Scents And Sensibility
August 26, 2008
We use it every day, a dash here, a dab there an all to make a style statement! However, it makes a great gift too, as we splash out on pretty scent bottles for our near and dear. But, how much does an average person know about perfumes, apart from the fact that they smell good?
We aren’t the only ones obsessed with fragrances. The ancient Indians and Egyptians too felt the need to come up smelling like roses. Each perfume is like a song, a singular combination of many elements, but made up of three basic notes i.e. the top, the middle and the base. The moment you spray a perfume, it is the top note that hits you first. The body of the perfume is the middle note, while the base note lingers long after you have applied a fragrance.
There is no escaping family, even when it comes to fragrances. Belonging to five families of Citrus, Floral, Aromatic, Woody and Spicy, perfumers use them in varying permutations and combinations to create different scents.
Choosing A Signature Fragrance
Much like a song that has to be heard from start to finish to be appreciated, a perfume should be enjoyed through all its notes. A quick spray-on-tester is the worst way to judge a fragrance; all you’ll get to know is the top notes. Spray it on your skin and wear for at least 45-minutes to experience it in its entirety before buying. Forget those paper hand cards; you’ll only appreciate the fragrance notes by spraying on your skin.
Take a couple of weeks to by a perfume. Wear it for a week and listen to and watch the comments and reactions of people around you before deciding on your signature perfume. Always buy perfumes in the morning when your olfactory senses are at their sharpest and you nose as yet unassaulted by pollution and other smells. Try no more than three perfumes at a time; after that even leather will smell like chocolate and vice versa. Neutralise your smell by taking a cotton handkerchief and breathing deeply into it.
Diet affects the way a perfume smells on you, the aroma of foods eaten comes out with your sweat. Choose a perfume that works with your smell.
It is not compulsory to wear a light fragrance by day and a richer one at night. You can do it the other way round, if it so suits you. There isn’t anything like male or female perfumes either; you can wear whatever you like.
Don’t go by romance novels where heroines step into a cloud of perfume to smell good. What a shameful waste of good perfume. Instead, spray it gently on four to five pulse points on your body. Ideally, wear it lower on your body as fragrance tends to waft upwards. The décolletage and your ribs are a good place. Never rub the perfume on your skin, perfume is meant to be applied on your skin, allowing the heat of your body to work on it. Don’t spray it on your clothes as it will stain them and you won’t be able to enjoy the perfume in its entirety.
Wearing Perfume
A perfume should really be the first thing you wear. If, you wish to apply it in your hair, spray some onto your hair brush and brush through the hair. Make it last longer by layering i.e. use a shower gel with the same fragrance. Go neutral on the moisturiser and then apply the perfume. Reapply when necessary.
Preserving Perfume
The shop life of fragrances is only 24-months. Heat, light, air and age are it’s worst enemies. The worst place to store perfume is the bathroom; the best place is the cool and dark depths of a refrigerator. Keep perfume bottles in their boxes, upside down, so that air doesn’t enter the bottle and ruin the fragrance.
Price Wise
Luxury has a high price. You pay for stringent quality standards, for expensive ingredients and for the effort that goes into designing not just the bottle but the fragrance brand.
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