris perfume and she treated it like gold using a tad everyday she always smelt devine the smell of this perfume always makes me think of her and how elegant she was
My grandmother who has now passed on always wore a distinctive Red Door perfume that I loved to inhale as I gave her cuddles.
Lynx deodorant is a ‘heavenly’ reminder of my baby brother who used to drown himself in it. I sometimes spray a little on myself from a can he left behind to transport me back our childhood.
I everytime, I smell Taboo Purfume it reminds me of my Mum. Always happy memories, always fun.
having tea with my grandma – she always smelt like roses!
My first boyfriend gave me a bottle of White Lace. I still keep a bottle to remind me of the innocence (and drama!) of first love.
My Grandmother always wore Lavender and I still remember her whenever I smell a lavender perfume.
These days I associate perfume mostly with all the beautiful women in my life. Perfume is really memorable when it’s worn in the right measures, and a woman should be commended on her aromatic choices. If I had to pick one standout memory though, It was from high school in the mid 1980′s when on a school camp, a curfew was imposed and we were told “If anyone leaves there tent NOW! they’ll be sent home”. Well; I was enjoying a natter with 8 girls in their tent at the time, so had to bunk down there for the night
I woke up to a waft of ‘Impulse’ when it was first becoming really popular back then, and I’m sure there must’ve been 30 girls in there, not 8 
my lungs become a vehicle for impulse, but it sure was memorable, and I didn’t get sent home… well not for that anyway 
My now dead husband always bought me “Opium” because he loved the smell. He would walk along after someone with this on and couldn’t resist saying “Arn’t you wearing Opium” nobody ever took offence at him. I now do the same thing as it brings such happy memories of my wonderful husband.
Oh, the sweet memory of my first kiss…. He told me I smelled beautiful. I was wearing White Linen xxx