Malibu Musk by Parfums de Coeur

This 1989 floral fruity went on to become the ultimate 90s babysitter signature scent during peak fascination with the au pair occupation in popular culture. Ann M. Martin herself couldn’t write a better fragrance for all the young entrepreneuring teens of this decade. To this day, the miles-long sillage this bottle left on a freshly scrunchie-d head makes it one of the most nostalgic and coveted fragrances of any child cared for after school by one of these unattainably cool teenagers. They wonder how their sitter could so effortlessly cart them to the local Blockbuster for a PG-13 movie (as long as they don’t tell their mom) while simultaneously preventing them from going into anaphylactic shock from a peanut.

They dream about who she is when she’s not taking care of them. Has she been kissed? How many times? You haven’t been kissed once yet. Does she drink Zima under the bleachers at school? You had too much bubblegum mouthwash once and had to have your stomach pumped.

As she paints your fingernails in Hard Candy nail polish, you begin to realize your life hasn’t even started. There’s this distinct barrier of child and teenagerdom that feels so vast. You know it’s why you’ll never really be her friend as long as you’re still actively displaying your Pound Puppies. You let your freshly blue claws dry and dream about when the big change will happen to you, when you’re no longer the babysat. To push this puberty along you pretend to be her for a bit and spritz some Malibu Musk accidentally into your eyes. You’re blinded by your future freedoms.

Notes include grapefruit, blackberry, peach, melon, aldehydes, flowers and musk. In real life you will smell what you think Alicia Silverstone smells like in The Babysitter.