Privilege Blog

Tommy Hilfiger: The Brand, The Perfume, The Giveaway

Tommy Hilfigger

Tommy Hilfiger was born on March 24th, 1951 – most likely with the real name of Thomas Jacob Hilfiger. On February 9, 2012, he (to be more precise, his exceptionally civil and personable PR rep) offered a giveaway to the readers of Privilege.

We cannot, however, give away a perfume called “Eau de Prep,” and the accompanying stash of “preppy” goods, without a little deconstruction. We have to ask ourselves, what IS “Prep?” We have to ask ourselves, “Is Tommy Hilfiger the brand, “Prep?” Are these giveaway goods, “Prep?” And, most importantly, what on earth does “Eau de Prep” smell like?

Lacrosse socks?

I began writing Privilege, almost 3 years ago, partly in response to “Preppy” blogs. I wrote in a state of high dudgeon. I thought people were misinterpreting my High WASP culture, marketing it widely and marketing it badly. Silly LPC.

The idea of “Prep” retains few traces of origin. It’s a construct now, nothing more, nothing less. Muffy Aldrich, at Daily Prep, is the only blog I’ve seen that reclaims “Preppy,” as originally coined. Susan at The Preppy Princess stays close. Otherwise, the idea has been remade with broad lifestyle strokes..

The powers that be have included plaid in the Preppy palette. My mother might find this bag “good-looking,” The plasticized canvas is not quite up to snuff, but if Louis Vuitton can do it, who are we to call foul? At least the logo is discreet.

Eau de Prep

I myself am very fond of this notebook. I’d enter the giveaway for the pleasure of its fabric alone.

Somehow Greek key patterns (is that what they are called, in fact?), along with bamboo, also wound up in the Prep pile. To me, these say Palm Beach, but never mind.

The red watch might squeak in under the Prep tent flap. I do not believe that gray leopard earmuffs belong.  However, again, the task of definition is not mine.

Wait, the perfume. What about the perfume?

It smells like cooked sugar. Something a teen girl might quite like. The entire stash would make any teenage girl who identifies as “Prep” very happy. Since this is “Eau de Prep,” Tommy Girl, I think they’ve got it. By God I think they’ve got it.

Finally, we ask, like any good student returning to our introduction, is the Tommy Hilfiger brand “Prep?” I say, it is if it wants to be. Fly free, little construct. Ralph Lauren changed his name. I hope the Hilfiger brand never becomes Thomas Hill. I prefer the commercial idea of “Prep” when it has nothing to do with last names, parents, professions, ethnicities, or origin. Logically coherent, but sui generis. Punk, goth, prep, and done. Smelling sugarlike as we go.

This giveaway is open only to previous commentors and blog subscribers. While I applaud entrepreneurs who write highly entertaining comments in search of goods to resell on eBay, it would be rude to participate in brand erosion. After all, Tommy Hilfiger is giving us presents, and A Simple Thank You will suffice. They even said it was OK if I made fun of the perfume name. Now that is tolerance, and I applaud tolerance. Please write something, anything, about perfume you have either loved or loathed. Scent tends to bring out strong feelings in us all, brand or no brand, deconstructed or not.

Thank you Tommy H., for this abundant stash of loot. I opened the box like a kid. A copy of True Prep is also included, but you’ll just have to take my word on that.

75 Responses

  1. No need to enter me in the giveaway – I don’t think the perfume would be “me.”
    My mother would LOVE that bag. I may snatch it up for Mother’s Day now.

  2. I don’t wear perfume any longer, because I’ve become extremely sensitive to scents as I’ve gotten older. You should hear the morning conversations I have with 17-year-old Young One, who has discovered after-shave AND cologne – the cloud of scent that accompanies him downstairs each morning is almost visible.

    That being said, I’ll bite on this – I’d keep everything but the perfume and the earmuffs (which are hilarious) and give those items to Darling Daughter, who would appreciate them far more than I.

  3. I am very peculiar about my perfumes and once I find one I like,I don’t wear any other one. For the past 6 years, my chosen one has been YSL’s Cinéma. My mum uses Ivoire, by Balmain, since 1982…but it has been, sadly, discontinued, so this is her last bottle.
    As far as anecdoted go, I have two: A geography professor I had in high school used to wear Giorgio Beverly Hills and she would leave the halls impregnated with the scent…I still cough at the thought of it! Also, the perfume Poison, by Christian Dior was the scent used by the evil character of a very popular Venezuelan telenovela in the ’80s and all of my friends and I still identify it with her

  4. I’ve recently been fascinated by the idea of scent and how some people develop signature ones. I smell of my shampoo and well, me, I guess.

