Monday, August 13, 2012

Signing With A Scent

Ladies its Saturday night you’re at drinks with the girls, your friend arrives, she walks past tables and up to the bar to meet you and she’s turning heads. As she hugs you in greeting you now know why... She looks gorgeous but she smells divine and the whole establishment is left in awe as she’s left a beautiful lingering scent in their wake. 

Perhaps she’s genetically blessed in the looks department and that’s why all eyes are on her and you know it probably helps but what about that gorgeous scent... I’m not saying some people naturally smell nicer than others, we all use soap and deodorant people (and some people really should if they don’t)! I’m talking about the smell when someone walks in or out of a room and their fragrance lingers in the air and it’s almost intoxicating! This is the power of the signature scent.

This doesn’t just apply to ladies I’ve walked past guys and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, if it wasn’t creepy I’d follow you around the shopping  centre’.   There are a few male fragrances that may make me rethink my sanity.  Though not my absolute favourite, Dunhill Desire (Red) makes me think of snuggling with a hot man on the couch in front of a wood fire.  Dunhill would make a great signature scent for some lucky guy who may or may not end up cuddling up with a special lady in front of a wood fire.  Smell is a powerful thing guys, do not underestimate it! Certain scents can evoke both memories and imagination (take that as you will).  Also the bottle is really cool and looks like a hip flask!

Now back to your friend, after you’ve hugged and exchanged pleasantries you’ve asked her what on earth that delectable fragrance is (though you probably didn’t ask her like that).  She’s reluctantly told you that it’s Hypnotic Poison by Christian Dior and the next day you’re at the perfume counter, paid $100+ for it (depending on the size), gotten it home, spritzed it all over and shock horror it smells absolutely vile.   How could this happen? Men were swooning and women were envious over this beautiful vanilla fragrance wafting around the bar and it smells like spoilt milk on you!

Why you ask? Did she sabotage you? Does she have magical sweet smelling skin? What is she doing differently?  Why aren’t men dropping at your feet and women death glaring yet?  It’s simple and no she’s not taking her revenge for you stealing her fragrance, it just doesn’t suit your body chemistry.

The way a fragrance chemically reacts to your body can depend on a number of factors.  Age is one, as we age throughout our lives our tastes will change but so do our hormones.  When I was working in perfume I would have to find new signature scents for people as they’ve matured or they’ve had children and their favourite fragrances “don’t smell the same” or they can’t tolerate them anymore.  It all has to do with hormones, lucky...not!

Diet and medication can often change the way a fragrance smells and/or how we perceive smell.  If you’ve had a curry the night before and you’re applying fragrance to pulse points your fragrance will definitely smell interesting... Also the oiliness of your skin can either hold a fragrance well or it may dissipate faster. 

Knowing all this doesn’t exactly help you now that you’ve purchased that $100 bottle of fragrance. However, don’t despair; there is a way around this.  If it’s your body chemistry that’s affecting the way your fragrance smells perhaps you should not apply your fragrance to your body.  Perhaps you could spritz it on your hair or your clothes.  You’re guaranteed to get bottle smell and if you have long hair you may as well take advantage of it.  So when you walk into that bar, your hair is flowing behind you and the breeze catches heads will turn ;)  

Aimz ox


DISCLAIMER: Please note that if you’re allergic to a fragrance, applying it to your hair and/or clothes will not rid you of allergy or irritation and to be honest it’s not worth trying it nor do I recommend you trying this as you will still have the reaction.  

             

Sunday, July 29, 2012

I believe introductions are in order..

Many years ago, six to be precise, a young girl walked into a pharmacy and laid eyes on a magical green bottle stoppered with a fairy lid.  Citrusy, you can pick out notes of pineapple and lemon, this fragrance was her piece of olfactory heaven.  Its name was ‘Secret Wish’ by Anna Sui (check out Fragrantica for a full list of notes).  You've probably guessed that girl was me, Secret Wish was my first fragrance and I still wear it to this day.  Actually I put it on as a form of inspiration for my first blog post.

You see at the time my mother was getting ready to open her perfume store and I thought I would help out by finding the best smelling fragrances there was.  Despite the fact that I was only sixteen, Secret Wish made the inventory list and this was the start of my perfume obsession.
I am quite passionate about perfume as it is so personal.  To each person their favourite fragrances are influenced by memory, by climate and environment, body chemistry and personal tastes.  I believe in the power of a good signature scent. The signature scent is the one where you enter the room, leaving a lingering luscious smell behind.  The signature scent is when the wind passes through and you catch a whiff of someone’s special fragrance and wondered what it was and who it came from.  It’s the kind of power that has people following you around the shopping centre.  This scent becomes ‘your smell’ and the great thing about perfume is that it can smell wonderful on one person and completely different on someone else so it does remain ‘your smell’ as perfume alters to your body chemistry.

About two months ago I embarked on an overseas trip with a friend I barely knew (it had been about six years since I had seen her as well) for a trip of a lifetime around Western Europe.  As a budding actress and a beauty/fashion blogger, this friend, Emma lives her life to the absolute fullest. To be honest I was envious! Envious, that she was doing exactly as her heart desired.  I don’t think I was envious of being an acting student, though who hasn’t wanted to be in a movie? I think there was a stage where I wanted to play Alice Cullen in the Twilight saga (my sister agrees she says I’m the right shade of white).  I was definitely intrigued with the blogging though.

As a child I would write short stories, poems and news articles (one was even published in the school newsletter, what a proud eleven year old I was!) and so the nature of blogging definitely appealed to me. 
So after my crazy world wind adventure overseas I promised myself to live out my most heartfelt desires, my secret wishes. That, coupled with my perfume obsession is what this blog is about.


A Secret Wish, A Secret Sniff…



(Also check out Emma's blog La Vie, Style et Beaute`)

 

Aimz ox