Embracing A New Scent

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One of the many things my grandmother and I had in common was our shared love of and taste in perfumes. Whenever either one of us would discover a new fragrance, we’d buy two and eagerly gift the other. I think we both cherished knowing that even though we were across the country from one another, we both were ‘G’s’ and always smelled the same.

My grandmother passed away last summer, and the new Vera Wang Embrace is the first perfume I’ve wanted to buy her since. I know that she would have loved the gardenia and sandalwood notes just as much as I do. I made this short video about our love, highlighting how much we cherished what the two of us shared.

The photographs are of my grandmother and I when I was a baby, and then again on my wedding day. It was so special having her there on that day. The ‘G’ necklace and diamond ‘G’ ring were both once hers and she passed them onto me while she was still alive. If you look close enough, you can see her wearing the ring in the baby picture.

I stopped wearing the perfumes we both wore once she was gone—it was too painful—so I welcome this new Vera fragrance with open arms. It reminds me so much of her, but when I wear it there’s no sadness, just fondness.

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12 comments

  1. Such a beautiful post! Thank you. I love the way scent evokes memory and I find it to be so striking. It can be hard to wear certain things because of that attachment. To this day, I cannot stand the smell of peace lilies because when my mom was in the hospital for a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, the room positively reeked of lily. She is now 16 years recovered but that smell still haunts me. On the other side of the spectrum, she wore Opium when I was little and that fragrance comforts me so much even today. The sense of smell is one of my favorite senses.

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