Nora Ephron reminisced, ‘Loving the smell of mink, the smell of the pavement after it rained, the smell of dollar bills’ about California, Ethel Waters remarked that nothing beats the smell of the Earth as ‘the sun goes down’ and Marcel Proust philosophised that smells are ‘like souls bearing resiliently, on tiny and almost impalpable drops of their essence, the immense edifice of memory.’

The smell of recently brewed coffee signals morning; the scent of a freshly mowed lawn conjures sun-scorched images of picket fences and family. They say our sense of smell is the strongest sense we posses – it doesn’t touch or see, it evokes the intangible. It summons memories from the deep past or snags on things we thought long forgotten, pulling them back to the forefront.  

More than any accessory or sculpted gown, your scent leaves a lingering impression and becomes a pillar of identity to be remembered by, so choose it wisely. Understanding the power of the immaterial, Marilyn Monroe, when asked what she wore to bed, replied simply, ‘5 drops of Chanel No5’.