Gucci: MÉmorie d’une odeur

I’ve never been one to set New Years resolutions. If I want to change something about myself, I’ll start whenever I want. I did start picking a “word of the year” last year though, and I found that highly effective in my life. I found it much easier to concentrate on a single word and how to better incorporate it into my life. 2020’s word was priorities and I suppose it was appropriate, given the year that 2020 was.

This year, my word is quiet. Anyone who knows me well would never describe me as a quiet person, and I would generally describe myself as an extrovert. I have become increasingly introverted as I get older though and 2020 forced me to become quieter, as I spend much more time by myself than I normally would. Gucci Mémoire d'Une Odeur fits nicely into my year of quiet. Mémoire is a quiet, but mighty fragrance that I nearly wrote off as being too soft and not for me. But I kept wearing it, and much to my delight, my initial impression of this was so wrong. Gucci describes this as an “mineral aromatic” and it seeks to explore the connection between memory and scent. What I most enjoy about this fragrance is how green it is, but how soft and easy it is to wear. Any other skin scent I have sniffed or worn has been heavily focused on powdery, creamy and sweet notes, but Mémoire is both verdant and creamy, a very unusual combination.

Mémoire has my favorite vanilla note in the base, but also sandalwood, musk with an unexpected cedarwood to give it some depth and woodiness. The jasmine in the heart adds to the greeness of this as well. Chamomile is the most unusual note and highlight of this fragrance for me. It’s green, crisp and also slightly bitter. I love how this wears, dry and mineral and then fading into the lush sandalwood and musk. My only complaint about Mémoire is that it does not last long on my skin. One, maybe two hours tops, is how long it lasts on me. I imagine if I had a full size, I would go through the bottle very quickly.

I hope your New Year is off to a pleasant start! Here’s to 2021 being a little more quiet and dare I say boring? Cheers!