The smell of style: How perfumes can make your look a multisensory experience
Fragrance serves as a powerful aspect of personal style, elevating one’s unique look into a multisensory realm. Those of us of a certain age may remember our first introduction to the world of perfume in the form of something like Love’s Baby Soft, the gateway scent for many of us who grew up in the ’80s. The same decade brought us Giorgio Beverly Hills, whose popularity was superseded only by the intensity of the scent itself — so strong that it was actually banned by some restaurants.
Our mothers and grandmothers felt the same way about scents like Chanel No. 5 and Shalimar. These were some of the most famous examples of a “signature scent” — a perfume that could define you as much as what you wore. In my 20s, I was in love with a long-since-discontinued perfume oil called “Herb” from The Body Shop, which was so “me,” I didn’t feel the need to wear anything else for years.
Niche perfumes: A whole new world
Today, instead of limiting ourselves to just one scent, many now create a “scent wardrobe,” a trend driven in part by the explosion in niche perfumes, defined as an alternative to mass-market fragrances produced by designer labels.
These perfumes tend to be made with higher-quality and unusual ingredients, and have a more adventurous profile than traditional designer perfumes. They’re generally more complex and layered, often incorporating unusual notes like sweat or wet cement. Some of them can get quite weird — check out Secretions Magnifiques by Etat Libre d’Orange with its notes of blood and milk, or Revolution by Cire Trudon with its whiff of metallic gunsmoke.
And there are a lot of them. Go onto Luckyscent or ZGO Perfumery and you’ll see hundreds of options from names you might have heard of, like Le Labo and Diptyque, to obscure and cult brands, like Papillon and Fzotic.
The variety and range of these perfumes mean you can vary your scent based on your outfit, the season, a specific event, or even your mood. I like to wear green scents in spring because they remind me of the smell of damp forests and warm rain. While when I go camping or do something outdoorsy, I’ll dab on something woodsy with ingredients like sandalwood or palo santo. For the holidays, I love an intense chypre, which I associate with the old-school glamor of my beloved great-aunts.
You can also enjoy perfumes even if you feel they’re not something you would dab on, much like you can appreciate clothes that you would never wear. I adore Fracas by Robert Piguet, which was my mother’s favorite — but I’m not really a floral gal. Also, perfumes smell different on everyone and they change over time, so it’s smart to try out perfumes for a day or so to see how they evolve on your skin as the molecules of the top and heart notes evaporate, leaving those of the base notes, or drydown.
Navigating the perfume landscape
Niche fragrances tend to be pricier than mass-market scents, so this can quickly become an expensive hobby. Luckily, many sites offer samples (some like ScentSplit even specialize in them), which can cost only a few dollars each. Or, if you’re lucky enough to live near someplace like Merz Apothecary in Chicago or one of Luckyscent’s Scent Bar locations, you can spritz on as many as your nose can take.
Still, the range of available scents can truly be overwhelming. For people dipping a toe into this new world, it can be easier to identify one style you like and go from there. Most perfume sites list perfumes by the fragrance family or main note, so you can search for spicy ambers or gourmand scents that smell like food. Some websites even suggest similar scents, making it easy to make a list of things to try.
But beware: once you get hooked, there’s a universe of perfume-related content to explore online, from user-driven review sites like Fragrantica and Basenotes to perfume influencers like Now Smell This and Bois de Jasmin. And that’s not even including people posting about scents on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
It’s fascinating to explore new scents and even layer them for even more customized olfactory experiences. Just keep in mind that, while you may love the idea of leaving a cloud of scent in your wake (known as “sillage” in the industry), many people are extremely sensitive to perfumes, so it’s a good idea to be more judicious about your application or hold off entirely if you’re going to be in a confined space like the office or a plane.
Having said all that, there’s nothing wrong with finding one fragrance you love and sticking with it. But as we grow and change, sometimes scents we love for years or even a single season just aren’t doing it for us anymore. Plus, body chemistry can change during menopause, making that favorite perfume smell different on you.
On my dresser, I have a bottle with a few drops of that Body Shop scent left in it. I still love it and think it’s one of the most lovely and unique perfumes I’ve ever worn — but even if I could buy it again, I’m not sure I would. It’s just not quite me anymore.
