A Trip Down [Perfume] Memory Lane

When I was a kid in the Philippines my father gifted me a small bottle of Paco Rabanne Pour Homme. It was the first time that my nose encountered what most people would classify today as aromatic fougere. It smelled green and fresh. But after a few sprays I remembered leaving that bottle on a dusty shelf. I liked the scent but find it too mature.

Also I remembered loving to sneak in my parent's wardrobe just to sample a whiff off a bottle of Colors by Benetton EDT gifted by my aunt who used to work in Spain. Then when I reach high school I appreciated body spray releases from the local Bench brand, led by Super Blue and Atlantis. Those scents were still staple until I met the fresh aquatic Blue by Oxygen in college. Those really were the good times.

Later when I entered the stage of a white collar worker my staple scents were Adidas Ice Dive (my ex-girlfriend loved this), clones/cheapies produced locally, and Swiss Army Rock by Victorinox. During these times, I also got gifts from my sister who was already working in UAE. I loved her bottles of Lacoste White L.12.12, Hugo Boss Energise, and Dunhill Desire.

I came in UAE last July 2017 trying to crack an opportunity in the field of Engineering even if the climate in the industry is not so promising. Problems may come and go, and some problems may remain, but what I liked about my experience here in the UAE so far is the opportunity of getting to know again the whole olfactory spectrum in the world of perfumes. It's like rekindling an old passion but also realizing that perfumes will never smell the same again because it is just how the perfume industry works especially the effect of the IFRA regulations (aka Reformulation Era).

Smelling the latest cheapies as well as designer's perfume here and there, and then the niche brands, it is truly a delightful world of "scent in a bottle." Add to this experience is the daily need to refresh because of my duty as a field worker, one by one I became acquainted to various scents that became my weapon and shield under the scorching heat of the desert sun. Months later I discovered Diesel's Only the Brave and next the online community of fragheads---Fragrantica in 2019. From there, the bubble slowly began to burst. 

Now, looking at my current stash of perfumes I know that it has to stop. I know that I have reached my limit. What makes an experience golden is not about how many bottles you have, but about how important that single piece of bottle is to you. I trusted my nose and will continue to trust it, as much as knowing that I have come to the limit of buying. I had enough. I can only share it here; my appreciation of smelling perfumes across the whole cheapies-clones-designers-niche spectrum of scents. It is as much as how I loved sharing my appreciation of reading books a lifetime before.

Science said that the human nose can detect a trillion of odours and so far I am still enjoying stretching my olfactory range. It somehow refreshes my mind, and my thinking younger like there's a whole new universe waiting to be discovered here.