    I’ve toyed with lotions and candles. And once, and only once, I bought perfume. It was a small bottle of ck One when I was in junior high…and wore it only a handful of times (although I did, and still do, like the sent). Perhaps in adulthood I could once again give it a try? (And that notebook? I want it perhaps more than is rational.)

  5. I don’t care for perfume that smells like food, with the exception of Hermes Apres de la Mousson, which has a wonderful fresh ginger note that I like in the summertime. Otherwise, Chanel Chance.

  6. After all of these years I still love Chanel #5.

    It sounds like this perfume would be a wonderful gift as part of my granddaughter’s upcoming birthday. You know how I like to pay it forward!

    xoxo
    Karena

    Art by Karena

  7. You don’t need to enter me in the giveaway, but the only scent I have worn is the original Lauren. When they reformulated it a few years back, it lost the magic.

  8. You asked, so here goes.

    When I was a senior in high school my widowed aunt, who had decided to live in the UK for a while after her husband died, returned to the US via the QE2. Onboard she bought me a bottle of Chanel No. 5.

    I was head over heels delighted with this grown-up gift. In fact, in my adolescent joy one morning while getting ready for school I accidentally drenched myself with the stuff one. It was too late to change my clothes, so I spent my entire day surrounded by this scent.

    And during that day I came to despise this scent! In fact, to this day if I smell Chanel No. 5 I begin to get queasy and light-headed. Talk about a perfume leaving a lasting impression!

  9. I have been nursing the same few bottles of Burberry Brit Red for years (I don’t think they make it anymore), Chanel Chance in summer and a bottle of Agent Provocatuer that I bought during my year abroad, sneaking into the department store and spraying myself with it to put off the inevitable purchase. I was very poor at the time. During college I wore Locoste Pink which I fancied smelled nice and preppy and sporty, now every time I walk through a cloud of it I remember sophomore year of college.

  10. Chanel No. 5 will always remind me of my grandmother! I don’t wear it often at all anymore, but sometimes will spray some just to get that “nostalgic” feeling!

    That being said, I’d love to try the new Hilfiger perfume. Sounds like something different, not something I’d normally wear.

  11. I’m in agreement with the earlier Beth. However, there is one scent that I have somewhat recently fallen in love with, but it’s more for my home than for my body– piñón. I found these incense-like rectangles in Texas awhile back and you burn them and it makes the house smell like New Mexico. It makes me want to make corn tortillas by hand. I too am not sure if I’d like the eau de Prep, but the journal is calling to me! And, frankly, on a cold day I’d rock those earmuffs. I’m just glad they’re not pink.

  12. I have been wearing Este Lauder since a young teen. I remember sneaking my mother’s Youth Dew and White Linen in high school. I’ve since grown fond of Beautiful for the weekends and Knowing for the work week. Just enough, a whisper of an amount.

    I think a good perfume adds to an outfit and an attitude.

  13. Oh, an additional comment I have been meaning to add for quite a long time: I LOVE your hair! It is so refreshing to see silver hair worn long in length and with such style!

  14. YSL’s Opium perfume will always remind me of my dear Aunt. It’s not something I smell often these days (does anyone still wear that stuff?) but it brings me such fond memories of both my childhood and her New Hampshire home.

    Hermes’ d’Orange Verte is also a sentimental favorite. Whenever I smell it, I think of my honeymoon (and being 30 pounds thinner).

    1. A professor at a certain southern university used to come into my department store every few months and soak his leather watch band in the stuff. This was several years ago, but I bet he still does it. Next time I’m down that way, I’ll ask after him.

  15. Tuberose or violet scents. So, I’m a 32 year old who shares my grandmother’s taste in perfume. Good taste knows no age.

  16. Chanel No.5. My introduction to Chanel No.5 was the Eau de Parfum. It had notes and tones that were a bit too cloying for me; made me sneeze. I thought that Chanel No.5 was not for me.

    But one day, while wandering through the perfume department, a salesperson introduced me to the Eau Premiere Spray. Delightful! Subtle, soft and fresh. I was in love! I made the investment despite the fact that I am sensitive to smells and rarely wear perfume. But there are days that call for just a spritz so that I can smell me even if no one else does.

