Toni Gard Woman Toni Gard 2010

My eighteenth birthday, January 9th, I’m strolling through the city. An acquaintance crosses my path. We chat briefly, I mention today’s celebration. He, completely taken aback: “Wait here for a moment! I’ll be right back!”. I wait about five minutes until he returns from the Douglas store across the street. “That wasn’t necessary!”, I groan, feeling extremely embarrassed. In his hands is a small gift, a perfume, I assume. A hug. I thank him warmly, we say our goodbyes.

I sit down on the nearest bench, even though the weather is quite dreadful. I unwrap the package. Toni Gard? Never heard of it. “This perfume smells like you,” he had told me before he left. I toss the box into the trash can next to me, spray myself generously with the fragrance, wait a bit, and gaze into the distance.

Wow. Amber. Finest marzipan, vanilla. I’m not very knowledgeable about perfumes, I might own two bottles at this point. I feel comfortable, safe. Like in my mother’s lap, cozy, surrounded by pastries. Everything I love so much comes to my mind’s eye. I start to cry, completely overwhelmed by what this scent evokes in me.

Ten years, around twenty full bottles, and countless perfume samples later, I know one thing:
This is my scent, my beloved Toni Gard Woman. My signature, MY fragrance.

And: No one will ever know me as well as you, Kevin, back then, in the city center on January 9th.