I know it’s wrong. And I do it guiltily, acting out a sort of charade of buying intentions. But I love to have such smells on my person. It is about familiarity but also about a longing for elegance, and a sometimes elevation from the way I live now. I steal a spray. I know that lots of people do it, and the sales staff and manufacturing companies know this. They no doubt factor it in to their profit margins. But I am stealing, whichever way you look at it. But oh, to smell of Chanel no5 or Miss Dior (it has to be the original) is wonderful. Yesterday morning’s felony didn’t last long. The sweetness of no 5 had gone from my wrist by the time I caught the plane. No trace.
