This is a paid for advertorial in collaboration with Proenza Schouler.
1.
Falling in love.
Probably the rarest of them all, so I’m starting with this. That wonderfully rare moment when you fall in love and you realise you’re head over heels, there is nothing as magical. The same when you meet the right person and the sparks ignite. My memories are filled vividly with the first time I told Alex I loved him, the first time he looked at me and my heart melted, the first time we kissed. It’s so special that it’s seared into my memories and it still gives me butterflies when I take myself back to that moment.
2.
My friends get married.
In fact, any moments related to my friends stick with me sentimentally. I don’t see them often and they are like family to me. I have a number of girl friends who are like sisters. We tell each other everything, we go to each other for advice, we can say the daftest, rudest or craziest things to each other and laugh until our stomach’s hurt. They’re there no matter what, the kind of friends who would never even think about bitching about you to another friend, behind your back. Because you’re like family, and anything they want to say, can be said to your face. And then one of them gets married, or pregnant, and it’s the day you and your girl group of friends have all been waiting for. A next step in your friends life that sticks with you forever. It’s an amazing feeling, when you don’t see your friend in 6 months, but as soon as they walk through your front door, it’s like you saw them yesterday. There is nothing more special than knowing you’ll be friends with that person until the very last day. It’s extremely rare to find a life long friend, but it’s the one off moments you share with them along the way that make for the most incredible memories.
4.
Death of a loved one.
Not all memories can be looked back on fondly. A death in the family or of a close friend can affect everyone in entirely different ways. Losing my Grandad last year was a moment that I’ll never forget. Yet whilst the emotions are still upsetting and powerful, they concern memories that mean so much to me. They surround a lifetime of special moments with my Grandad, as I grew up, the things he told me, the things he taught me, the way he laughed. That final moment, and saying goodbye for the last time, is a moment that will always sting to remember, it’s stinging my eyes as I type this, but it taught me a lot of personal things too. And I know that I live my life differently now because of the people I have lost and the things I have learned along the way.
5.
When people move away.
I moved out of my home at 18 to head to University. It didn’t feel like it then, amidst the excitement and anxieties, but it was a huge step in my life. In anyone’s life. When you’ve grown up in a family home, taught everything by your loving parents and felt safe and secure in those four walls, to move away and start a fresh new life without securities is a huge step. But one of the most incredible moments to kick start the rest of your life. But it’s when you’re set up in your new life, living with the best friends you’ve ever met and after a number of life-changing years, that life too has to adapt again. Those friends move in with their partners, move around the country or across the globe even. They settle down, get married, have babies and everything changes once again. I don’t live in the same city as my best girl mates; they’re in Manchester, Nottingham, Chicago, New Zealand. Living their new lives somewhere on the globe, and I too moved to London from my own home city. People grow, people change and everything adapts to new situations, and all the while new memories are made. If anything, it just means that I put more effort into seeing my friends whenever I can, whenever we can pull everyone together from every side of the planet. And then more special moments are waiting to be made once again.
The rarest of moments can be captured by the rarest of ingredients and the rarest of scents.
Fragrances too, capture rare moments better than most. We are led to remember particular moments from our past, just from smelling a particular scent and our brain taking us back to that moment. An ex-boyfriends scent, the smell of your Grandad’s house, the perfume on your wedding day, the smell of freshly washed sheets on a summers day. We are taken to memories that have stayed etched in our memories.
Proenza Schouler have just released their debut fragrance, Arizona, inspired by their favourite memories and trips to the beautiful, mountainous state. I too have such a soft spot for Arizona; the terrain, the air, the colours. It’s an incredible place with so much history, mystery and beauty. But it is the never before used Cactus Blossom, that gives this fragrance it’s power. A rare floral note that none of us have smelled before, entwined with jasmine, Orris, orange blossom, solar accord, musk and cashmeran. There is a sweetness mixed with deep florals and a sexy, seductive undertone. A scent that works for the nighttime, but is just as powerful throughout the day. It feel mysterious and unique, encapsulating a feeling and a memory of the heat, the sand, the air and the atmosphere of Arizona. All encased inside a bottle cut like an imperfect rock in the desert, filled with a juice that resembles the burning desert heat and a thick black bottle top that contrasts with the light of the desert’s open plains. It’s intoxicating and evocative. A scent that I haven’t been able to put down.
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What rare moments have you experienced that mean the most to you, the person you are and the way you’ve lived your life? These are just five, but I could have continued on through more rare memories that are extremely special to me. But I’d love to hear what you have experienced and what moments are most important to you.
