Perfumes

Lately it seems that everyone and their mother and their father is creating their own fragrance line. No longer are fragrance lines reserved for cosmetic industry tycoons; Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Hillary Duff, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, and tons of other celebrities have launched lines. There are now literally millions of perfumes, colognes, and fragrances to choose from. I've also notice lately that perfumes are often the topic of many conversations online. Bloggers discuss the latest fragrance trends. News sites discuss the economic status of fragrance companies. Gossip sites discuss the latest celebrity to jump into the frangrance pool. And of course everyone has their own opinion as to which perfumes are the best. All of this "perfume pressure" forced me out on a quest to find a new fragrance.

I first became truly intrigued with a perfume when I was in 8th grade. Back in 1993, my 8th grade teacher wore Beautiful by Estee Lauder everyday. She made the classroom smell sooooo good. I remember going to the mall with my best friend that weekend and bringing $30 that I had saved up for quite some time to purchase my very own bottle of Beautiful. I was so excited. I still wear Beautiful to this day. I can remember being 16 and in line at Best Buy when an older guy asked me "what are you wearing? It smells wonderful!" It wasn't until I was 20 that I even thought about wearing another fragrance. That was the result of a chance "smelling" of Ralph Lauren Polo Sport. Nothing too fancy...it was a fragrance I saved for more laid back events. When I was 21, my sweetie gave me a bottle of Victoria's Secret Heavenly fragrance. At first, I laughed. I always thought of Victoria's Secret perfume to be along the same line as Avon fragrances (read made for old ladies!). Imagine my suprise when I fell in love with the scent. Then, at the age of 23 (or maybe 24), while thumbing through a new issue of Cosmo, I was engulfed by the scent of Clinique Happy Heart. It quickly took over the top spot in my fragrance cabinet. 99% of the time I am wearing Happy Heart (I still do wear Beautiful, Polo Sport, and Heavenly), and almost everyday I receive a compliment. I have literally had women walk by me, stop, and come back to ask what I am wearing. Men are equally intrigued.

So, back to my quest, as I walked around Macy's this weekend smelling countless numbers of perfume bottles, I found myself desperate to find a new fragrance just so I could be included in this new perfume revolution that is taking the world by storm. After about 45 minutes or so, I stopped and thought "what the hell am I doing???" I am already more than happy with the fragrances that I wear and obviously they mix with my own body chemistry well enough to be pleasent for those who are in my vicinity. Interestingly enough, as I had this epiphery (to steal a line from The Office's Michael Scott), a woman walked by me and asked what I was wearing (Happy Heart). So, what's the point of this post? If you have something that works for you, there is no reason to run and change it. Sure, I won't be joining in the conversations about the newly released Hermes fragrance or singing the praises of Bond No. 9, yearning to try their latest and greatest; but at the same time, I won't be throwing vasts amounts of money away on the latest fragrance of the week. Just something to think about.