@spaceorphan18 Your Glee, Actually post reminded me I’ve been meaning to share my little headcanon about Kurt’s mom’s perfume. I figure the demographics of Kurt obsessed mixed with perfume obsessed is pretty minimal so it’s probably my lane. I have decided that Mama Hummel wore either Chopard Wish or VanCleef and Arpels Miss Arpels. I’ve queried fellow fragrance lovers who are more experienced with vintage frags and they all say that bottle
looks like some random bit of pretty glassware props found rather than an actual commercial perfume bottle. So looking for things that were around before approximately 2000/2001 (when Kurt would have been 8, going by the 1993 birthdate) that could be readily turned into a Christmas ornament I wind up with those two.(with one further alternate)
First the case for Chopard Wish
It’s not perfect, it was only released in 1999 so she could only have worn it for a year or so and the way he talks about it it always seems to me like something he remembers from his earliest sense memories. The color is also wrong for the bottle Kurt holds, but, come on, that TOTALLY looks like a Christmas ornament. It also was fairly popular and reasonably likely to be easily found in Ohio. It’s also a cheaper more or less smell alike for Mugler Angel which was released in 1992 and was (is) wildly popular, so we could reason that she used Angel until Wish was released when she switched to the cheaper option (also the somewhat more wearable option as I’m pretty sure Angel can be smelled from space - potent is an understatement) . Scent wise, it’s quite sweet and a big ole patchouli bomb (gag. I, personally, hate it, as there are no common perfume notes I hate more than patchouli)
I wish Brilliant Wish was old enough as the bottle is just about perfect and the scent is this lovely discrete honeyed dried fruit with jasmine and some quiet woodyness, but it wasn’t released until 2010 so no dice.
Option 2 (my personally preferred option), VanCleef and Arpels Miss Arpels
released in 1994 the date is right, the look is right, and the scent, at least for me, fits my mental picture of Mrs. Hummel better. I’ve yet to smell it (although it is high on my ‘to get/try’ list), but it is a very fresh, airy, green scent - basil and melon and greenery, and oakmoss and a wash of springy florals and, if I know my beloved VanCleef and Arpels, it’s likely quite restrained and elegant, strong enough to be ‘heard’ clearly but not shouty and overbearing and in your face, and with a little sparkle of quirky fun (love that house so much!), seems a perfect fit for how I imagine her. Slightly less likely to be found in a smallish midwestern city, at least I’ve never found VC&A anything in mine, but then I remember in Ohio they have Cleveland and Cincinnati, significantly bigger than Omaha.
Third option, but I like it less, mostly for the look, but also for the scent, is Van Cleef and Arpels First
Now I adore this one. It’s my fanciest of the fancy date night’s perfume. It is incredibly elegant, and makes you feel like a Lady with a capital L. It’s somewhat similar to Chanel No 5, (in the same vein and family anyway. I’m sure Chanel aficionados would disagree but as all Chanel turns to high priced vinegar on my skin I don’t particularly care what they think) and I’m sure there are many women who wear it as their daily signature, but it just doesn’t strike me as the daily sig scent of the woman that Kurt’s mom is in my head, or the sort of thing that a young child would remember as “I always loved the way she smelled” (my own kids certainly don’t love it, they always complain that they don’t like this one. Of course they are also used to a mommy that never smells the same two days in a row, so piping up about which ones they like and don’t like is common conversation)
Anyway I don’t know if anyone else wondered or cared about this, but it’s been a fun marriage of interests to poke at.
I also have a headcanon that Kurt is a total frag-head. I just can’t see any man who loves accessories as much as he does ignoring the category of olfactory accessories. Hr doesn’t have any sitting on his vanity or in his room in the loft. but clearly he just keeps them away from light like a good perfumista. (I am a bad one, I like looking at the pretty bottles too much)
