To tie this in with my previous post, I was thinking about an appropriate perfume to wear to a beer festival. Of course the correct answer to that question is "none", as you want to be able to really enjoy the aromas of the beers without any interfering scents. But given the intoxicating nature of beer (emphasis on "TOXIC"), one particular perfume sprang to mind based on its name, and it made me laugh. So on Sunday I got out my bottle of Poison, put just a tiny spritz on (hey, another tuberose perfume!), and remembered why I had this bottle: a very irrational decision over 25 years ago.
In the mid-80's I was a college student, eating ramen noodles and drinking Old Style (and Guinness when I could afford it). I had already discovered my dangerous attraction to perfume, and had a small and eccentric collection: Liz Claiborne for Women, Heaven Scent, Houbigant's Raffinee, Anais Anais, Coty's Muguet de Bois, Chantilly. I used to babysit for a boy whose mother wore Revlon's Ciara, and I loved that perfume but felt I could never pull off wearing it. I realize now that I was showing a budding preference for sweetish Oriental perfumes that continues to this day.
During that time when I was a student, I stumbled upon a magazine ad for a new perfume from Christian Dior called Poison. It might have been this ad:
I am not sure if it was the purple bottle, the green box, or really what it was that attracted me. The beautiful and exotic woman, submissive and alluring in demeanor? The fact that I was a chemistry geek with its associated almost romantic interest in poisons? I will probably never know why I NEEDED that perfume. What I did know was that I was convinced that this was going to be this shy, wholesome, midwestern girl's signature scent; this perfume was going to transform my life. I HAD to have it.
I didn't have a clue as to what this perfume smelled like at this point. There may have been a fragrance strip that came with the ad; apparently they started showing up in the early 80's. I know it was not available at any of the stores in the small university town where I lived. None of my friends had it, it was very new. But I was totally convinced in my mind that I had to have this perfume.
It was the mid-1980s, so I had to figure out a way to purchase the perfume by mail. I don't remember the logistics of the transaction (check? did I even have a credit card then?), but I do remember that it cost about $60. In those days this was an enormous sum of money to me, someone who worked for minimum wage ($3.35 an hour, I believe). But the lure of that perfume was so strong that I was willing to fork over almost half a month's rent for a bottle of eau de toilette before I had even sniffed it properly.
I do remember the excitement of getting the bottle in the mail, and opening it, and trying it on for the first time.
I'd love to be able to say I loved this perfume immediately. Or even to be able to say that I grew to love this perfume over the years. I can honestly say I "liked" this perfume, and still feel the same way about it today. It's gorgeous, I'm sure, on the right person, but just not on me.
Do I regret the decision I made to buy my bottle of Poison? No. I still treasure my bottle, and not just for the knowledge it brought me: that sometimes you can work hard and get what you want if you want it badly enough (although you may not like it in the end). I'm sure a vintage bottle of Poison would be marketable on eBay, but I don't plan on giving up my bottle anytime soon. I need to keep it so that I'll be able to try it on once every few years and think back on the excitement and mystery and anticipation that this perfume brought me.
And I confess that I sometimes, albeit rarely, still purchase bottles of perfume before I have tested them, and it still gives me a thrill.
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