Scent of happiness

Ialways knew when my mother was going to a party. It wasn’t the handkerchief-hem skirt she’d bought, her gold high heels or a glittery ‘disco’ top that gave it away. It was the clouds of tuberose, wild berries and orange honey wafting down the stairs; Poison, my mother’s favourite perfume. She wore it throughout my childhood, and even now if I smell it I’m immediately transported back to a house in Sussex, England, to laughter, and my mother dancing around the living room with us after getting ready for a glamorous night out. As soon as I was old enough I’d plead for a spritz and go to bed smiling, enveloped in her scent.

Then, as I grew up, I discovered my own personal favourites – Oscar de La Renta and Anaïs Anaïs, which I loved so much I named my daughter after. Every year on her birthday I buy a bottle for my little girl – “This is my perfume,” she proudly tells her friends – my mother, and myself so we can all build happy memories as three generations bathe in that gorgeously floral perfume.

Now I’m living here I’m experimenting with different oud scents – I love Tom Ford Oud Wood – so I can forever have a perfume that smells of Dubai.

Find out why many perfume houses are going back to classic scents and reinventing them in our feature on page 72, and let me know what your favourite fragrance is and who or what it reminds you of. Enjoy!