“A woman's perfume tells more about her than her handwriting.”
Christian Dior
In my next book, The Perfumer’s Secret, Iris Penhallam and her fellow apprentice, Alessandro Mori are tasked with creating five new scents just as war breaks out in Europe. Decades later, Iris’s great-niece, Stella Penhallam, retraces the past through the perfumes and learns that they can tell her far more about Iris than she ever expected.
I thought it would be interesting to look back on my life in five inspiring scents. Whilst I can’t promise any revelations of the kind that Stella discovers, it's incredible how scent and memory are intertwined.
Paloma Picasso by Paloma Picasso
This striking scent with its unusual bottle and bold packaging appeared on my mum’s bedside table one day. Until that moment, I’d avoided perfume as it gave me a headache. But this scent was different. I can’t remember if I appropriated my mum’s bottle or was gifted one of my own, but wearing a scent created by Pablo Picasso’s daughter felt remarkably daring. It reminds me of my first forays into clubs and parties and writing poetry late into the night.
Paloma Picasso was ultimately too overpowering for me, but during those awkward teenage years, when confidence was hard to come by, I like to imagine that the perfume imbued me with a dash of Paloma's insouciance and glamour.
Champagne by Yves Saint Laurent
I found this perfume in an airport shop when I was in my late teens. It was fruity and sweet but tempered by notes of cinnamon and amber. It conjures images of Monte Carlo, Archers and Lemonade, university balls, and the promise of a creative future.
I loved the bottle and the golden liquid inside and wore this scent for several years as I ventured on an independent life in Dublin. It will forever linger in my mind as a reminder of youth, celebration, and bright blue skies.
Dolce Vita by Dior
Sandra Raičević Petrović writing on the perfume website, Fragrantica.com, describes Dolce Vita as ‘the fragrance of a woman who is self-confident, who has realised herself…who knows where to go, whom to choose, what she wants!’. So perhaps it is no surprise to find out that this was the scent I was wearing when I got married.
Dolce Vita is like the older sister of Champagne, still bright and sparkling, but with a sense of maturity and purpose. This perfume travelled with me through some life-changing moments: moving back to the UK from Ireland, having children and watching them grow up, joyous occasions with friends, family holidays, and going back to work after I turned forty. Dolce Vita was at my side through it all.
Scent of A Dream by Charlotte Tilbury
Incredible though it seems, I forsook Dolce Vita for Scent of A Dream based on a sample that came with the gift of some Charlotte Tilbury lipstick. I was in my early forties when the bottle of Dolce Vita, that I’d eked out since Christmas, ran out. I turned to the tiny sample vial and from that moment, I was hooked.
A chypre-floral composition, this perfume got compliments and questions the first time I wore it. The sweetness of my previous scents had been dialled right down to something wistful and haunting. I loved the bottle with its vintage charm and enjoyed wearing this scent every day. To me, Scent of A Dream represents calm waters after a few of life's storms, and I would have happily glided along in it for a few more years. Unfortunately, however, the perfume was discontinued, which was devastating until I alighted on the next scent.
Honey Oud by Floris
I would never have discovered this incredible scent if it wasn’t for The Perfumer’s Secret. Whilst researching the novel, I headed to London to visit the perfumer's Floris at 89 Jermyn Street. Turning off Piccadilly and walking past St James's Church and the flower sellers by the railings, it felt like stepping back in time. That experience was compounded when I stepped inside Floris, with its display cabinets purchased from the Great Exhibition of 1851 and a museum at the rear of the shop. Winston Churchill, Florence Nightingale, Marilyn Monroe, and many other illustrious people had all purchased scents from Floris.
I had just got my first book deal with Penguin Michael Joseph and I walked into Floris feeling that I was now officially a writer. I sniffed every single perfume, enjoying many of them, until I came to Honey Oud, which stopped me in my tracks. It was exactly the kind of perfume that I could imagine Iris and Alessandro creating in The Perfumer’s Secret, and I’ve been wearing it every day, ever since.
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