I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never really been a perfume girl. While my friends in high school were dousing themselves in J.Lo perfume, I was the one sticking only to my unscented deodorant. Don’t get me wrong – I love the scent of a perfect perfume, but it took me years and years to find a scent that felt all my own.
My love affair with perfume probably started about 5 years ago when I traveled to Paris with my family. We stopped by a little perfume shop by Notre Dame, and this adorable French man described to my all the scents and nuances of the perfume they made. Maybe it was the cute French accent, or maybe it was the feeling swept up in the magic of Paris, but I realized at that moment that perfume could be much more than Glow by J.Lo – and you could find a signature scent that made you feel sexy, confident and different too.
Since then, I’ve spent years trying out perfumes to really discover my own signature scent. While I love a perfume you can get at Sephora or other beauty stores, it all felt like I was getting something run of the mill rather than a scent all my own. When I discovered Le Labo’s new store in Chicago while walking around Wicker Park, I fell in love with the fact that they make their perfumes in the store – and mix it as soon as you pick out your own signature scent. I probably spent an hour smelling everything – asking a million questions, figuring out the ingredients in each of my favorite scents, seeing how they smelled 10-15 minutes later, and understanding more about the composition of the scents I loved. An hour later {with a very patient associate}, I finally found a scent that felt completely my own – the Fluer D’Oranger {orange flower scent}. Now I never leave the house without a little spritz!
Besides learning the ins and outs of perfume making, I also learned a few fun facts I wanted to share with you all about keeping your perfume long lasting {and knowing when you’ve found a quality perfume too!} I was clearly a newbie, because all the below was completely new to me!
- Le Labo takes up to 2 years to develop each of their perfumes, focusing on finding ingredients that are vegan and the highest quality.
- The best place to store perfume is in your refrigerator {really!} since it keeps your perfume at it’s freshest and will help it last longer.
- It’s advised that you don’t keep your perfume in your bathroom since the humidity can reduce the shelf life of your perfume.
- Usually perfume retains it potency and pure scent for 2 years, so all those perfumes you’ve saved from high school probably aren’t quite as good anymore 😉
Do you have a signature scent? If so, have you had the same one for years or do you tend to mix it up? I’d love to know! xx