  17. Oh wait. Just re-read and realized that the giveaway is not just the perfume. So, OK, I’d love to be included. As for perfume, I don’t like to smell like food either. When I’m feeling sort of allergic, I don’t wear any (like now) – but when I do wear it, I wear Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle. It’s nice, but common. I wear it because it doesn’t turn putrid on me, which seems to be a problem with other fragrances. Rose is my favorite “note” in perfume. Still looking for one that isn’t too cloying. As much as I think I love clothes, perfume, jewelry, etc. – basically I’m lazy about it all. That purse looks so damn convenient, I may carry it myself!

  18. Perfume has always been an interest of mine. I can remember my grandmother’s perfume bottles carefully places on an antique mirrored tray. I would often ask her to allow me to smell them, and she would graciously grant permission. However, I was never allowed to spray it on myself, because “I was too young for perfume”. :) As I grew older, I was granted permission to start wearing it, starting with light body sprays, progressing to an obsession with CK One and CK Be in Middle School. By High School, I’d moved onto Clinque Happy and Emporio Armani, a very powdery scent, I’m not sure I love as much now. Most recently, I’ve been wearing spicy scents like Michael Kors (which smells very much like a fragrance my aunt wore in the early 90s, and always comforts me), Chloe and Gucci. In the Summer, I wear either Lilly Pulitzer or Tommy Bahama- St. Barts.

    It’s a funny thing though, one’s fragrance choices, how their tastes change, and also how the scents can bring back memories. My grandmother often wore Giorgio (hey, it was the 80s!) and my mother was a fan of Poison by Dior in the 80s. Even now, those scents take me right back….Though, the Poison reminded me of insect repellent, then and now! :)

    1. Princess, that is so funny you say that about Poison! My little sister used it in the ’80s and one day, when she first started using it, I walked in and said, “Who used bug spray?”

      She thought I was being mean to her, but honestly I had no idea.

      And all my sorority sisters wore Giorgio. If I were to smell it now, I’d be transported to Alpha Chi Omega c. 1984.

  19. I had to laugh at your prompt about scent bringing out strong feelings….my mother-in-law wears Oscar. Every day. Drenches herself in it. I HATE it!!! Made me absolutely nautious when my second baby was a newborn. My whole house stinks long after she is gone. I even washed a blanket recently that I’m sure has been washed since her last visit but I could STILL smell that $%$* scent on it. And she absolutely can NOT remember not to use it when she is visiting (believe me, an effort has been made but to no avail).

    Myself, I have a very soft spot for a no-name bottle that my late husband picked up for me in Grasse. It is just lovely and I’m hoarding it!

    Thanks for asking- love reading your blog!

  20. The memory of scent is something incredible.
    My Great Grandmother smelled like vanilla, my Grandmother wore a lovely perfume from Spain (beautiful packaging)and Channel; my Mother started wearing Chantilly Lace in high school and somehow that drug store perfume smells wondrous on her! I wore Lancomes Tresor until late 20’s and discovered custom made perfumes. I’ve never gone back. There is something so wonderful about a scent that is made to work with your body. And I can have scent that is non toxic and doesn’t bother my allergies. I’m in heaven.
    On a side not, I also agree with Veronica. Your hair is lovely.
    Also, please don’t enter me in the drawing.
    Off to play in the garden.
    Miranda
    SF Bay Area

  21. With all due self-respect, lol, I am a Tommy Girl, right down to my hardened boat shoes, purchased a million years ago in one of the preppiest coastal towns of Ct, where street lines are drawn in pink and green in celebration as collars stand at attention confounding the simple tourists who shell out untold amounts in admiration. Its evolution over the years has been one fun ride!

  22. You know, if you’re going to host a giveaway, you might want to at least get the spelling of the man’s name right.

    Especially when you post a picture of the tag with the correct spelling!

    1. I know. My bad. I have fixed it. Thank you for pointing out my mistake. Now how do we pronounce it? Hilfigrrrrr or Hilfizher?

  23. I searched for years for the perfect scent. Years and years and years. For a while, I thought it might be Antonia’s Flowers. But now I know it’s Santa Maria Novella’s honeysuckle.

    It’s just what I want: sweet, light, and not the slightest bit spicy or warm. I hate most base notes, and this one is perfect for me.

