Makeup & nails

Heaven scent: ELLE Canada editors reveal their first fave fragrances

From Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps to Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck, the ELLE Canada team shares their first signature scents.

by : ELLE Canada- Mar 20th, 2015

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Noreen Flanagan, editor-in-chief: My first fragrance – other than secretly using my mother’s Chanel No 5 when I was a girl – was L’Air du Temps by Nina Ricci. It’s been around since the late 40s. I only recently learned that the dove on top was a symbol of peace to mark the end of World War II. What a charming patriotic “note” to add to this famous spicy carnation-inspired scent.

Vanessa Craft, beauty director: Exclamation! Coty’s black and white masterpiece felt so modern and sophisticated, even though I think it retailed for ten bucks. And it was a punctuation mark, which I totally identified with as a thirteen year old who needed the world to know I was modern, sophisticated and… exclamatory.

Katherine Flemming, health and beauty editor: My Scottish auntie brought me (brand new at the time!) Nina Ricci’s Belles de Ricci from the U.K. when I was 12. It was such a nice departure from the heady fragrances my mother wore. It’s a sweet blend of raspberry, moss and musk, and would likely be classified as one of the sickeningly sweet fragrances that perfumers tend to scoff at. But Belles de Ricci is different, since there’s a sour note in there. It’s still not available in Canada, which I both love and hate.

Lisa Guimond, fashion features editor: Sadly, I can’t seem to wear perfume! It’s my dream to find one that doesn’t make me queasy.

Sarah Laing, associate features editor: My first fragrance was the Lilia Bella version of the Guerlain Aqua Allegorias. I bought it in London Heathrow in transit on a family vacation, and my choice of such a fragrance tells you all you need to know about what kind of 12 year old I was. (Super cool, obviously).

Victoria DiPlacido, assistant beauty editor: Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue was the fragrance I wore exclusively between grades 9 and 12. I can’t confirm it was my first-ever perfume, but it certainly was the most memorable: To this day, whenever I get a whiff of the scent I am brought back to post-gym class locker room hangouts. (It was the place to be, trust.)

Reginald Leung, designer: Bang by Marc Jacobs was the first fragrance that ever smelled unique to me. Why would I want to smell like every other man?

Sarah Thompson, content producer: The first celebrity fragrance I tried ended up being my signature scent: Taylor Swift’s Wonderstruck. My mom gave it to me for Christmas in 2011 and thought she broke the iridescent bottle after she heard something rattling inside the wrapped package. Lucky for me, it was just the bottle’s golden charms clinking together and I was still able to bask in the perfume’s intoxicating blend of freesia, apple, raspberry, peach and vanilla.

Liz Guber, workflow editor: My very first fragrance was Ferragamo’s Incanto Charms (I still have the empty bottle!). It was a gift from my fragrance-loving aunt who had at least 15 bottles on top of her bedroom vanity. I was sixteen at the time, and found the sight of all those bottles to be the ultimate symbol of womanhood and sophistication. Now I have a collection of my own, and although it’s modest compared to my aunt’s, I’m excited to discover new scents and maybe someday find “the one.”