Remember when I mentioned I hardly ever blog about perfume? Well, today I thought … oh, why not? 🙂
If you’ve been reading my blog since 2007, then you will probably already know this. If not, well, this is just as good a time to share a particular perfume with you that I wore to my wedding.
Choosing a fragrance to wear to a wedding is hard. Choosing a fragrance to wear to your own wedding … that’s bloody tough. What if I end up not liking it? What if it doesn’t smell the same as when I first bought it? What if my husband hates it? There were so many what ifs so it took me quite a while to finally decide on the right perfume.
My Chanels resting on what is my most favourite and treasured book, Of Comb, Powder and Rouge
Now back then, I knew very little about fragrances. I didn’t wear a variety of them; I stuck to only a few by Clinique, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Lancome, Davidoff and The Body Shop. I didn’t like any of the Chanel perfumes. There weren’t any Jo Malones, Serge Lutens, Dyptiques or what have yous for me to check out. My knowledge of fragrances was so limited to what we could find in Penang (Malaysia) that I just stuck to the few that I could find at the beauty counters.
My mum, on the other hand, can open a perfume shop with the variety of perfumes she has. She was happy to give me one of hers but even though I tried them out one by one, none of them stood out. It’s like they say, when you know, you know. Y’know?
One particular weekend, I decided to go shopping on my own. I stumbled upon a newly opened L’Occitane store and during that time, I’ve never purchased anything from L’Occitane simply because everything in there was expensive. My eyes fell on their fragrances. Ooh, didn’t know L’Occitane did perfumes. I immediately went for the one that had cherry blossoms on the bottle (I love cherry blossoms; my first few blog designs had them).
It was love at first sniff.
I didn’t know what it was about it that attracted me so. It’s sweet but not overly sweet. I don’t normally go for floral scents; I’m a fruity sorta gal but something about this perfume just screamed “PICK ME! I WANNA BE ON YOU AT YOUR WEDDING!”. So I did. I remember spraying my room with it just to get a feel of the fragrance and I knew, this was the one.
I found my wedding scent. Best of all, Tim loves it too.
It’s not an expensive perfume compared to the higher-end brands but it will always hold a special place in my heart. I don’t remember all that much about the wedding, to be honest (Asian weddings are exhausting!), but whenever I have this on, I remember Tim and I, at the church, saying our vows to each other and everyone a blur around us.
That’s more than good enough for me.
OMG, I love your wedding photo! Gorgeous and adorable at the same time. Your cherry blossom scent from L’Occitane seems like a perfect choice for a wedding scent. A long time ago, a friend from work who was Egyptian married her husband who was French. It was the French tradition for the husband and wife to be to select fragrances for each other to wear at their wedding and at least for a while thereafter. I’d find that kinda scary but I guess it was OK for them to shop for the scents together. A nice tradition, I remember thinking back then.
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Aww thanks Allison! That’s a pre-wedding shot where we take photos in a bridal studio. Very popular practice in Asia. I.e. Photoshopped to the inch of our lives. Hee hee!
Oh what a lovely tradition! The French sure knows how to do it. If it was up to Tim, I may be wearing Taylor Swift to our wedding if her fragrances existed then. Yikes!
Too funny, Tine!
Hmmm….interesting. I love perfumes but I haven’t tried this one. So curious on its scent which made you pick this one for as you said you are not that fond or perfumes. But with this, you have loved it so kinda curious on this.
Oh I love perfumes, I just don’t write about them. They’re difficult to review, y’know? 🙂
What a beautiful wedding photo! You too look so cute! I haven’t tried this scent, but it sounds lovely and very appropriate for a wedding.
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Thanks Gio! I look very different all thanks to overload of Photoshop. :/
I wore Jimmy Choo on my wedding day, but it was only a sample size spritzer, so I no longer have any (sob). I keep meaning to buy some, but then I see the price and sob lol.
DH doesn’t really like *any* fragrances on me, they make him sneeze, he totally can’t take smelly stuff 9either good or bad smells – in fact he’s better with bad smells) 🙁
You look like a cherry blossom in your (photoshopped :P) wedding piccie btw, so that works well 😀 Very nice, and not due to photoshop, you can’t make a non cute couple look cute so there 😛 😀
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Aww you know what? He loves YOUR scent! 😉
Yeah, the photo was very Photoshopped. Even Mum said that did not look like me at all. My eyes are really tiny in the picture! 😛
oh, that’s really lovely. it sounds like a perfect wedding fragrance. i must give it a sniff at the nearest l’occitance store. 🙂
Haha go for it! L’occitane has a lot of very good fragrances that people often overlook and favour more mainstream brands. 🙂
Tine, thank you for sharing such a romantic memory of yours. I seriously felt a big awww in my heart. I actually bought four perfumes before I settled on my wedding fragrance. You are right…you just know. I’m also v careful when I re-wear this scent because I only associate it with good memories – only for date nights or weddings so it would remain unsullied in my mind.
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Aww thanks lovely! I know right? That’s how I wear this fragrance as well. I don’t want to simply wear it when I’m going to the shops or just to the post office. Date nights, most definitely. 😉 x
Arrgghh, I’m getting married next year and my wedding fragrance is stressing me out if you can believe it!!! I’m such a perfume girl and I really want it to be perfect. Not only do I want to smell great but I want the bottle to look good in photos, haha.
The problem is that I live in North Queensland where it is very hot and humid and 95% of my fragrances are light/fresh/clean or tropical/fruity/white flowers. And yet my wedding is taking place in my hometown of Toowoomba in winter next year where I’m expecting it to be around eight degrees! Our venue is very cosy with fireplaces! So I want a fragrance to reflect that!
I’m having real trouble finding a fragrance I love that will come alive in cold weather. I’m VERY fussy about vanilla scents (I have yet to find the perfect one – L’Occitane used to make a vanilla and that was the best one I’ve found but of course it’s discontinued) and I don’t like too much of an oriental spice. A woody spice is ok and a heavy floral is ok too. I also quite like a powdery fragrance although I don’t like Chanel’s aldehydes as they don’t sit well on my skin, they just die and smell really sad
I’ve come up with a short list:
Chloe EDP
Chloe Intense
J’adore parfum
Tom Ford Santal Blush
Tom Ford Jasmine Rouge
The Tom Fords might still be a bit wrong for cool weather, after all jasmine is an indolent summer bloom! I love Jo Malone and I think a JM bottle would look so nice in our photos but the only fragrances I love of hers are all summer ones – french lime blossom, lime basil and mandarin, and nectarine & honey. I don’t like her gourmand or floral ones much.
Am I crazy to put this much thought into it?! I guess that’s the result of being a beautyholic….I have put more thought into my hair and makeup than my dress!
Aww congratulations! And nope, you’re not crazy to put much thought into it because hello? IT’S YOUR WEDDING! It’s a huge day! You’d want a scent to remember.
Tom Ford should be all right for a winter wedding since you mentioned it’s going to be around 8C. I’m sure you know that their fragrances are heavy and if you’re looking for that sort of warm, musky scent that would be great for the cold weather, Tom Ford’s not bad.
I know you love the Chloe EDP but a suggestion: don’t use it for your wedding. You’d want a new one just for your wedding, and it will be the one that will always remind you of your big day. My wedding fragrance was new. Yes I did test it out but I kept the bulk of it mainly for my wedding.
Have you tried any of the Hermes fragrances? They do such beautiful ones (and photograph well too!). My favourite is the Eau d`Orange Verte. It has just the slightest hint of musk and woody spice but still citrusy enough for my liking.
Good luck! 😀