Favorite Scent Memories

Some scents stay with us long after the moment has passed. They become part of our personal history — woven into childhood, comfort, identity, and the quiet rituals that shaped who we are. These are the fragrances that live in our memories with a kind of clarity nothing else can match. They aren’t just smells; they’re places, people, seasons, and feelings we can return to with a single breath.

Below are the scent memories that have stayed with me the most — the ones I’ve spent years trying to find again, "decode", or recreate.

Fresh Gardenia Blossoms

There is nothing in the world like the scent of a real gardenia. Creamy, luminous, slightly green, and almost glowing with warmth — it’s a flower that smells incredibly beautiful. My earliest memories of gardenia are tied to my first-grade teacher's classroom. I don't know if she wore the perfume or if she had the blossoms themselves in  the room, but the scent was unforgettable. It’s a scent that feels to me like tenderness, nostalgia, and rare beauty all at once. Finding the "right" gardenia perfume has been a long battle, though!

Clairol Herbal Essence Shampoo (1970s)

This one is pure childhood. The original Clairol Herbal Essence shampoo was a deep, botanical green — earthy, herbal, citrusy, and comforting in a way nothing else has ever quite matched. It smelled like crushed leaves, chamomile, rosemary, and sunshine. It was the scent of the 1970s girl's locker room shower, of being young and carefree. Even now, the memory of that green snap of herbs feels like opening a time capsule. Unfortunately, there are no perfumes on the market that duplicate those notes.

Irish Spring Deodorant Soap (1970s and 80s version)

Irish Spring was the scent of clean, bright mornings — crisp, green, slightly spicy, and unmistakably fresh. It had that sharp, invigorating “snap” that made the whole bathroom smell amazing. It wasn’t fancy, but it was iconic. The pre‑2000 formula had a depth and herbal greenness that later versions lost, and that original scent still lives in my memory as the definition of “fresh.” It was marketed as a men's soap, but I just love the fragrance and really wanted to have a perfume or body spray featuring this gorgeous herbal bouquet.

Felce Azzurra

Felce Azzurra is the scent of Italian freshness — lavender, herbs, citrus, and soft musk. It’s clean, comforting, and timeless. For millions of Italians it is practically part of their DNA: the scent of home, of family, of everyday rituals.

I did not grow up in an Italian home, so my first exposure to this heavenly scent was at the age of 40, after moving to Italy. You can buy Felce Azzurra scented body talc, deodorant, liquid soap, shower gel, laundry softener, even air freshener. It’s simple but evocative, and it has a way of making the world feel calm and comforting. But this scent is not available as a perfume or cologne...otherwise how would they make all that money with the different products? LOL

Recreating these Scents

These scents meant so much to me that I eventually tried to find — or create — perfumes that captured them as faithfully as possible. Each one came with its own challenge...

Gardenia — the impossible flower

Real gardenia cannot be bottled directly. The flower’s scent molecules break down almost instantly after picking. That means every gardenia perfume is a reconstruction created in a lab. Finding one that feels like the real blossom is incredibly difficult, because the true scent is creamy, green, warm, lush, narcotic, and sensual all at once. My search became a quest for a perfume that captured that living, breathing floral glow.

Learn more about how I created my own personal version of gardenia perfume here (and the list of perfumes that I blended together to create it).

Clairol Herbal Essence — a shampoo, not a perfume

The original Herbal Essence was never meant to last on skin. It was a shampoo — bright, herbal, green, and fleeting. Recreating it as a perfume meant trying to capture both the immediate green burst and then giving it a long‑lasting herbal heart. This is tricky because shampoos rely on surfactants and volatile aromatics that behave differently than perfume ingredients. Getting the balance of citrus, herbs, chamomile, and green notes to feel right took experimentation, layering, and patience.

Learn more about how I created my own personal version of Herbal Essence perfume here (and the list of perfumes that I blended together to create it).

Irish Spring — a soap with a very specific “snap”

Like Herbal Essence, Irish Spring was a soap, not a fragrance. Its scent came from a combination of bright green aromatics, aldehydes, and herbal notes that bloom in steam and water — not on skin. Recreating that crisp, spicy, green “snap” in perfume form meant finding the right mix of citrus, herbs, and woods without letting it become too sharp or too soapy. It was a challenge, but a fun one.

Learn more about how I created my own personal version of Irish Spring perfume here (and the list of perfumes that I blended together to create it).

Felce Azzurra — mostly top notes

Felce Azzurra is beautiful, but it’s built almost entirely on top notes: lavender, citrus, herbs, and a soft musk. That makes it refreshing but short‑lived. Turning it into a perfume meant finding a way to keep the freshness while adding a longer‑lasting base that didn’t change the character. It became a layering project — combining musks, herbs, and citrus in a way that felt true to the original.

Learn more about how I created my own personal version of Felce Azzurra perfume here (and the list of perfumes that I blended together to create it).