Reflections on Glitter

It's been driving me nuts—the smell of one of my face creams consistently reminds me of something, but I couldn't think of what. I've been using the cream for probably two months now, and I just this second realized what it reminded me of: It smells like the roll-on body glitter I had when I was about four years old. I had two kinds, gold and sort of generic iridescent, and I loved them to death. It seemed the height of elegance to cover oneself in glitter, especially when that involved extending the glitter theme to one's hair as well via silver glitter hairspray. Of course, the silver hairspray and the iridescent roll-on went together; one didn't use the silver with the gold. Heavens, no! I was a very particular kid.

So when did I reach the point where body glitter changed from being the ne plus ultra in fashion to something that seems rather tacky, best suited for college freshmen in tube tops and kids at raves? Perhaps I have grown boring....