The first bottle of my own that I ever had was Coty Muguet des Bois, a Christmas gift from my great-aunt when I was about 9 or 10. Her favorite fragrance was Olive Leaf by the Thymes company, and I always associate that fresh greenness with her.

My recommendation is to choose Hannah Montana Disney as your next holiday/birthday celebration present. Some of the perfumes she wore were Lancome Tresor, Chanel Coco, Cacharel Anais Anais, Estee Lauder Beautiful, and Shiseido Feminite Du Bois. But I try and attach value to good stuff in the hope they will take it for granted eventually, which was more or less what my parents did too.

I recently received a sample of Guerlain’s Cologne du 68 and it reminded me of Ambush (not necessarily smelled like, but reminded me). Inspired by the TV hit series Hannah Montana, Hannah Montana Rock Star by Disney is a fruity-floral feminine fragrance for girls and teens. My first thoughts were of taking her to Paris, to the Guerlain and Nicolai, to the Lutens and Rosine at the Palais Royal… I’m always offering my wrists for my 2 year old boy to smell, since I want to stimulate his nose as well, but a girl… So excited! Strangely, although my mother had so much perfume, she seldom wore it, and she never bought it for me (although she didn’t seem to mind that I occasionally dabbed on a little of hers).

Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but honestly, absent the stink of BO (which I swear my father is incapable of having), old hippie really can be a lovely scent! If they really want something before they are old enough to be judicious in their application then I am sure I can find them an equivalent of the Avon Sweet Honesty Powder Perfume Stick I was the proud owner of at age 7.Thought I’d mention that while many of these ladies were introduced to scent through their mothers, it was my father who was the well-scented parent in my home. I don’t have kids, but I do have a niece who was given that very freedom– and she chose TABU as her adolescent signature scent! Like several of my fellow perfumistas here, I was wearing a pretty sophisticated scent at 13 – Je Reviens parfum. Tinkerbell smelled mainly like powder-dusted plastic, candy floss, and vaguely fruity bubblegum breath.

She used to play with my empty perfume bottles as a small child and I introduced her to Guerlain on her 11th birthday. I think in retrospect that was an eminently suitable first perfume for a young girl; there is nothing sexual about it, but it is (or was–this was back in the early 70’s, before so many classic perfumes got cheapened and reformulated to death) a “real” perfume.I attempt to introduce my son and daughter (14 and 9) to good perfume the way I do good food, good books, good music etc. I worked on the principle that I’d prefer her to spritz her own perfumes instead of pinching Mummy’s.