{"id":57206,"date":"2019-03-07T13:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T18:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/beauty\/?p=57206"},"modified":"2019-03-14T08:59:24","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T12:59:24","slug":"scents-and-sensibility-theres-more-to-perfume-than-just-smelling-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realstylenetwork.com\/beauty\/2019\/03\/scents-and-sensibility-theres-more-to-perfume-than-just-smelling-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Scents And Sensibility – There\u2019s More To Perfume Than Just Smelling Good"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of Real Style magazine. Become a Real Style subscriber and get the hottest fashion, beauty and celebrity news, enter exclusive subscriber giveaways and be the first to receive the full digital version of Real Style magazine. Click <\/em>here<\/a><\/span> to subscribe for free! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the novel Perfume, a fragrance has the power to turn a whole city upside down into a seething mass of lust and immorality. In commercials, it promises a fantasy life of romance, intrigue and adventure. In business, it turns mere drops of liquid into gold. What is this thing that has captured so many human beings and makes us believe it can turn us into something\u2014a star, something to be desired, something to be won. In truth, it\u2019s just oil and air. But in cultures around the world, it\u2019s the essence of being.<\/p>\n

 \u201cPerfume is a way to make people dream. It\u2019s seduction, personality, image,\u201d says Agnes Webster, head of Fragonard, the fragrance label that also runs a perfume museum in Paris. Webster explains that all fragrances are made up of \u201craw material in general and flowers in particular. The ways of extraction, presentation (bottles, sticks) are also similar.\u201d But, she critically notes, in addition to helping people smell better, fragrances create at the same time a personality.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, perfume is seen as a way to be remembered, with iconic fragrances having an unforgettable quality. Among them: Thierry Mugler\u2019s Angel.<\/p>\n

Mugler perfumer Jean-Christophe H\u00e9rault credits the perfume\u2019s long-lasting popularity to its addictive quality\u2014that and innovation. \u201cWhen I talk about addiction, it is not only the gourmand facets of the perfume but also the desire of, once trying the fragrance for the first time, wearing it several times,\u201d says H\u00e9rault.<\/p>\n

On a personal note, Joop for Men by Joop! stands out for H\u00e9rault as a favourite. \u201cI used to wear this fragrance when I was a teenager. This perfume wasn\u2019t very well known in France at that time and was very different from the current trend.  People stopped me to say how much they liked it and I was fascinated by its effect both on me and on others.  This was definitely the first time I ever fell in love with a fragrance. Now I understand why I liked the originality of an oriental fragrance with the orange blossom in a masuline fragrance.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Webster, the most iconic fragrances include Chanel No 5, \u201call the Magic Guerlain fragrances until the \u201980s, Youth-Dew Est\u00e9e Lauder, Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, Tr\u00e9sor Lanc\u00f4me, Eau d\u2019Issey and Angel by Thierry Mugler. They all give a very specific image of a woman and a period. They were so accurate that they can\u2019t be forgotten and the evocation of just their name brings memories,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

And yet, perfumes too can be victims of time\u2014evoking as they do the era they were popular in and the fashion of the time. \u201cThe 1980s was a revolution for women,\u201d says Marian Bendeth a global fragrance expert and consultant. \u201cMoney was big, hair was big, and so were fragrances. Clothing was loud, a little bit slutty\u2014or corporate: power suits. Fragrances were big, and even the names: Obsession. Things changed in the \u201990s because of AID. Today it\u2019s a youth market. Millenials have grown up on the sugary, floral raspberry notes with musk, but the niche markets and companies now have come up with very interesting fragrances. They\u2019re introducing notes like oud, which has become very popular over the last few years, or focus on single notes, like iris or lavender, where they\u2019re almost going back to Victorian times, in a way, but making it more modern.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the phrase \u201cEverything old is new again\u201d applied to fragrance makes you wrinkle your nose, you might want to think twice. \u201cThe term \u2018It smells like my grandmother\u2019 makes me insane,\u201d says Bendeth, whose own personal collection includes vintage perfumes and fragrances no longer produced. \u201cIf I were to offer you a vintage Chanel suit, you wouldn\u2019t say that. It\u2019s good to go back and explore. If a Louis Vuitton luggage was gorgeous in 1932, why would it be pass\u00e9 today. Everything is interesting if it\u2019s well made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changes in ingredients, allergies, laws, culture and public tastes all contribute to the evolution of perfume, says Webster. But that doesn\u2019t make today\u2019s creations any less than their predecessors. \u201cPerfumers have always been both, some wonderful, some really bad and some without interest,\u201d says Webster. \u201cGreat perfumes are still created and will be loved by many and for years. The [only] problem is that we produce too much (of everything) and the market can\u2019t absorb so many products.\u201d<\/p>\n

H\u00e9rault himself admits that he creates fragrances for the future, not just the present. According to H\u00e9rault, the golden era of perfume is tomorrow. \u201cI am totally convinced that daring and creativity are the keywords for the fragrances of tomorrow,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Favourites aside, Bendeth discounts the notion of a signature fragrance. \u201cThe concept of a signature scent is completely pass\u00e9 and totally inappropriate,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s no one-stop-shop fragrance that fits every situation. Fragrances are meant for different situations.\u201d Instead, Bendeth believes in \u201cfragrance wardrobing.\u201d \u201cYou don\u2019t wear one outfit everyday, why would you wear one fragrance,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cFragrance is your walking biography. There\u2019s a transference of feelings toward a fragrance to the person,\u201d says Bendeth. (Her own obsession with fragrance began at the age of four. \u201cI was given 4711 by my grandmother. I was so obsessed with this, I stopped playing with toys. I was fascinated by the way these scents made me feel.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just like background music. If you\u2019re having people over for dinner, the music you put on is going to set the tone for how you want people to feel in your space. Your fragrance is your music and you are the party. When people walk into your space, that\u2019s how they\u2019re going to feel,\u201d says Bendeth.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, it all boils down to one fragrance and how it makes you feel. As Bendeth says, \u201cYou should be wearing it to make you feel something. If you don\u2019t feel something, don\u2019t wear it. Perfume should be inspirational, like a piece of music. It should impact us emotionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How to Wear It – Make your fragrance go the distance by following these expert tips.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n