My Search for That Scent
Okay, so I decided I wanted to find a really specific fragrance. You know, for her. Not just any perfume off the shelf, but something that really felt… right. It sounds simple, but man, it turned into a whole thing.
First, I hit the big department stores. Walked through those clouds of spray they have at the entrances. Talked to the salespeople. They showed me all the popular stuff, the new arrivals. Sprayed little cards until my pockets were full and everything smelled like a weird fruit salad mixed with flowers I couldn’t name. Nothing clicked. It all felt too generic, like something you smell on ten different people walking down the street.
Then I thought, maybe smaller shops? Boutique places? Found a couple tucked away downtown. Better, maybe? A bit more unique, but still not quite it. Some were too heavy, some too light. It was like trying to find a specific shade of blue when all you see is sky or ocean – close, but not the exact thing you have in your head.
I actually spent a few evenings just trying to remember specific smells. Sounds weird, I know. Like:
- That smell after it rains in the summer.
- Old books, but in a good way.
- Something clean, but not like cleaning products.
Yeah, try explaining that to someone behind a counter. They just look at you funny.
I even considered trying to mix something myself. Got some essential oils – think I had sandalwood, maybe some citrusy thing, vanilla? My place smelled like a confused candle shop for about a week. Let’s just say my talent doesn’t lie in becoming a ‘nose’. It reminded me of trying to build that bookshelf from scratch once. Looked easy in the instructions, ended up wobbly and weird. Some things are best left to people who know what they’re doing.
It became less about the perfume itself and more about figuring out what that ‘feeling’ was I was trying to capture. It’s tricky. You think you know what you want, but describing it, finding it? Whole different story.
So, where did I land? Honestly, still kind of looking. I found something close. Something nice. But that perfect, specific scent? It’s elusive. Maybe it doesn’t even exist in a bottle. Maybe it’s just a mix of memories and wishful thinking. But the whole process, the searching and sniffing and thinking? That was… interesting. Learned a lot about patience, anyway. And that my kitchen is definitely not a perfume lab.
