This is a first for me, I must say - a post about a perfume for little girls (at least I think its for young girls). The main reason (actually, the only reason) this perfume is even on my radar is because Hannah, my older daughter, was given a bottle for her 6th birthday. Not by me or my immediate family, I hasten to add, snob that I am.
Anyway, I haven't smelled it yet, so perhaps I shouldn't be so judgmental, but there are top notes of blackcurrant and lemon, heart notes of jasmine and passion fruit and a base note of musk. A fruity floral then!
Hannah has been bugging me for a few days now to wear it, but we wouldn't let her during the school week. Now that the weekend is here, I suppose I will have to cave in and let her try it tomorrow. I'm sure it will be fun, but part of me wonders whether I should be letting my young daughter wear perfume so young, even if this one is aimed at young girls. On the other hand, considering I am so into perfume myself, I am slightly surprised that I haven't tried to 'brainwash' my two girls into becoming obsessed with perfume too!
So, dear fellow perfume lovers, what is your opinion on perfume and young girls? Do you think I should be encouraging them to develop a love of perfume even at a young age? If so, should I be letting them wear stuff like My Love, or weaning them gently onto some classics?
Image credit - http://www.parfumslove.com/
Well, I don´t see perfumes as part of the beauty industry as much as say makeup... For me perfume is not about beauty at all, and never about pleasing someone else... It´s about pleasing one of the senses, like art pleases your sight, music is pleasing to your ears or good food pleases your taste buds... So no, I don´t think perfume and children is a bad combination... But perfumes for children is another matter, I don´t understand why little girls need special perfumes, especially fruity florals in a pink bottles with hearts on... (But thats the queer feminist in me, I get so provoked by adds with little boys in blue plaing with toy cars and little girls in pink playing with dolls!)
ReplyDeleteNadja, thanks for the comments. I agree about the stereotyping of boys and girls generally. It can be very irritating. Of course, branding and advertising in their own ways perpetuate stereotyping across every age group, which is partly why I turn the sound off and go make a cup of tea when ad breaks are on. I get your point about perfume made specifically for girls. Again, its that presumption that girls want to smell sweet, pink and fruity.
DeleteMy own daugter is 7 now, and asked for some perfume a couple of years ago just so she could "be like mom." I bought her some of Avon's Sweet Honesty at the time, since it was such an inoffensive thing - except that was near the beginning of my journey, and now my nose has changed to the point where I really, really dislike it.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to let her take the lead as she gets older, the only guidance I'll likely give is just showing her the possibilities. (Although part of me would like to eventually get her a bottle of Daisy, because it's just so cute!)
Dionne, that is kinda the approach I would like to take. I figure I will expose them to as much as possible, if they show any curiosity. Usually every evening when I get home and bath the children, I will present a wrist to them and ask 'what does that smell like?'. Most days they just stare blankly, but perhaps I am planting the seeds!
DeleteEven though I suspect My Love Perfume is a ghastly sweet fruit concoction, Hannah is probably excited to wear it because it's a birthday present from a peer and of course the packaging is totally what's marketed to appeal to young girls. You definitely don't want to dis' the perfume 'cause then she'll want it even more just to spite you!(can you tell I have "issues"?!) Letting her wear perfume for special occasions only is a good idea until she gets a little older and maybe if she feels like you're on her side in approving of this birthday gift she'll be receptive to some Daddy/Daughter time with you and your perfumes. : )
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere - once upon a time - that some cultures (France?) educate children about scents in general and parents are expected to help them choose quality perfumes. I love that!
Cym, I let Hannah wear it today and actually, it smelled less sickly sweet than I thought it would. The opening was very fruity, but quickly died down to a light, inoffensive musk.
DeleteAnother thing the French and other continentals are very good at is allowing their children to drink a glass of wine with meals, often watered down when younger, but it does start that appreciation. Here in the UK kids discover alcohol in a clandestine fashion in their teens usually, and end up binge drinking and being plain silly.
My daughter had her first bottle of Bvlgari Petit et Mamans at the age of 4 or 5 and to be honest she really didn't wear it often, in fact it went off because of this I never told her not to wear it she just didn't put it on much. If I didn't work in fragrance I would never have thought about buying her a fragrance. She is now 16 and has about 6 bottles of perfume one being Oriens by Van Cleef & Arpels. It is good to start educating them from an early age, my daughter wouldn't just go for a fragrance now just because of the advertising or peer pressure but because she has tried it.
ReplyDeleteWhen a child enters a Guerlain shop they are treated extra-special as they are the customers of the future.
As an assistant we do give children samples and it is amazing that some children are so interested in it from a very early age.
Oh I forgot to say that all the best people are born on 16 January
MB, those are some nice examples of perfumes for teens that don't have to be twee and too girly. I'd love to see the Guerlain style in action - I think a trip to their flagstore shop in Paris is in order!
DeleteIt's a dilemma, just when do you let your little girl wear perfume?
ReplyDeleteYou've gotten some different answers here, and I must say that my way of dealing with it was to allow the little lady some scented powder- cornstarch is best-after baths. Of course my daughter upset this plan by using up the vintage Le Dix powder my husband had bought me. But the result is that she seems to be picky and choosy now about scents-No5 a current fave.
You can get all sorts of lovely powders and puffs, and these are great fun, and so long as she doesn't play "Snowstorm in the Bath" pretty economical.
Blacknall, I've never thought of scented powders to be honest. Hannah likes all sorts of different products and lip balm/gloss seems to be a favourite. As I said to Dionne, I will probably expose the girls to different perfumes and just see where it takes them. For me personally, I still think 5 or 6 is a little young to be wearing perfume, but the occasional try here and there can't do much harm, I expect. Actually one thing does worry me slightly, and that is whether it is healthy to spray perfume onto young children's skin. Perhaps it is no different to adults, but I imagine that kids naturally have more sensitive skin.
DeleteNow, my daughter is only 2 and she wants to wear perfume just as I do. However, as I do think 2 is too young I've solved this dilemma by giving her a plastic atomizer, filled with water. When I spray myself, so does she :) If she starts asking about the smell I might put a few drops of something inoffensive into the water, but so far she's more interested in the spraying than the smell itself. When she gets older we'll have to find another solution, but that's how I deal with it for now :)
ReplyDeleteThat is not a bad idea at all. Actually in summer my daughters love to take pots of water and chuck in various flower petals from daisies to roses and make 'perfume'!
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