That Sillage

IT COULD MEAN THE SLIPSTREAM OF A BOAT, the vapor trail of a plane or more commonly to the English speaker, the scent trail of perfume. Le sillage could also figuratively refer to the legacy or aura someone leaves behind, as in "dans le sillage de qqun - in someone's wake (lit and fig) or marcher dans le sillage de qqun - to follow in someone's footsteps."

That moth on the frosty mirror has been inhabiting our bathroom for three days now. It gave me an initial panic, having superstitious beliefs impulsively kick in until I knocked myself back into sense knowing that any form of death can't logically make itself known to me via an insect. Neither was it a butterfly drawn to a scent. Are they even drawn to artificial fragrance?

And so with a camera oddly finding itself in the bathroom, I thought I'd do a juxtaposition between my scents and his scents and how much, indeed, I need to replenish. The fragrances that have so far best agreed with my bodily and personal chemistry have been floral, woody or powdery. I wonder sometimes if maybe I spray on too much and smell too strong, although asked only twice in my life what I was wearing: once in Tagaytay at a furniture outlet and the other time in Paris at Charles de Gaulle.

I wonder sometimes but ultimately don't care. I'm way too young to be conscious about leaving too big of an impression with my scent or myself. Of course, I'm conscious enough not to smell repulsive, like someone who had lost all caution at a perfume counter. Let me know if I do. Not a fan of spritzing all through the day either, I wear my perfume only once in the morning before I leave home and once at night, if and when I go out for the evening.

Besides, an impression takes time to be left behind and linger. For scents, a couple hours. For people, up to a lifetime.

Le sillage definition from About.com French Language, french.about.com

Left to right, for her: Balenciaga Paris, YSL Parisienne, Gucci Flora, Dior J'adore and Chanel Chance, Eau Fraîche. Left to right, for him: Hermes Terre D'Hermes, Issey Miyake L'eau D'Issey Pour Homme, Chanel Bleu de Chanel, Hugo Boss Boss Bottled and Armani Code, Mania and Giorgio Armani.