Most of the time we do not think about our sense of smell. It is the least appreciated of our senses. Yet it is one of the most powerful memory aids that we have. A faint lavender scent immediately reminds me of my mother. A certain disgusting fragrance that I smelled on a sweater earlier this year will always bring back unpleasant memories. Wave a wand of Red Door near me and I am twenty three years younger and wondering why some one would give me a musk based perfume as a gift! Nina Ricci L'Air du Temps makes me smile. CK One reminds me of summer days when my children were young. Wrights Coal Tar soap stench makes me gag but does bring back some happy memories. The smell of Sunlight soap takes me back to grating soap into a washing machine many years ago. The list goes on.
The fragrance industry is huge. It turns over billions of dollars every year. The scents that are used in the industry range from barks to rose oils to leaves to well anything that smells good either alone or combined with other odourants. So we have layers within fragrances. Perfumeries around the world can make you a personalised fragrance that may well appeal only to you. You can sniff a hundred different base notes, middle notes and top notes then combine what you like and voile you have your own individual perfume. Of course if you do not have a particularly good nose you may ... well stink.
One person's adored fragrance can be another person's stench. I was about ten when I decided that my mother would love a toilette water made by Arden. When I sprayed some on my wrist, as I had seen my mother do, it smelled divine. Handing over the cash I clutched the bottle with pride. This was going to be a wonderful birthday present.
The day arrived. My mother opened her gifts with smiles and thanks. Then it was my turn. She carefully removed the wrapping paper (she always recycled long before it was in), stared at the box, took out the flask, sprayed some on her wrist and - I held my breath for the "ah that is lovely" comment. Instead her eyes glazed, she turned her head and let out her breath. "I'll keep that for special occassions" she told me. Translation: It reeks and the only time I would ever use it was if I was going out with people I wished to seriously offend!"
The flask finally met its doom when it was 'accidentally' knocked off her dressing table. Apparently the glass broke but I never smelled the scent in the room so I have my suspicions. I did learn a lesson that I have used ever since. You can not buy perfume for some one else without knowing what they like. My youngest daughter loves "Sunflowers" fragrance which makes me almost have panic attacks and a bout of asthma when I smell it. She thinks it smells wonderful. To me musk fragrances are gross. Floral can overpower, oriental can drown out everything but the desire to throw up, woody can delight and citrus is more often than not wonderful.
Which is why the sale of a perfume that has been sprayed onto a piece of cardboard and waved around in the air does not work. Your own sweat, body temp, pheromones etc all play a part in how a fragrance smell on you. Something can smell good on a piece of paper and put it on me -- result: choking noises, green faces and a desire to rush outdoors. Fragrances for me are no different.
So why do so many places no longer have tester available? How do you select a fragrance from behind a glass door? By the colour of the box? The type face? The shape of the container? By trusting the stranger who reassures you that it is all the rage as she waves her inch long talons within an inch of your face? I bought my spouse some fragrances last Christmas. One was tested after I managed to extract a bottle from a box wrapped to such a degree that I almost had a hernia opening it. The other was bought solely on the basis of its name. I think he enjoyed using them - at least for a few months. As with so many gifts they now sit on the shelf reminding me that gift giving is often a treacherous process with the amount of effort that goes into the selection being disproportionate to the success of the gift.
I worked with a woman who rushed passed various perfume counters in different stores on her way to work each day. She would grab a tester, spray her wrists and behind her ears, grin and rush off. I think she may have had the right idea. A hit and run perfuming of one's own choice might be just the thing we need. One can decide which perfume to use from a variety of choices rather than the two on your dressing table. Today the temptress, tomorrow the savvy adventurer, the next the sweet young thing - all for free and without any risk of contracting some awful fungal infections (or worse). A sniff, a spray and away you go!
Of course once we have used the scented soap, the scented shampoo, the scented deodorant, the scented toothpaste, put on the clothes that we washed in scented detergent and fragrant softener and eaten the cinnamon flavoured oatmeal adding another layer may be the one thing that makes us ... stink. Which might be why my Labrador spends so much time sniffing every one who visits. She can't decide if they are human or animal or vegetable or spice.
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