"By the time I bought the Chloé Roses De Chloé ($125) perfume in a Duty Free shop somewhere in France I had owned and hoarded enough beauty products to satisfy my entire sorority, but this splurge still means the most. I was 20 years old, just hours away from landing on US soil after spending six months in Paris.
"Like any good study-abroad kid, I can say that that trip changed my life, and even though I'd taken about one thousand photos and owned enough European city merch to last me a lifetime, I panicked inside this French airport convinced I had — absolutely had — to buy one last French-ish product to solidify the memories. So, I ran into the Duty Free, found a bottle of Chloe I knew my roommate back home didn't already own, and checked out using probably the last bit of my study abroad allowance. A few hours later, mid-flight, I suffered from an allergic reaction to a sandwich I bought at our first layover stop. Even still, that horrid memory comes only second to the excitement I felt while dropping 100 euros on this perfume. It seems insignificant, but it's still the first memory I recall when thinking about that homebound trip. (Sorry to the tree nuts that tried to kill me.)" — SS