Photographed Iceland and Germany
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Spending more than a month in Germany comes with a crazy mix of emotions. It’s all the memories, the incredible warmth but most of all… the smells. While Iceland smells pure, fresh, clean and like a new beginning, Germany smells like flowers, sunscreen and nostalgia. Yes, nostalgia has a scent and it’s a blend of humid air on the porch and the lakes we used to swim in, years ago. Germany smells like our youth. It feels like our youth. It sounds like our youth. And being here, saying goodbye for good, is bittersweet. We cleaned out our rooms these past two weeks and next to packing moving boxes with clothes and shoes to put up for sale we filled even more of those with kitchen utensils, books, accessories, unused beauty products and more clothes for donation which is all being picked up by a local help-organisation next week. We rearranged the furniture so our old stay can now be used as guest rooms. And that was it. A few administrational things and our past life is almost ‘erased’ here in Hannover. While going through old boxes and drawers we found tons of stuff from back in school. Letters of long gone friendships and drawings, poems, stories written back in the day. A whole chapter of both our lives resurfaced and even though we had a GOOD laugh about most of the crap we found - some letters moved us deeply. They made it so obvious how youth is now over, how we entered adulthood without even noticing it (and did so not just yesterday) and how the afternoons spent at the lake are nothing but a fading memory, already replaced by countless new ones. It didn’t necessarily made us feel old but it made us feel something. Nostalgia, mostly but also that weird feeling you get when you realise how FAST life moves. How all those moments pass in a wild rush and once you grasp them they are far gone, already. We feel like we just recently stopped processing our youth even though it’s already over since quite a while. It’s not coming back. Ever. A scary thought, one that pressures you into cherishing every second even more, that gives you a headache that you might not make enough out of your life and all it’s incredible moments. It made us understand what we missed out on for years now. Howe we stopped doing so many things we dearly loved. Ironically, we did so because we already felt to old. Now actually being older and looking back we have to learn that we were wrong and that we did let time pass without filling it with what we are truly passionate about. It’s never too late to start fresh but right this moment if gives us a lot to swallow and days of feeling blue.

The upside is that we are working on getting back on the ‘what we are truly passionate about’ track, the downside is that we will most likely feel a little out of balance until we are (finally) back in Iceland. Because this is the REAL goodbye, the biggest one of our time being. It’s a goodbye to our hometown, our rooms, most of our stuff, things connected to our past, to school, university and first jobs, to everything but our citizenship. We say goodbye to Hannover and while we thought it wouldn’t bother us the slightest bit it is way harder than what we imagined. All those feelings because of how the air smell. Because of sunscreen and coconut oil and the freakishly hot wooden floor on the terrace. Of the strawberry fields, the air after summer rain. Of course we can always come visit - but that is what it’s ultimately going to be: a visit. A pit stop in the past. We are very certain that this distinctive smell is gonna throw us right back to youth for all our lives. It’s been a good youth. It’s been fun most of the times. We made it great for each other. We still do. And so whenever we smell this mixture of what we would like to call ‘blast of the past’ we can just look at each other and understand. Now, we will get to know the full extent of the smell of NOW, which at some point will be the smell of another part of our past: young adulthood. The scent of ‘when we moved to Iceland, got married and started with a new big project together’. It’s one of the best things in our lives: that we share it all, that we understand wach other, that we can perfectly relate to what the other one feels.

It’s incredible how many memories are tied to scents. We for example have a ‘festival perfume’ which reminds us of all the festivals we went to. We each have one specific scent we used to wear daily back in high school. We both loved one special brand during our fashion blogger days and now it’s the perfect time for a new perfume. We already own a few perfumes by Issey Miyake (fav’ one being the classic L´Eau d´Issey which so perfectly matches Iceland) and so it was no surprise that one of the newest additions of the Issey family would become a ‘most loved’, as well. PURE Nectar de Parfum represents how a drop of water changes growth into full bloom. What better metaphor for our current situation? It smells like a blend of past and present, light and airy but also flowery and sweet. Honey, pear, rose and sandalwoods are the main notes - the latter two have always been our number one choices when it comes to scents. Caro is currently wearing PURE daily. Since it vanishes during the day you might have to refresh it two/three times. It’s sweet but not too sweet, the perfect perfume for spring/summer. And the best thing: it fits both worlds - Iceland and Germany, past and present. We will make new memories now. Some the we can reminisce on in the future. And then, L´Eau d´Issey PURE Nectar de Parfum will be a part of this very now in our life story. The now where we reconnect with our true passions, where we roam and camp the country of our hearts. Where we created the foundation for a life filled with joy. We are ready to completely let go. Turn the drop of NOW into a future in full bloom, so to speak. ;)