Scent of a Woman

While the blog is named after one of my favourite movie starring Al Pacino, it has little bearing to the movie. This blog is all about perfumes.

The word perfume used today derives from the Latin “per fumum”, meaning "through smoke."

I know of many men and women who have difficulty in selecting the types of perfumes to wear for different occasions. 

Did you know that there are day perfumes and then there are night perfumes? Why are there different types of perfumes based on the time of the day?

The types of activities that you do are different in the day than in the night and that is why we have different perfumes.

Day perfumes: These are usually lighter, subtler and don’t overwhelm your co-workers.

Night Perfumes: These are muskier, heavier and usually more heady. They usually have a more carnal, vulgar, romantic element in them which are more suited to activities one does in the evening! :-)

Now that we have the definitions of day and night perfumes out of the way, lets look at how perfumes are classified.

Perfumes are usually classified as:

• Floral: These are mainly perfumes that are created mainly from flowers, often blended together to produce a bouquet.
• Oriental: These are usually a mix of spices. Suggestions of warmth and sensuality.
• Fresh: These are made from naturally refreshing and uplifting usually tangerine and citrusy with marine notes and grassy odors.
• Woody (or Chypre: pronounced as SHIP-ruh): It’s a woody and mossy fragrance.

The Fragrance Wheel is a classification based on the notes above and was developed by Michael Edwards in 1983.

The Wheel is shown below:

The Fragrance Wheel

Perfumes from the floral and fresh families are considered day perfumes, and oriental and woody families as night.

Fougere Perfumes are usually known as the “universal fragrance family”, blends flavors from all the four other classifications. Most male oriented perfumes come from this family.

Every perfume has 3 notes and are:

• Top Notes: This note is perceived immediately after applying it. The perfume molecules evaporate immediately and these note generate the first impression.
• Middle Notes: As soon as the Top note dissipates, the notes that then appear are the middle notes. This is the main body of the perfume. These are also called as the heart notes.
• Base Notes: These appear as soon as the middle notes dissipate. These lend solidity to the perfume and usually appears after around 30 minutes of application of a perfume.

Notes of a Perfume

Note that the same perfume can smell differently on two different people based on the skin type (dry or moist), body heat and inherent body odor. So be cautious while picking a perfume for someone you love!

Please ask for coffee beans at the perfumery before you buy one. It helps in clearing the nose.

Apply perfume where you would like to be kissed i.e. in the most sensual places like behind the ear lobes, your wrists and on the sides of your neck. Usually one round of application is enough unless you perspire a lot. If you do, another round usually suffices.

Be very careful while applying perfumes especially if you are wearing a silk scarf, tie or sarees. It could ruin your silks.

Some etiquette tips on using a perfume:

• Please don’t drench yourself in perfume. It can leave people around you choking for hours.
• While flying in an aircraft, do not overdo the perfume. It could be uncomfortable to your fellow passengers.

Coco Chanel is quoted as saying "A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future.” 

How you smell is a key component of your Image and we take this aspect very seriously while Image Consulting for you.