27. Find a Signature Scent

I am not sure why, but this is something I have struggled with all my life. You know how certain people will enter a room ( without being seen) and you can take a whiff of the air and go "Sam's here!" For Sam's sake I hope the whiff of air isn't something completely repugnant- and for the sake of this blog we will say it isn't. Well, I have always wanted to have a perfume that when other smelled it- no matter where they were- they would say "It smells like Erica!"

I've dabbled in other perfumes before. There were the days of my youth. The days that can be referred to as Malibu Musk, Electric Youth, Sunflowers, and Excalamation! I did the ever popular Bath and Body works route for quite some time. Plumeria was my fragrance of choice, then they discontinued it. I had actually accomplished this feat too! When Plumeria was discontinued, I had about 10 different people call me up and say "I was at this Bath and Body Works the other day (in some unknown location) and they had Plumeria- so I bought you 3 bottles!" They were so proud of themselves. And me, well of course I was proud of myself- I had a fragrance people affiliated with ME! Of course, Plumeria soon filtered its way out and I had to move on.

Then came the days of Issey Miyake- which was far too expensive for my college budget. I also spent some time hanging with Cool Waters. The last fragrance I rendezvoused with before my signature-signature scent was Dolly Girl by Anna Sui. It is still quite lovely- but it just didn't hold that "It smells like ME!" quality.

I will preface the next part of this blog by stating that my signature-signature scent shall remain nameless. I am far too tired of replacing scents because all of the world decided they wanted to smell exactly like every other woman on the planet. No, I instead will keep this signature-signature scent with me to my grave- or at least till enough people figure it out on their own and start wearing it.

I read about the signature-signature scent in a magazine. I had heard of the scent designer (if that is what they are called) and he/she is a wonderfully humane person. So I made it a point to try and acquire the scent of this scent in my nostrils at some point. It wasn't till I moved to Chicago that I was able to acquire scents of this caliber at everyday places. Back home in Indiana you are frequented with crap like "If you love Tommy you'll LOVE DONNY!"

I stumbled upon this scent one day while I was visiting Water Tower Place. I was so delighted that I would actually get to smell it. But my excitement was mixed with fear- perhaps it would smell like old women's feet or White Diamonds (UGH!) Instead, it was wonderfully brilliant- and I purchased my first bottle. It has been about 5 years now that I have been exclusive with this scent. I have taken to purchasing it on EBay as of late because it is so expensive.

You may wonder how I KNEW in my heart of hearts it was the signature-signature scent. I will share a very brief version of that significant moment in time. An ex-boyfriend of mine, Patrick, called me up one day from Colorado. I answered my phone and this is what ensued:
Me: "Hello?"
Patrick: "I AM STANDING IN THE BOXED TELEVISION DVDS SECTION OF BEST BUY IN COLORADO AND THE WOMAN NEXT TO ME IS WEARING YOUR PERFUME. SHOULD I PUNCH HER??!?!?"

You see, it was very clear to me at that point. My signature-signature scent had been found. It was recognized all the way in Colorado- many states away from Illinois. The fact that Patrick was willing to punch an innocent lady inside the Best Buy in order to defend my honor of the signature-signature scent was the key.

I am constantly reminded that it is THE be all end all of signature-signature scents. Just today our CFO at work came to my office and said- "I always know if you are here before me because I can smell your perfume in the elevator" YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY signature-signature scent!

For the record- if it has ever seemed that I am making up a name of some random perfume when you ask me what I am wearing- I probably was. And if I ever hid things from you in my medicine cabinet- not to fret. It was just the signature-signature scent.