A couple years ago I started seeing horses everywhere. There’s a real romance in a motif that follows someone for years– becoming fully enmeshed with their identity. I was never a classic horsegirl growing up, but I’ve now fully adopted the identity as my own. Before long, horses weren’t just something I was seeing. I sought them out, and somehow, they seemed to seek me out in return.

Some fragrance lovers spend years and years trying to hone and curate the exact notes and essence they want to capture through their scent. Personally, I’ve worn about ten different perfumes in my life, many I associate with distinct blips in time. Viva La Juicy is the exploration and newness of middle school, Black Opium is turning 16, Glossier You is discovering early adulthood, Missing Person is settling into a new city. But no perfume has stuck around for more than a few years.

There are many people who have a “signature scent” of two or three years, but it’s much more difficult to track down people who have stood by a fragrance for over a decade. Even then, prolonged breaks in fragrance are common. It’s difficult to say what exactly makes something a longtime signature, other than the magnetic pull it has to bring someone back to it. Often a pull, a gradual untangling, and then a return.

I spoke with six people, ages 25 to 56, about signature fragrances they’ve worn for roughly a decade or more and the personal histories attached to them. Many of these scents have the power to bottle up periods of our lives that unfold too quickly for us to consciously document. These scents have accompanied the subjects through substantial life changes: a first job as a teenager, the arrival of twin babies, an international move. A new profile will be published every Sunday! These are their stories.

-Izzy Colón

Deja, 25

Fantasy by Britney Spears

Izzy Colón

November 8, 2026

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