Scents and Sensibility

Recently, I had to take a visiting friend perfume shopping. Her collection was "missing" one brand. Within ten minutes, she had made her purchase. I was surprised, and felt she did not spend enough time to select the right one. Should she have tried the others under the same brand? It got me thinking about how people choose the best fragrance for them. "It's difficult," says Danny Ventura, the international training manager for Beaute Prestige (BP) Internationale brands. "I advise customers to go early in the morning to buy a perfume. It's one of the best times of the day because your nose is rested and you are ready to attack new scents. While you are in your car, think of a place you were happiest. For example, your wedding or birthday or a vacation. If, say, you were happiest on a vacation, think where you were — in the mountains or on the beach — and then look around in your mind to remember what you smelt. Was it the water or a fancy beverage or the sun lotion? Once you figure that out, go to the store and speak to a beauty consultant because they do this every day and can help you find the right one. Tell him or her you want three fragrances. Try one on your left arm, one on your right and one on the blotter and leave the store. Don't buy anything. Go for lunch with friends or have tea, relax, enjoy and, after a while, you'll know which one you should buy". Apart from training beauty consultants and trainers, Ventura is the official international spokesperson for BP of Shiseido International. "I represent [Issey] Miyaki, [Jean Paul] Gaultier and [Narcisso] Rodriguez on an international scale. My third role is fragrance-consulting with clients. We help people find their fragrance."  With so many brands available, how does one differentiate one fragrance from another? In terms of fragrance families, there are about 15, and then going up to 26-27 sub-categories. Simply put, there are four families — floral, woody, oriental and fresh. What constitutes them are the ingredients. For example, floral ones are about leaves, flowers, roots, anything that grows and is organic and you can take a scent from. Fresh fragrances are aquatic, ocean smells or citrus, anything with a peel that you can take oil from. Woody and oriental are heavier fragrances with ingredients such as sandalwood, vanilla and spices.  How do you differentiate between the heavy and light fragrances? The weight comes due to the concentration. Usually perfumes contain 50 per cent alcohol of two kinds — one to preserve the ingredients and one to make it work. The rest is water and the actual concentration of oil we use to create the smell. In general terms, there are four concentrations — eau de cologne (EDC), eau de toilette (EDT), eau de parfum (EDP) and pure perfume. EDC usually contains 3 per cent of the oil. EDT contains 11-17 per cent and EDP has 18-22 per cent and then there is the extract or the pure perfume, which can contain up to 30 per cent. Of course, oriental scents are stronger because of the ingredients and most of them have heavier notes. So, it's the concentration people should pay attention to.  How should one go about wearing perfume? The best time to put on fragrance is after a bath when your skin is still warm and a little bit wet. Apply the fragrance low on your body — on the décolletage, the rib area, the tummy or inner thighs. Because body heat will rise, the fragrance will rise and you'll smell it and everyone else will, too. When you spray on your neck, you are drying up the skin — alcohol, remember? It's not a good idea to apply there as it evaporates quickly and can give you headache or nausea.  How can you find an alternative to a classic, say Chanel no 5? The best thing would be to wear the fragrance and go to the store and ask the salesperson for something that smells like this because you can't find it yourself. Alternatively, look up a book of perfumes for the family the classic perfume belongs to, in this case, Chanel no 5. This is an aldehyde and belongs to a chypre, [an old French term, originally from Cyprus, developed because all ingredients in this family are used as a base — oak moss, lavender, orange flower, etc] a very old family of perfumes and usually there will be a chypre perfume, which can be an alternative to Chanel no 5. Or use the internet — search for "alternative for Chanel no 5" and you'll find 15 perfumes.  What do people prefer today? "At the beginning of the millennium, people preferred floral, light scents but now we are starting to make things a little more oriental. We are starting to mix more fruit molecules with flowers. For example, the latest Issey Miyaki for women has mandarin as the top note, so it's a bit sweet but nice because it lingers. Still discreet, but with a personality. If it became too fresh and unisex, it will have no personality. So things that last a little longer, notes with fruits, blending of flowers and fruits are becoming more fashionable. Store it right Fragrance has four enemies — age, heat, air and light. Make sure it's properly protected. Once opened, store it upside down in the box in a cool dark place. The worst place to keep it is the bathroom. Perfumes usually last for 24 months. After that, use it as an air freshener. Or keep in the fridge. Properly stored, it can last up to three years.