BEE BEAUTIFUL BODY BUTTER

                There I would drag the cast iron stool, covered in plush pink velvet, up to the built-in armoire and climb upon it to reach that ‘special spot’ my mother stored her 'Luxury Perfume's’. The ones designated for: 'Special Occasion's , placed up high, nearing furthest edge of the closet, and intentionally out of the reach of a small child. 

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          There nestled between stacks of high-heeled shoes, heavy houndstooth suits and fine silk blouses, I would set my sights on the ones I had already found to be my personal 'Favorites'. 

             Pushing past the bottles of: 'Anais Anais', 'Charlie,'  and Coty 'Wild Musk',  I would set my sights on; a heavy round bottle; clad with fine ladies dressed in pomp and splendor, of the classic oriental, launched in 1962, of: ‘Bal à Versailles’.

            Next for my mother’s newest purchase; in a bottle shaped like the large cut-crystal bulb that hung gracefully from the bottom of the dining-room chandelier, of the 'Narcotic' Floral Perfume: ‘Paris’.  

            Last but certainly not least, I would reach for the rectangle bottle of: ‘Joy’ Perfume. Famed as one of the 'Most Expensive Perfumes' ever to be produced and claiming to contain the extract of: over 10,000 jasmine flowers, and 28 dozen roses, squeezed into each ounce of the floral elixir.  

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           After thoroughly dousing myself with enough 'flower petal essence' to bankrupt the country of Holland, and feeling as though I was hiding directly inside the center of  my mother's prized; 'Floribunda' growing in her rose garden, I would climb back down from the top of the armoire like a tiny 'bond girl'. Carefully using the armoire drawers partially opened, like a ladder back down to the ground level, placing everything back ’just the way it was’, and hoping that my 'secret garden of scents’ was not ‘revealed’.