    I must admit, though, that the smell is only part of it for me. I also have to consider bottle shape, name, etc. I just can’t love a perfume with an ugly name or a hideous bottle. And then there’s my internal hierarchy in which ranges from expensive+hard to find at the top all the way down to cheap+mass market at the bottom.

    In this journey, my sister was the ideal mentor. She’s a perfume expert!

  24. When I worked at a Ladies Fragrance counter (best job in the world) I learned a lot about fragrance: 1) Calvin Klein fragrances (all of them) smell like garbage (literally) on me 2) Tommy Hilfigger citrus body wash smells like a yummy glass of orange juice, 3) I can sell the most heinous smelling fragrance to a person if I hand out little cards of said fragrance on a Saturday.

  25. Years ago, I liked Ralph Lauren perfumes, Safari especially. No longer available.
    For years, I bought the first Prada scent, no longer available.
    Now it is Dsquared, She Wood, available ; ).
    Please don´t include me. I wear Dsquared all the time now ; ).

    1. Btw., is TH wear considered ” special ” in your part of the world?
      Imo, having seen the latest stuff just today, it totally lacks personality, the prices are so so.

  26. I currently wear Angel by Thierry Mugler (info here: http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P9864). My mom bought it for me as a gift several years ago and it just smells so delicious — sweet but not cloying, kind of soft, if that makes sense. Apparently the notes include vanilla and chocolate.

    Both people I’ve dated since wearing it seemed to love the scent, which makes me happy :) And it comes in a refillable blue glass star-shaped bottle, which satisfies both my aesthetic and eco-minded sensibilities.

  27. I almost spit out my drink at the “lacrosse socks” comment. M is a lacrosse coach, and lord help us if his socks are the essence of prep. Yikes.

    The scents I have the strongest attachments to are YSL Babydoll and Givenchy L’Interdit. The YSL I purchased in Rome when I was 15 and I felt SO chic that I wasn’t wearing Abercrombie perfume like the other girls at school. Givenchy L’Interdit was my college scent, because I read somewhere it was developed for Audrey Hepburn.

    Now I pretty much only wear YSL Parisienne. My grandmother is a YSL Paris devotee, so wearing Parisienne is my daily homage to her.

  28. Though probably too old for it, I always go for the sweet scents. My mom, on the other hand, has always been a musk wearer. This is perhaps due to growing up wearing Youth Dew her grandmother gave her as gifts. Have you ever smelled Youth Dew? I like to make my friends smell it just to watch them wretch in horror.

  29. I had the good fortune of working for one of the great noses of our time, Mrs. Lauder, but Youth Dew was not my fragrance. I preferred a light floral and at that time wore Aliage. My company car was yellow and everyone called it the Aliage car.

    I currently like Michael Kor’s Island scent, but would love to try Tommy’s eau de Prep. I have a pair of his cotton men’s paid boxers that I use as pj’s with my little white sleeveless French Marcel. I enjoy the preppy look and think it makes one feel youthful.

    I follow you by email and would say a big thanks to Mr. H to be the lucky winner.
    Sam

  30. For years I wore Estee Lauder, “Estee,” but then it started to smell very different to me. For the last 2 years I have been trying and rejecting perfumes. I have learned to try it, instead of buying it because a scent that I think I will love ends up sickening me by the end of the day. I am kind of leaning toward Chanel No. 5.

    1. Michele, have you tried the new Love by Chloe? It has a Chanel No 5 note to it, but I find it more interesting.

  31. I don’t like strong scents that much and tend to go for more subtle perfumes.I used to wear Tommy Girl a few years ago. My current favorites are Burberry’s Weekend, and Ralph Lauren’s Romance and Lauren.

  32. I love perfume, mainly traditional florals. However, those scents remind my husband of his mother (not an association I care to cultivate!) He likes spicy, oriental-type fragrances, and those make me sneeze. So I don’t wear it much. However, I’d like to someday have the experience you had at the Killian counter, where a particular fragrance made you swoon and you knew it was The One. I suppose then I wouldn’t care what my husband thought of it. :)

  33. My favorite perfume is Joy. My grandmother had a bottle that sat in the middle of her dresser her entire life, and she would dab teeny-tiny traces of it on her wrists before she left the house. I keep a bottle on my dresser now, too, and it still takes me back there every time I smell it.

    1. Joy! Now there’s a memory. I would love to smell that again. It’s so nice to read these posts and remember all the scents that I used to know but haven’t thought of in ages.

