Ruby’s MPS Blog
Hi all it’s Ruby here the numerologist! I had a little chat with our lovely Claire last week and I offered to do something I have always wanted to do and that is to start my own blog about things I am really passionate about! Yes I am not only passionate about numerology I have so many other passions like travel, cooking, history but most importantly as most of you won’t know I have had a career in the Beauty industry where I have trained people had my own business etc so MPS stands for Make Up Perfume and Skin. So I have worked with fine fragrance, Make Up from luxury houses eg Chanel, Dior, Lancome, etc to Organic Mineral Make Up, and of course I am a Skin/Dermal therapist and absolutely obsessed about looking after your skin!
So before I start giving you advice on the following areas I thought I would like to make this a fun segment for all of us I am happy to answer your questions if you have any concerns in these areas and I can at least guide you in the right direction. For instance I used to provide a service where people that just didn’t know how to pick a fragrance for themselves so I used to take them shopping ask them what scent they liked, what flowers they liked, from there I would tie that into their personality and we would spray about 4 different fragrances on pulse points and then after a nice coffee/tea we smell the 4 different fragrances and decide which one suited them the best.
When I did my writing course many years ago my last assignment our teacher told us had to start with “I have always liked….” and we weren’t allowed to say ice cream or chocolate well I knew instantly what I would write about so I will leave you with that bit of writing that I did which my teacher at the time told me my writing belonged in a magazine but I am happy to share that with you all for now.
“I have always liked….”
I have always liked perfume, ah perfume where would I be without my perfume! Ever since I was a little girl I would always be attracted to certain scents, one of my favourite was Jontour by Revlon. My aunt wore it and when I smell it today I can feel the big hugs she would give me. The smell of Jontoue was still on my clothes hours after she left. Secretly I would go to her dresser carefully take the lid of each bottle of perfume. I would then inhale the smell, breathe it in like it was oxygen, place the lid carefully back where it belonged and then arrange them in order of preference. I would get in trouble for denying I had ever touched them.
Going through department stores or chemists was like going to fragrance heaven. I would get in trouble for wanting to smell all the different fragrances. I would spray myself when no one was looking, sometimes I would spray on 2, 3, 4 or even 5 different scents. As I got older I worked out it was best to only shower yourself in one scent. I love a variety of perfume and to this very day I don’t have one favourite as I love the all for different reasons. I have some just for work, day, night, summer, winter, special occasions, ones that pick me up when I am feeling down, ones that make me feel sexy. It also depends on my mood and there is always one to compliment any event.
My very first designer perfume was given to me by my first love, it was Opium and I wore it religiously for 4 years. I never wore it again after we broke up as it reminded me of him and I couldn’t bare to smell it until I finally got over him. I still think it is a beautiful scent in winter and I can appreciate its warm tones on someone else now and it no longer makes me feel sad but rather reminds me of the innocence of your first love. Perfume, scent, fragrance whatever you like to refer to it as is such a special thing, it can take you back to a time and place, a special occasion or even remind you of something bad.
When I was getting married I had to wear something that made me feel special, feminine, happy and above all it had to be memorable so I wore Allure by Chanel. When I go away I carefully pick what fragrances I will take with me. I like to wear a different one in each country so that when I wear it again it takes me back to the same location and I can remember exactly what it was that I was doing there. Whenever I wear Carolina Herrera 212 I think of my holiday in Broome or when I wear Lovely by SJP I think of my wonderful trip to NY. Whenever I wear Romance by RL I think of when I first began to date my husband Zelko and falling in love with him.
A tremendous amount of effort goes into creating a fragrance and there is usually a story behind every individual one. One of my favourite stories is how JPG came to make his first ever female fragrance “Classique”; the ingredients he used were of scents that reminded him not only of his childhood but in particular of his grandmother and the scent of things she used and liked as he spent a lot of time in with her and she was a major influence in his life. He even designed the bottle as a tribute to her as he found in her drawer a pink salmon corset and the thought it was the epitome of woman. I also love the story of how Issey Miyake came to make his first ever fragrance with Chantal Roos. He told her that he wanted a perfume that was pure, innocent, reflected life and water. Six months later she came to him with one of the most popular scents that took the number one place of Chanel No.5 with L’Eau D’Issey and it is one that I cannot live without! I particularly like the thought behind how he designed the bottle as when you lay it down it is the reflection of the moon in the water. So next time you pick up a “fine fragrance” appreciate the thought that went into it and I encourage you to look into the inspiration behind the fragrance.
I am just as passionate about the fragrances that come from the house of Chanel. We all know that the very first Chanel fragrance was No.5 but the way this came about is rather interesting. Ernest Beaux (who was a renowned nose at the time) wanted to please Coco Chanel as he was very much in love with her and he asked her what he could do to make her happy. She told him “Give me a perfume that will make even the perfumers jealous” He came to her with the first scent and she didn’t like it, then the second and again she didn’t like it as with the third and fourth but when he came to her with the fifth scent it was the scent that she fell in love with and when he asked her what they should call it she simply said “No.5” which was the first synthetic fragrance ever made. In 1970 No.19 was made especially for Chanel as this was born on the 19th of August. It was released after she died as she wanted to be the only person to wear it. Jacques Polge wanted to make a fragrance once Chanel had passed away to honour her, so he was allowed to spend time in her apartment and he was inspired to whilst there and in 1984 he created the scent Coco Chanel. In 2001 Coco Mademoiselle was launched 15 years later and it was meant to be a limited edition but the sales were so high that the decision was made to keep it as they knew there would be a tremendous amount of disappointment if it were not available.
I don’t have an addictive personality until it comes to perfume it is my only addiction. It is as important as the air I breathe! Over the years I think it would be safe to say I have gone through thousands of bottles of perfume during that time my style has changed. I used to love the heavy musky scents. These days I tend to go for fragrances that are lighter but I still love woody tones, jasmine and sandalwood in perfume. There are so many around but I tend to like the classical scents. I have over 100 bottles at any given point in time some of which are collectables and priceless to me. I also have par levels on my favourite ones as I am a little OCD just so that I don’t run out and I the ones I really like I must have a small bottle to fit in my purse. I feel that perfume completes and outfit and I would virtually feel naked if I didn’t wear any. I love it when people ask me what I am wearing especially if I can’t smell it on myself. I even have a few bottles I use for my cats Hugo and Issey who are named after perfume. When I was setting up my business I wondered what to call it. I gave it a lot of thought and decided I had to name it after something I was passionate about do I decided it had to be named after a perfume. I went through all of my favourite fragrances at the time and I wanted it to mean something special so eventually I picked up my bottle of “Dolce Vita” by Christian Dior and remembered that it meant “Sweet Life” so that was it my business was named “Dolce Vita Beaute” and the motto was “Because life should be sweet”
Much love Ruby xxx