Despite my usual low opinion of Victoria's Secret's toiletries, the other day I bought their new lotion, Bali Orchid. It reminded me of childhood in Taiwan. There used to be farming women at major intersections in Taipei, with woven straw hats and large frocks, carrying a small bamboo basket of these "jade orchids". My parents would buy the orchids strung like ivory keys on a wire, and hang the flowers in front of the car air vent. The flowers would only last a couple of days in the hot humidity, but that honeysuckle smell when we first receive the orchids would linger for a while. When I visited Taiwan last year, I had looked for them, but there were no more orchid sellers. Perhaps the only way to continue to enjoy them is to buy a M. alba tree.My habit is to collect toiletry items but end up using only a portion of them. I can't quite imagine what it'd be like when I get to an age to collect jewelry and afford designer shoes. I'll need a new closet, I think.
But for now, I'm content with my collection of toiletry and perfumes. Crabtree & Evelyn is the English, elegant version of Bath & Body Works. The best part is that my credit card rebates let me buy their Nantucket Briar, Nadira, and Evelyn Rose lines almost as much as I want and certainly more than I need.
7 comments:
I wanted to post a comment, but I don't know what to say to that.
Smells are often interwoven with memories, perhaps because the olfactory system is linked with the more rudimentary part of CNS. It would be interesting to me to hear about the particular smell that you associate with your childhood.
These other smells also call up past memories: dumplings, lard, powdered milk, Ivory soap.
MY favorite smell is fresh pine needles. I am instantly taken back to my childhood and Christmas time when we used to have a real Christmas tree and all the pretty lights put on. Then we would sit down and eat home-made tamales and watch the Nutcracker ballet on PBS.
I also love the smell of Lily of The Valley, Roses, and the smell of the air when Fall arrives.
My toiletries... hmmmm... I use lavender scented shampoo, bought in America by some friends of mine, conditioner bought by me in Brazil and a special soap that I bought in London. Pretty internation shower, huh? ^^
When I one day, finally, travel to America, I'll shop like a maniac. Specially for toiletries.
I know this will sound weird... but one of the smells that reminds me of my childhood is the smell of sawdust. Because my Dad lived with us until I was about 5 or 6... and he was a carpenter. Half of our house was his work place, where he crafted wood. So the smell of sawdust was always there. It's gone now... but lingers in my memory.
What I am basing my book about, is the idea of a human cleansing in every way, it has a deeply religious background to it, which is ironic, since I am not a religious person, however it is necessary for what I want to write about, more later on.
You know, I grew up with food, we had our house right behind the restaurant my parents use to own, so for five years, every single day, I would pop my head in, and order whatever was on my mind, it was amazing having a whole kitchen staff to my disposal, and believe me, I made use of it. The restaurant itself became the best in town, so I had to order food when we wer not too busy, but things like the smell of the walk in fridge, the burgers, and well, all the yummy food are deeply missed, damn, I miss those days.
Both comments are interesting ;) Man, if my family owned a restaurant...I think I'd be 50lbs heavier!
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