I need to live my perfume truth and get something off of my chest: I hate smelling like other people. Believe me, I know how ridiculous that sounds. First of all, when someone asks me what fragrance I’m wearing, I am of course undeniably flattered, but that feeling soon evolves into sheer annoyance. With every ask after my perfume, the less of a secret it becomes. And the more popular a perfume gets, the less I want to wear it.
You see, for me, perfume is so much more than just a daily spritz to lift my spirits; it is memories, emotion and a core part of my identity. So when I smell someone else wearing the same perfume as mine or see someone frivolously dousing themselves in one of my go-to scents, I feel as though I’m losing a little part of myself. It might sound dramatic, but it’s real, even though I wish it weren’t. I have passed on one too many much-loved perfumes in my time simply because I can’t learn to share.