my love affair with the skaggs perfume aisle or i know i smell good but is that vain to say out loud

 



when i was in 10th grade, i got really into perfume--i loved smelling good and i decided that my mom's ginormous bottle of "luv's baby soft" or her little tester vials of avon's- perfume- of -the month was not gonna cut it any more.


what i desperately wanted was a bottle of beauiful by estee lauder.  they sold it at the cute clothing store next to liberty lounge (chantilly shop? no.  crap.) where shannon frei worked after school.  but it was $50 plus tax and no way could i afford that on my pizza hut part part time waitress gig tips. so i decided to get on board with what WAS in my price range.  and that was the perfume aisle at skaggs.

while perusing the perfumes in my price range which was ten dollars or less, i came across a couple of secret surprises that i relied on until i got rich and could afford the good stuff. i was always pleasantly surprised at the cheap options i could get here
#1: coty wild musk patchouli blend.




this red bottle was my ace in the hole--it smelled like a giorgio knock-off (which was HUGE) and i don't even think they meant to do that as it was just about 6 months ahead of designer impostors. either way, i smelled it, bought it, and wore it with pride. i like to consider myself somewhat of a pioneer in the designer imposter field (unbeknownst to myself at the time, naturally, as i was really just "bottom feeding" in the perfume world's pond.)



#2: coty wild musk


every day when i wore this exoctic fragrance named after the scent an aniamal puts out to attract mates (nice.) i always got a compliment. i loved it when a boy would say i smelled good, and i doused generously with this daily.

i moved on to "beautiful" when i was a junior and santa claus gave me a small bottle that i worshiped. then "eternity" came onto the scene late my senior year and stole my heart, and i've hopped from fragrance to fragrance ever since: escape, lauren, tommy girl, ralph lauren blue, ralph lauren hot, ralph lauren rocks, be delicious dkny, and now a little trendy thing by ed hardy that i wasn't gonna get on principal alone, but it just smelled so dang good that i ignored the fact that it's called hearts and daggers and bought it despite that unfortunate fact.  ive always been a sucker for something that smells intoxicating and this is currently working for russ. so WIN/WIN.

29 comments:

Holly said...

i remember my first fragrance purchases, made with hard-earned babysitting money. most of them were from bath and body works and smelled like peaches and raspberries.

then there was tommy girl
then there was lucky
then there was vera wang "princess"
now it's dolce & gabana "the one"

and i'm sure come christmas it will be something else.

Devri said...

my was liz all the way.. and I still can smell it 10 years away..

Joseph and Katie said...

I confess, a staple off and on through the years has always been over-the-counter "Sand `&` Sable" from your local pharmacy. (Was it Dixie or Skaggs? I can't remember.) Smells like a beautiful, Hawaiian flower . . . is that a good thing? Next best choice takes me to Victoria Secret. You can't go wrong.

R-Eight said...

Skaggs Ha Ha!! ~sigh~ good times

Josh, Lindsie, and Ava said...

I am guilty of jumping on the "sunflower" bandwagon as well as "Lucky" and "CKone"

Anonymous said...

A chickadee after my own heart!! I don't go ANYWHERE without a spritz of goodness! I am really going to have to try that Patchouli! I love that scent! And...the Ed Hardy!

I just went and counted my perfume stash and I have 17 bottles of some of the best! Including but not limited to:

Tommy Bahama
Dune
Jadore by Christian Dior
Organza Indecense by Givenchy

and so on......

It was hard for me to swallow when I had a couple in my ward in Utah that both claimed they were allergic to perfume and would wear these great big honkin breathing masks. No, not just little Dr. masks, I'm talkin the kind that you where when you go into a meth house!!! Yep, the spirit was dwelling!

tiburon said...

Ahhh Skaggs. My sister was a big Anais Anais fan.

Whitney R said...

I'm still trying to use up the massive amount of body spray from Victoria's Secret I got for Christmas 2 years ago. That stuff lasts forever... dangit.

I have yet to find a perfume that I love enough to spend 50 bucks on. Except.... I bought Aquadegio (or however you spell that) for my husband when he was my fiance. He never wears it because he's doesn't need to smell nice for the boy's that work out on his farm. I think I'll start make him wear it when he get's home. It's heaven....

Anonymous said...

Ok, why has no-one mentioned the ever 80's Pop fragrance EXCLAMATION POINT! Our school reaked of the beauty. It was a white round bottle with a black "!" at the top. Then the HOT PINK comes in too.... Gotta love it!

Joseph and Katie said...

Oh I forgot about Liz! Very fruity and nice. Does anyone remember a Beverly Hills Perfume? I think that was the name . . .

rachel said...

I used to borrow my moms anais anais and Luv (I can still smell them!). I love all the clinique stuff...it smells good on my...happy is my fave!

Pretty much have worn all the "biggies" back in the day...CK lines fo shizzle. But I LOVED to smell Drakkar Noir for men or Eternity for men on the dudes...oh melt...

Anonymous said...

Ah, a stroll down memory lane. I have to admit I was a huge fan of Exclamation sold at the local Walgreens Pharmacy along with some White Shoulders and Red Door and any other spray perfume found in the aisles!

As I 've gotten older my perfume tastes have changed (good thing) but I still have a large selection!