  34. I’m sorry I can’t let this go, but you spelled the name of the brand incorrectly at least 5 times in this post – the correct spelling (one ‘g’) is visible on the tag of some of the pictured items.

  35. Oh the book! The watch! All so adorable!

    Perfume, for me, always comes back to this: Givenchy’s Organza Indecence which (to my nose at least) is nothing but cinnamon and vanilla. Oh, and uh, my mom. It’s her perfume and she wears NOTHING else.

    Except, this is not an easy perfume to find. And a few years back they broke the mold on the bottle (and it was a gloriously beautiful bottle – like a stunning woman), and we couldn’t find it anywhere in the GTA. So she wore some spray stuff from Victoria’s Secret but was never happy with it.

    This perfume is absolutely perfectly my mother: brass in the cinnamon, like the way she insists the barista hand her the cup they are about to make her cappucino in so she can layer about an inch on the bottom before they begin; strong in the vanilla, like the way that she taught me to automatically double the vanilla in any recipe I make – because can there ever really be enough?

    It’s not the perfume I wear … but it’s so affected me that the only perfumes I even like (on me at least) are also Givenchy. Means I have a lovely collection of bottles!

  36. I think the very first perfume I bought for myself was Love’s Baby Soft, at about 12. In college, I decided to be sophisticated and wore Nina Ricci’s Farouche in the winter, Chanel Cristalle in the summer.

    I’m currently very much in love with Elie Saab Le Parfum — orange blossom, jasmine, cedar… it’s heavenly. Also rather fond of Jo Malone’s Pomegranate Noir. Summer will find me in L’Occitane’s Pivoine… but it’s so cold now, I can get away with the big guns!

  37. What a lovely giveaway and I do have a teenage daughter who would love this, though she currently wears Miss Dior, I think she is very elegant for 16.

    When we talk about Prep and Perfume I have to think of Polo Ralph Lauren cologne, one whiff brings me right back to high school in the late 80’s, I think it was worn by every single boy. Not necessarily a good memory.

    I buy my perfume in Paris these last two years, and I can only wear Serge Lutens, everything else gives me a headache.

  38. Dear Privilege, for the past 10 years or so I have been trying to limit myself to one or maybe two scents at a time (instead of many, many)and had settled on Ruban d’Orange by L’occitane for summer wearing. I like its smokey, mysterious orangeness. Nearly finished, I recently went to purchase it only to find out it had been discontinued – no longer available! So sad. The Body Shop did that too me too when they discontinued all their body oils. Will Tommy’s Prep be around a while do you think? It is sorrowful to lose one’s perfume of choice – it is part of me! Thank you, Deborah

  39. My first memory of scent is my mother wearing Femme which she only wore if she was going out in the evening. I loved it so much that I would hold her wrist and inhale. She would dab a little on me and it would remind me of her
    while she was gone.
    My aunt used Chanel No. 5, my grandmother wore Joy and my great-aunt wore Shalimar. I could always tell what rooms they had been in by following the scent trails.
    I could hardly wait to grow up and find my own scent. It was Infini by Caron and I wore it for years.
    I haven’t worn it since I became sensitive to scent during my first pregnancy.
    I’m fine now, but I never got back in the habit of wearing perfume. So many people were sensitive and requested scent free environments that I couldn’t do it anymore. I do miss it though. I’d love to smell Infini again, but it hasn’t been carried at stores in my corner of the planet for a long time.
    My daughters wear scents from L’Occitane. They didn’t grow up with the kind of scent associations of their mother that I did, but they still love scent, which my mother sends them.

  40. My grandmother had a signature scent. For me that is one thing that really makes me think of her every time I encounter it. The perfume is Shalimar by Guerlain. I think very popular in her day. Perfumes are very personal but sometimes you just need to break away.

    Prep is sounds really retro but is very girlish & with a sugary sent. What more can you want.

  41. Tommy Girl was the first perfume I ever received and it made me feel so adult. I still sniff it nostalgically sometimes. I also love the red watch. Yowza ! Great giveaway !

  42. These days I seem to prefer room scents from L’Occitane. What does that say? I want to know.

  43. I love voyage d’Hermes and a fragrance by Durance a Grasse France company called Belle de Nuit Orchidee.

    Please do not include me in this giveaway, which is a very generous one !
    Good luck to the contenders.

