Perfume Quote of the Day:
"Perfume is the most intense form of memory" - a wonderful quote by the highly regarded nose Jean Paul Guerlain. Perfume does have the extraordinary ability to trigger those nostalgic memories hidden somewhere in your subconscious. You may associate a certain perfume with a person or place. A whiff of coconuty tanning oil can awaken memories of your spontaneous getaway to the Maldives, the heat and tropical humidity bearing down on you as you lay out in front of a never-ending stretch of clear azure waters. You start mentally adding up your future paychecks, planning on your next escape. Perhaps it's the smell of french fries that makes you grimace, reminding you of that miserable summer you spent scraping grease off the griddle at your local fast food joint, knowing every hard earned dollar put you one step closer towards your very first car. Or the scent of fresh pecan pie that conjures fond memories of childhood Thanksgivings, sweet nutty aromas filling the small log cabin you visited every year. For me, it's the Marc Jacobs perfume - its floral notes instantly remind me of my first date with my husband over 12 years ago.
This scent phenomenon is not just a figment of your imagination, but the result of the complex relationship between your nose (sense of smell) and brain (emotional memory center). When you smell a rose, the fragrance first travels through the cranial nerve through the brain's olfactory bulb, which is the area of the brain that processes scent. The olfactory bulb is located right next to the hippocampus (a section of the brain responsible for short and long-term memory), and connected to the amygdala (an area responsible for processing memory and interpreting emotions). The olfactory bulb is also part of the limbic system, the emotional center of the brain. All of these centers work together to translate the scent of your rose to the memory of the rose bush in the backyard of your childhood house.
The next time you're at your local boutique searching for your signature scent, or when you're out for a walk in the park, or at a coffee shop, close your eyes for a moment, inhale deeply and ask yourself which scents are the most evocative for you and what memories are attached to them? Write them down and start a scent journal... you will probably be surprised to see how fragrance truly is a key that liberates buried memories.
- Robyn
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