Christie said...

Eww - I actually have a huge intolerance to smells - especially perfumes. The only perfume I've been able to successfully wear, without it making me seriously ill is (ironically) Ralph (by Ralph Lauren). Funny that the perfume that shares its name with a euphamism for vomit is the only perfume that doesn't make me want to.

Mia said...

Yeah I am not big on perfume either because I get queasy or a headache when I wear it myself, but oddly enough not when I smell it on others. I do have a couple of bottles that I try to wear on occasion. Lovely by Jessica Parker. Pink by Vic Secret. and of course Sunflowers by Clinique. oh and also Organza by Givenchy. Seriously why do I keep buying this stuff?!?!?!

Vanessa said...

I think i had a knock off of Beautiful. But i can't remember what it was called. I'm sure I got it at Norton's grocery store in PG. It was probably called "So you THINK you are beautiful"!

heidi said...

exclamation was the bombdotcom!!! i remember when i got a bottle for my 9th birthday and i knew i had arrived. i didn't use it often though. it was too special. i kept in on my desk in it's original packaging. occasionally i would gently slide the box open with my gloved finger, just to take a whiff.
and up until about a year ago, my mom would buy my vanilla fields each christmas. and my husband always buys me that celine dion perfume from wal-mart, though it smells like bug spray. he thinks i like the perfume just because i am a celine junkie.
and remember when preferred stock was THE men's cologne?

Physcokity said...

My scent that I cling to for dear life is discontinued...sad day. Passionate Kisses by VS Garden Collection, I heart it b/c it smells like laffy taffy. After that I mostly like vanilla scented stuff b/c then I smell like candy/cakes/cookies. Actually the two together was my favorite combo it smelled tay-stee.

Other than that the only REAL-esque perfume I've worn was a spritz of my mom's which I vehemently denied spraying on myself after I did it...genious. right? (insert eye roll here)

AAAAAnd Body by Victoria.

Physcokity said...

tiburon...I know what Anais is and smells like, but I also know how people like to mispronounce the word, so with that in mind...bwahahahaahahhahaa. I'll get off the floor and sit back in my chair now.

Physcokity said...

EXCLAMATION POINT! AAAAAHH I totally remember that one! My sisters used to have that, Navy, and Malibu Musk. I think I still saw Exclamation Point in the grocery store the other day.

Physcokity said...

I don't know about preferred stock being the men's cologne so much as the model just being really really ridiculously good looking. I think that was something that my sisters "lived" for in their monthly issues of Seventeen.
hahaha

Suzie said...

I believe we are perfume soul mates.
I too, loved the musk world, and used the ones listed with confidence.
I used up bottles of Eternity while in the throes of early love with Jeremy. And Tommy Girl when I was a young mom. (hip)
My new love is Lovely by SJP.
I feel it embodies the true me.
Sultry, with layers of surprises.

One of my dream jobs? Perfume designer.

Suzie said...

"Skaggs" made me chuckle.
good times!

kami @ nobiggie.net said...

Gotta love Skaggs!

Three words: Wild Musk Blend

I hate to commit to a big bottle, so I love to go to Sephora and they will let you test anything on there huge fragrance wall and they will send you off with tons of samples. Is there a Sephora in Vegas? I love that store. Too bad it isn't in UT.

Shawn said...

I have always like the "Gio" (they only make this in the UK now---get it online only) smell---then "Aqua De Gio". But I seem to go back to "Still" from J Lo (I know, weird, right?) and I love Be Delicious by DKNY.

I like to have my smells match what I am wearing---you know---a blue smell, or a brown smell or an earthy
green. Its an interesting concept.

Omgirl said...

I never got into perfume as a kid. But my mom had a few old ones in her closet that I would go and open and smell. One was shaped like a teddy bear, and one like an antique car. So naturally those were my favorites. I'm sure they were high quality too.

carly k said...

My dad bought me Cool Water when I was in 9th grade before it "officially" came out, due to mucho begging by me. I wore that freaking perfume forEVER! Then there was the GAP stuff (I was so sad when the grass one got discontinued!) and all the tommy and polo stuff. Then, one of my boyfriends gave me Armani. It was the first time a boy ever bought me perfume and I thought it was the most romantic thing-ever!

Right now I wear Mediterrean(?). It's good, but really summery, so I am ready for something new. Have you ever smelled any Marc Jacobs stuff? Do you like? I just read about his Daisy...suppose to be good...

Shannon said...

OK Mindi, I was all about "BEAUTIFUL" in High School. and ETERNITY in College and about a dozen others in between, but for the past 3 years I've been wearing Dolce & Gabana's Light Blue. I've actually gone through 3 bottles! I usually don't even make it through one bottle of a scent before I get sick of it so that is epic for me! I need to smell that Ed Hardy, and you need to check out Light Blue.

Steph said...

My first and most loved perfume of my youth? "Electric Youth" by Debbie Gibson. I wish I could get a whiff of it today. . .awesome!

Renee said...

OMG, I remember getting into a perfume-off with my friend April Medler. We stunk so bad of Debbie Gibson's "Electric Youth" my mom threatened to kick us out of the car.

I think I also used some random AVON scent. Very forgettable.