What Was I Thinking?!

Well maybe the problem is that I wasn't really thinking when I bought the smiley eau de toilette from Rustan's Essenses last week.  I went to there supposedly to catch the last day of the sale but instead of going to the department store where the real bargains were, I wandered into Essenses at Gateway and found myself surrounded by the products I had only read about.

I remembered all those products I had wanted to purchase - from Burt's Bees lip balm to Bite be Gone - and was on my way to the counter when I spotted that yellow smiling face that beckoned to me.  I received a text message on my cellphone and I read that my friends were already waiting for me at Cafe Bola.  I made a quick decision - to grab the smiley perfume and dash out before Becky Bloomwood took over me again.  (Who's Becky Bloomwood?  Please see previous post somewhere in my Lessons on Waiting blog).

After I had paid, the cashier said, "That perfume smells nice.  It's unisex.  A lot of people buy it."

I froze for a millisecond.  Whoever bought perfume (technically, EDT) without smelling it first?  I convinced myself it would smell nice, after all, the makers claimed that it was the world's first antidepressant perfume.  It allegedly was a "psycho-tonic perfume [normal dose] with micro-nutrients to activate happiness".  Sounds grand?  Here's the rest of the write-up from the official website:

Prescription free happiness, now available?! Smiley offers a unisex and universal range of products with micro-nutrients to activate happiness! Its secret: the formula is based on natural bio-chemistry combining theobromine with phenylethylamine derived from pure cocoa extract. This psycho stimulant cocktail is available in a whole range of preparations using galenical pharmacology. A 100% medical look for a unique therapy, the range is revealed out of the confined box of the luxury perfume industry! This antidepressant remedy is to be consumed without any moderation: in the shower, in the bath, for specific use anytime you wish! The formulae are preserved in exclusive perfume bottles developed by the prestigious glassmaking techniques of Saint-Gobain and desinged by Ora-Ito, the most sought after designer of his generation. Nothing like it to contain the happy therapy!

I've been wearing it for almost a week now and I feel fine, however, I'm not sure if my happiness is brought about by the perfume, or by my much-awaited return to the gym, or by a repaired relationship with someone I cared deeply about.  I'm inclined to credit it to the latter, actually.  (I have an entry brewing about my personal trainer and her Instruments of Torture, but will save it for another day.)

I should know better than to buy into marketing strategies, but I had wanted to try smiley for the longest time.  I'm not sure if I'm smiling more now, just as I'm not sure if in the past, I was truly Beautiful courtesy of Estee Lauder, In Love Again due to YSL,  Sporty courtesy of Polo Sport, Romantic courtesy of Romance by Ralph Lauren, or Happy courtesy of Clinique.  Honestly!  

Smiley doesn't blend well with me as much as Ralph by Ralph Lauren or Light Blue by Dolce and Gabbana do, but I have to justify my purchase, since I rarely buy perfume for myself.  This is the last perfume I will buy this year, as I have many siblings who provide for my scent supply.  

I will, however, continue to seek happiness from within.