  44. The old Fendi perfume. A friend from London when were in our 20’s wore it, and i thought is was so chic. I bought some in Montreal because I couldn’t find it in the states and it smelled ghastly on me, but I would spritz it around the house becuase I liked the smell.

    As for the red watch you’ve shown… it’s too flashy to be prep.

  45. Is the brand Tommy Hilfiger prep? I’d say no. I think it is “PREPPY.” Preppy with a wink and a tongue in cheek. Uber cliche. Almost mocking and a little insulting. The fact that True Prep is included rather than a mint copy of TOPH says something. Meh, I don’t love the brand. I might be too “mature” for it; but, I must admit that the plaid notebook with the striped ribbon tie is TDF:-)

    Regarding fragrances, I’m fully Chanel Coco Mademoiselle during the day and a Chanel No5 lady at night.

    No need to enter me in the giveaway. Thank you for a look at what’s new out there.

  46. Ha, when you wrote about Ebay resellers of course Jason Wu for Target came to mind, and then when I clicked over to The Preppy Princess hoping for another blog to add to my reader, there it is again! Just can’t seem to get away from that collection recently…

    My first fragrance love was Clinique’s Happy Heart, but today I wear Chanel Coco Mademoiselle religiously.

  47. I’m currently wearing Chanel’s Coco perfume. I’m with you on the plaid notebook, it’s very cool.

  48. Oh the times I have passed the perfume counter and tried on Chanel #5 hoping THIS time it would smell like something other than…very old lady…on me. But alas, something about my body chemistry I guess.
    Currently I am loving Light Blue by D&G…it’s light and fresh and….young.

  49. I like very few perfumes…have used Clinique Aromatics as my signature scent for many years. Recently, purchased a solid perfume stick from the local art college in burnt sugar, and love it! Very intrigued by the Tommy Girl.

  50. There is a particular scent I always associated with my grandmother. She was a very fashionable lady with perfectly coiffed hair, a closet full of neutral pencil skirts and cardigans, and a drawer full of hermes scarves. Once she confided in me that she spent years trying out different styles and hem lengths before finally settling on what she liked, at which point she filled her closet with it and never looked back.

    Every time I hugged her I was swept away by the same scent, and only when I hit my early twenties did I finally realize what that scent was. Ah, of course. Chanel No. 5.

  51. I remember fondly the smell of Schiaparelli Shocking. One of my mother’s favorites scents and so perfect for the woman who’s favorite color was Shocking Pink. She also wore Chanel no. 5 on occasion. I am so glad I am not allergic to perfume and cologne since I have plenty of other allergies. Right now I am wearing Juicy Couture – a hand off from my daughter who bought it in duty free and did not like the scent on herself but it smells great on me. Funny how that works. I also wear Pure (Alfred Sung) and Romance (Ralph Lauren).

  52. The last scent I wore with any regularity was Chanel “Chance.” It was my husband’s choice and invariably brought compliments…which told me I was wearing too much. I mentioned on my blog recently that I wore CKOne for a couple of years in the early 90s. I liked its light citrus scent, but it never lasted long.

  53. I like it subtle, not too sweet, a hint of citrus, and never under any circumstances anything that might remind one of one’s grand’mère. my ideal perfume would smell like fresh cut hay. does anyone make that? someone must.

    LOVE that Tommy H. is asking dearest most brilliant YOU to do a giveaway with their sprayable prepdom. Well done, LPC, well done. xo

  54. Love your deconstruction of prep and your honesty about the products. As for perfume, I always layer a couple, Vera Wang and Chanel Chance are young, fesh clean staple scents. I throw a dash of Gucci Eush if I’m feeling fiery or Romance if I want to feel pretty, it is amazing how much a scent can impact your mood! My base scent is the same as my moms, I feel like it keeps us close although we live hundres of miles away.

    Thanks for the post and for asking about the power of scent, adore that notebook too!

  55. Hmm, I hope that this is the name I commented under before… not sure how you’re identifying past commenters and I don’t really know what it means to subscribe to a blog. Anyway, I’ve been reading since you first linked to your blog in your comments on Corporette. LOVE the plaid bag and the plaid notebook. I don’t know about the perfume, having never smelled it. I tend to be quite sensitive to scents, and anything cheap or artificial gives me a terrible headache, but good perfume is divine. For the past several years I have been wearing Narciso Rodriguez For Her, and I adore the scent; each morning when I spray it on I feel just a little bit intoxicated, in a good way, just for a moment. My mother wears Shalimar, and while I don’t care for the smell, it’s such a pleasure to buy it for her and see her unbridled joy when she unwraps the gift. Women love our perfume.

