I use to love to wear perfume. In fact, White Shoulders was my very favorite. But as I grew older, the more allergic I am to it. I can be sick for weeks just from going down the candle aisle at a store. I have no idea why I grew allergic to it over the years but lots of people I have talked with about it have said the same thing. It did not bother them when they were younger but it does now. When we are having choir practice, people will stop practice to remind people not to wear perfume. It is not good for singers as well as others to have throat and ear problems due to a smell that is not necessary all of the time.
Perfumed candles also give me a problem, but if the weather is warm, and my allergies are not in sensitivity mode, I can burn the scented ones.
Also, sometimes allergies do manifest themselves later in life. I used to never have a problem around cats until the last 25 years, (I am now 60)and now I know if there’s a cat in the house without ever having seen the cat. My throat starts tickling, and my eyes begin itching and watering.