Help me remember this rain-scented perfume from the 90s
April 30, 2022 10:08 PM Subscribe
In the mid-late 1990s I had a rain-scented perfume oil that I loved and I can't remember what it was called. It came in a small round brown bottle and the brand was embossed/carved directly on the bottle--there was no paper label. I thought I'd remembered the brand was Air/Aire/Airs but can't find it by those names in searches. What was it?? More details below.
It might have been a formulation other than oil, but it was definitely concentrated. It had a slightly salty, intensely rain-y scent. For some reason I thought of it as a hippie perfume so it might have been older, or a retro re-issue of something older--but not older enough to be something you'd find in the Vermont Country Store catalog (I have checked). I bought it at some sort of mall novelty shop, though I don't remember if it was more of a crystal woo type shop or more of a Spencer's (back then Spencer's was a little cooler and more interesting).
I've exhausted my Google skills here.
It might have been a formulation other than oil, but it was definitely concentrated. It had a slightly salty, intensely rain-y scent. For some reason I thought of it as a hippie perfume so it might have been older, or a retro re-issue of something older--but not older enough to be something you'd find in the Vermont Country Store catalog (I have checked). I bought it at some sort of mall novelty shop, though I don't remember if it was more of a crystal woo type shop or more of a Spencer's (back then Spencer's was a little cooler and more interesting).
I've exhausted my Google skills here.
Possibly one of the Body Shop's perfume oils, which have been discontinued. There was one called Oceanus that might fit the bill. This is what their bottles looked like.
posted by legendarygirlfriend at 2:32 AM on May 1, 2022
posted by legendarygirlfriend at 2:32 AM on May 1, 2022
I was a manager for a Body Shop store in Harvard Square in the early 1990's, and I think legendarygirlfriend has it.
Fun story: Post-college, I was working on my first job at WGBH in Allston, and was always enticed by the smell of the store riding my bike home, so one day I applied for work and was hired.
The Body Shop had all sorts of perfume oils back in those days, and we used to hand pour from gallon jugs into the teeny bottles. As you can imagine, there was significant spillage, so much so that going into the back office would cause tremendous headaches.
I became pregnant and unfortunately I developed an aversion to the specific smell of that rain perfume oil scent, and I had to quit.
If that's not the scent you're remembering, back in those days the Body Shop had a lot of competitors and I recall that Rain was a common name for a scent.
posted by Sweetie Darling Sweetie Darling at 4:31 AM on May 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Fun story: Post-college, I was working on my first job at WGBH in Allston, and was always enticed by the smell of the store riding my bike home, so one day I applied for work and was hired.
The Body Shop had all sorts of perfume oils back in those days, and we used to hand pour from gallon jugs into the teeny bottles. As you can imagine, there was significant spillage, so much so that going into the back office would cause tremendous headaches.
I became pregnant and unfortunately I developed an aversion to the specific smell of that rain perfume oil scent, and I had to quit.
If that's not the scent you're remembering, back in those days the Body Shop had a lot of competitors and I recall that Rain was a common name for a scent.
posted by Sweetie Darling Sweetie Darling at 4:31 AM on May 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
If the posters above didn't nail it, have you checked Fragrantica or BaseNotes? Both pull up many results for discontinued perfumes named Air.
posted by mostly vowels at 5:51 AM on May 1, 2022
posted by mostly vowels at 5:51 AM on May 1, 2022
What you're thinking of is not a Demeter scent, but Demeter attempts to very accurately replicate the smell of…things. In my experience, their "Thunderstorm" is their finest hour. It might be a good fallback option for you.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 6:45 AM on May 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 6:45 AM on May 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: It was definitely not a Body Shop perfume--teenage me was not a fan of that shop, Body Shop doesn't have the right aesthetic, and the bottle's not the right shape. The one I'm remembering was more of a full circle than a partially squooshed circle, thinner/flatter, and an opaque dark brown.
It also wasn't a Demeter scent, I'm very familiar with their range.
Air/Aire/Airs is what I think was the brand name, and the scent was rain, but I don't recall what the name of the scent was. I do think it was a relatively simple name, so it might have been just Rain, or might have been a slightly longer name.
It's also not Terra Nova's China Rain, but the name of the scent could be something like that.
posted by rhiannonstone at 4:11 PM on May 1, 2022
It also wasn't a Demeter scent, I'm very familiar with their range.
Air/Aire/Airs is what I think was the brand name, and the scent was rain, but I don't recall what the name of the scent was. I do think it was a relatively simple name, so it might have been just Rain, or might have been a slightly longer name.
It's also not Terra Nova's China Rain, but the name of the scent could be something like that.
posted by rhiannonstone at 4:11 PM on May 1, 2022
Response by poster: Oh whoops sorry CheesesofBrazil, I misread your comment.
But I'm not looking for a replacement scent (I actually can't really wear scent these days, I seem to have developed a sensitivity)--just to scratch the irritating brain itch of not being able to remember what the heck this product I loved so much was.
posted by rhiannonstone at 4:24 PM on May 1, 2022
But I'm not looking for a replacement scent (I actually can't really wear scent these days, I seem to have developed a sensitivity)--just to scratch the irritating brain itch of not being able to remember what the heck this product I loved so much was.
posted by rhiannonstone at 4:24 PM on May 1, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rhiannonstone at 10:20 PM on April 30, 2022