I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan — and never, never let you forget you’re a man! So sang the power-suited blonde in the Enjoli cologne ad, circa 1979, and if at the time you were a young girl like I was, you fell for it completely. Just a spritz behind each ear, and you’d be kinda wow, Charlie! And if a man you’d never met before suddenly brought you flowers? That, natch, was your Impulse body spray.

To this day, those light-hearted, inexpensive toilet waters, mists, and oils sold at beauty-supply outlets, pharmacies, and even the supermarket possess for me far more value, however sentimental, than pricey boutique parfums that you can’t even call "breezy" or "kicky." Take the Demeter’s Plain Pleasures line ($14.99), available at your neighborhood Bread & Circus (check the health-and-beauty aisle). Every scent they concoct is more charmingly eye- (or nose-, I suppose) opening than the last: Gingerale is fizzy; Pruning Shears conjures dewy, fresh-cut roses; Earl Gray Tea is all rainy days and bathrobes; Crust of Bread captures that warm, nutty aroma (really, how do they do that?); and Sawdust and Dirt are hilariously uncanny. These, by the way, are just a few; you’ll also find Leather, Pipe Tobacco, and Martini scents. What’s next? Muenster? Exhaust? Kidding aside, how about some Peanut Butter and Jelly?

But if your taste in fragrance is a little subtler than that, you might appreciate the Essentially Yours Aromatherapy Perfume Gels ($9.99) you’ll find on the very same shelves. With Cranberry on one wrist and Sage on the other, you can relive Thanksgiving all day long, calorie-free. Ginger and Citrus are tropics-bright, and Cucumber is clean and cool as ... you know. On the same refined note, Harnett’s, a Body Shop for the green set in Harvard Square, carries Zents Elixir Concentrates ($22.99), which come in such delicate, serene scents as Earth (with pine and sandalwood), Sun (vanilla and sandalwood), and the especially lovely lemon-and-coriander-tinged Water. Also at Harnett’s, Provence Santé’s prettily packaged line of Eaux de Toilettes ($22.79) includes Lavender, lemony Vervain, and Linden, which smells the way those posters of clean, white Cape Cod cottages cast geometrically in the morning sunlight look.

But to return to memory lane, you’ve gotta drop by, yes, CVS. There, amidst all the faded glories in the display case — Ciara, Halston, Emeraude — lurks the long-lost Prince Matchabelli, awaiting his comeback with the lightly sweet-and-spicy Ginger Lotus ($4.99). It’s a scent that lingers, fittingly, since lingering is, after all, what both good scents and good memories do best.

Where to get it:

• Bread & Circus, various locations, www.breadandcircus.com.

• CVS, various locations, www.cvs.com.

• Hartnett’s, 47 Brattle Street, Cambridge, (617) 491-4747.