I DO NOT normally wear perfume.
But I do enjoy some aroma therapy in my bed.
I like a sprinkle of fragrance on my pillows, and a spray of cologne on my men if I’m sleeping with them. Haha.
So I do own a few bottles of perfume.
***
On the year my father died, I bought him some Halston Z-14.
I gave it to him in September, and when he died in November, I inherited the bottle, and finished it.
I bought another bottle to keep the scent, and then, I got tired of it.
To repeat, I do not normally wear a scent.
I’m so proud of my own body smell.
***
When my husband died, I rediscovered perfume.
Like, there were a dozen different scents all over the house.
In the basement bathroom alone, there were as many as six half-full bottles of perfume.
Like, he used it, and changed brand in the middle of a bottle?
I wrote a poem about it, and left it at that.
One of the truths in that poem is that I really finished the bottles by wearing a different perfume every so often.
***
My husband died eight years ago last December.
So, I did finish his perfumes a long time ago.
I had some Calvin Kleins when I went to Europe in December last year, but that was soon replaced by Jo Malone.
I was tempted to buy some Jo Malones in London.
My UK-based sister was egging me with the brand; my friends on video chats were insisting I should spend some money on perfumes.
I didn’t budge.
***
When I came home to Los Angeles from my tour of Europe, my sister in California gave me a bottle of Jo Malone — Lime Basil & Mandarin.
The scent by itself is a little strong for me.
But, as with other Jo Malones, it turns very pleasurable and sensuous when it mixes with my skin (and sweat, and own odor?).
I occasionally wear it, but mostly when I rush in public without a shower.
***
So, imagine me just waking up, getting ready to run two miles, and then go for my morning coffee.
Of course, I’m going to spray some Jo Malone on myself.
The sweat from running makes me smell so sexy; and though dripping in sweat, I feel confident walking into a coffeeshop and enjoying my pot of coffee.
From time to time, I am joined at my table by some acquaintances.
Who may have sophisticated sense of smell; and who my correctly guess a Jo Malone on me.
***
“Lime, Basil, & Mandarin? Hmmmm, I have a bottle at home that I hardly use anymore. I’ll give it to you.”
Oh, no!
“I insist!”
Well, then, thank you!
It took her more than two weeks to deliver her promise.
I mean, I guess it is such hard memory work to bring the perfume bottle from her bathroom to her car to the coffeeshop.
The other week, she got the perfume in her car, but she parked at a distance so it took several more days for her to actually give me the bottle in a box, complete with the original trappings of a black ribbon. Very Jo Malone!
***
Why the generosity?, I ask.
“Because you enjoy and appreciate things. Like, I can see you are luxuriating on Jo Malone in the morning even before you shower.”
And yes, I do! She is so correct.
I mean, I grew up “saving” perfume until they age and turn bad.
I presume they turn bad because they’re just chemicals, aren’t they?
I mean, it’s not like they’re wine that just gets better with time.
And even that getting better crap I do not believe; some wines do turn bad with time!
***
The pandemic has taught me to spend my time wisely.
Spend my money wisely.
It also means eating wisely.
It means using my perfume wisely.
If enjoying fragrances at bedtime is not a wise use of perfume, I do not know what is!
If a spray of perfume before running is not a wise use of bottled scents, I do not know what is!
***
Half-seriously, I need a man I can shower with the perfume scents that I want.
I want this man to smell the way I want to sniff him.
I want his scent to haunt me in bed.
I want his scent to follow me in bed.
To cradle me to sleep.
And yes, I want to wake up with his scent in the morning.
It would be a very big turn on!/PN
