How To Guides: 78 posts

I confess to a perfume quirk:  I love to coordinate fragrance and clothes. I’ve been doing it since I was thirteen, when such a task was made much simpler by the smaller number of perfumes in my wardrobe. By the time I was in high school, the coordination was fairly routine and easy to follow.  Brown clothing (specifically, Levis brown cords) never matched up with a light blue tunic or with any fragrance that I deemed blue.  Whether a fragrance was blue (or green or red or any color at all) depended on a variety of factors, like the color of the bottle, the color of the juice, or the “feel.”

“Feel” was and still is impossible for me to describe, but many perfumistas will know exactly what I mean.  Sometimes determining the color might be simple:  Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche was blue because of the bottle and the sky-high aldehydes, the fizzy, champagne-like notes that smell effervescent and blue to me.  Revlon Charlie was yellow because the juice is gold and fizzy (I daringly wore it with a yellow ribbed sweater and orange jeans.) Houbigant Chantilly was light brown and I wore it with beige and never with teal.

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My day-to-day perfumery work requires an extensive library of fragrances, but for pleasure, I can make do with a small wardrobe. When I had to pack in preparation for my move to Belgium, I faced a Sophie’s choice many perfume lovers dread–which perfumes to take with me. We didn’t know if we’d be moving for a couple of months or a couple of years, and the limited luggage allowance left me with few options–three or four full bottles maximum.

I relied on this small fragrance wardrobe for several months as most of my collection made its way the ocean, but I’ve never felt deprived.  Perfumers often say that a single perfume can be worn in such ways that it can smell like a completely different blend, but this was the first time I had experimented enough to discover this for myself.  Depending on how I applied a fragrance, I enjoyed different facets of my favorite perfumes. It was both fun and liberating, proving once again that one need not spend a fortune to be beautifully scented.

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Part 1: Florals ~ Rose
Part 2: Florals ~ Jasmine and White Florals
Part 3: Florals ~ Lily of the Valley and Violet
Part 4: Florals ~ Blends
Part 5: Essentials
Part 6 : Orientals

Autumn is the time of year when I reach for woods fragrances from my collection, hoping to recall memories of crisp leaves, curls of wood smoke, and the bracing green of pine. Woods fragrances may include sandalwood, cedar, oak, pine, and cypress (plus more), and also include for classification’s sake patchouli and vetiver.  Some woods fragrances smell like the outdoors, while others smell like an antique treasure chest and still more use wood as a basenote, skipping the ambient quality and using wood as a background support.

Wood notes are used in both male and female fragrances and may be interpreted differently.  In male fragrances, woods can suggest rugged masculinity (Coty Wild Woods) or they can be smoothed over with elegance (Chanel Égoïste).  A large amount of sandalwood in Samsara enhances the seductive nature of this Guerlain classic.  I enjoy the dryness and sharpness that wood notes can bring to fragrances, and their combination of elegance and sensuality.

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I sometimes receive comments from people who want to learn more about scents, but are afraid that this hobby is too expensive for them. How could you try all of the fragrances you read about without ending up broke? As with most interests, a perfume hobby can be as expensive or as budget conscious as you want. When I was a student living on a meager stipend, spending even $20 on something non-essential required  major planning. Today, given my family responsibilities, I need to think twice before every perfume purchase, so I’m still very budget conscious.

But the truth is that the joy of discovering perfume is not in amassing dozens of bottles on your dressing table; it’s in smelling and experiencing the pleasure of scents. For this you need not spend a cent.  If you are trying to manage your perfume hobby, let me share a few tips that have helped me learn about scents, understand my perfume tastes and keep within budget.

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Whenever I mention to a new acquaintance that I work in fragrance and we plunge into a discussion of perfume, most people remark that they never thought that scents could be so fascinating. We take our nose for granted. In various surveys asking people what sense they would most likely give up, most select their sense of smell. But it only takes a moment of reflection to realize how hard this loss would be. As many studies show, without the sense of smell, our food tastes bland, our libido suffers, our world loses color and even our memories becomes so much poorer. The message is simple: take care of your nose and use it to its full capacity.

Enjoying perfume is only one facet of being scent obsessed–cooking, gardening, and even something as simple as taking a walk in the park counts too. But perfume is such a great adventure. It cheers me up when I feel down. It makes me feel elegant. It indulges my fantasies and wanderlust. Exploring scents for their rich history and fascinating craftsmanship gives me as much satisfaction as art and music, and it is just as rewarding.

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