  56. Love reading the comments, they bring back so many memories if shared scents.

    I love Donna Karen’s Cashmere Mist, but when I sprayed it on me I smelled nothing. No one, husband included, asked what I was wearing. It just seemed to change and fade on me. During this period I was having terrible skin reactions to deodorant. Was told to try Donna Karen’s Cashmere Mist deodorant. It is the most gentle and effective deodorant I’ve found and… My granddaughter thinks I always smell delicious, my friends ask me what perfume I’m wearing. How can I tell them it’s my deodorant? Do I now put deodorant on my pulse points? Can you just see me putting deodorant behind my ears, on my wrists between my…. Just ridiculous but the stuff works and smells good. But I will not but it be find my ears. Must draw a line somewhere. (g)
    PS please don’t include me in the scent give away. give to a scent user as opposed to a deodorant user.

  57. my most memorable scent is ralph lauren’s “lauren.” my mother wore it every day for years, throughout my childhood until they discontinued it. now she vacillates between several other scents, but none of them are “her” to me. i saw “lauren” available on the ralph lauren website and told my mother about it but she’s no longer interested… i may just buy it for myself (is that weird?). it’s just a very comforting scent to me.

  58. Only Chanel No. 5, and only the perfume. It costs a small fortune, but one tiny drop on each wrist is perfect.

  59. Not participating in the give-away. But I do love perfumes. Last purchase: Guerlain`s Aqua Allegoria Pampelune – O this grapefruit scent! But I use different ones, to not get indifferent to the scent and put too much of it. So I have two Acqua di Parma scents, Issey Miyaki (aqua for man) and Versace Jeans Couture – that is a heavenly scent to me – but a really ugly bottle: gold plastic with yellow swarowskis. Don´t remember how it was possible that I came to try this perfume, generally wouldn`t take notice of something so grrrrr!

  60. Very generous of Mr. H Fragrance loves: Lauren, Hermes’ Caleche and Chanel Cristalle.
    Sweet sugary fragrance=yuck

    I wasn’t going to enter but would like to since I know quite a few teenage girls who would love it all!

  61. Hi missy – What a delicious give-away! I loved Lauren by Ralph L. in the late 70’s and 80’s. Somewhere along the way the formula changed and it because sharp and unpleasant. This past holiday season I discovered Snow Angel by philosophy. Although not a perfume scent per se but a body gel for the shower and unfortunately seasonal, I was able to relive my Lauren days as it shared the same wonderful, fresh, prep scent.

    I change fragrances every day to fit my moods. For the last year I have loved Vanilla and Star Anise by Jo Malone. Her Bluebells is truly lovely too.

    Have a wonderful week. :)

  62. Oooh I love the stuff!! And my niece would love the perfume. ;)

    My perfume memory…when I was 11 or so, I wanted to buy my father a present with “my” money (allowance I presume) but didn’t have enough for the Old Spice cologne (the only one he ever used), so I bought him the deodorant stick instead. He passed away when I was 20 and to this day the smell makes me think of him.

    Sorry, didn’t mean that to be so maudlin! Happy thoughts everyone!

  63. I might be too late for the giveaway (am I?) BUT when I was a young thing with my first corporate job a friend told me that I needed a “signature scent”. Off to Sephora we went, smelling this and that. I wound up with “Burberry” something and it smells lovely. I’ve not used up the whole bottle yet since I only wear it on a) special occasions b) when I miss my friend c) when I want to feel powerful and in charge, like a classy lady wearing perfume.

  64. When I was a child I used to give my mother Evening in Paris cologne (at least, I think that’s what it was called) from the local dime store. The deep blue bottle was the height of sophistication to my eye. God bless her, she would actually wear it from time to time.
    I no longer wear perfume, but if by chance I win I love both the notebook and the watch, and the perfume and other items could go to someone else.

  65. Oh I hope it’s not too late to enter. The fragrance actually sounds perfect for the springtime. My fragrance of choice has always been Chanel No. 19, the first fragrance my grandmother ever gave to me. It is not only delicate and lovely to wear for all seasons, but it has wonderful memories attached to it. xo, LP

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