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Are You “Scenting” The Right Signals

Okay, sorry for the terrible header, but that’s it, I’ll behave myself from now on . . . maybe. 

The question is, is your perfume saying about you what you think it’s saying about you? Perfume tells a story you know, it can reveal your personality, your success, even your attractiveness. Are you dabbing the right stuff behind your ears? Is the stuff you spray behind your knees gonna’ make others go weak at the knees? Just remember that smell is one of the five senses, and how you smell plays a large role in non-verbal communication. Be careful of the signals you are sending out with your perfume.

Notes About Perfume

Your perfume has a job to do you know, it has to make an impact, it has to increase your self confidence, it has make you feel gorgeous darlings! Perfumes are made up of three notes which all go towards making the final scent. These notes don’t all reveal themselves at the same time however, it’s all down to the evaporation rate of the perfume and the knowledge of the mixer.  Different perfume notes do invoke different reactions, at different times, which is why the perfume you sniffed out of the bottle may change rather dramatically a little while after you’ve applied it.

• The Perfumes Top Note – first impressions count a lot, and that’s exactly what the top note of a perfume is, the first impression. This perfume note is composed of the very lightest and most volatile of the essences used.
• The Perfumes Middle Note – also known as the heart note (it is the very heart of the perfume) becomes discernible once you’ve sprayed the perfume onto your skin, this note is composed of mid-range scents and often includes florals.
• The Perfumes Bottom Note – leaves a lasting impression of the perfume, it could appear after only a few minutes or it could take hours. This is what gives the perfume real staying power and often features the heavier scents like musk and woody fragrances.

Perfume does have a subtly different fragrance depending upon the wearer, and these three notes and how the perfume interacts with the wearer is the reason why.

Types of Perfumes

• Floral Perfumes – are worn by real feminine women, girlie girls if you like  . . . delicate, shy and softly spoken. Don’t be too taken in by these women though, they’re often also both determined and quite firm. Is that you?
• Oriental Perfumes – says that you’re emotionally charged and keen on making a good impression with those around you. Always dressed with the utmost care and literally bounding with energy, women who wear these types of perfumes tend to have a real air of superiority around them. Sound familiar?
• Tangy and Citrus Perfumes – say that you’re a physically active type of gal, you know the sort, can’t sit still for more than five minutes at a time without jumping up and rushing around to do something else.  If you’re that type of woman then the chances are you’ll be admired by all who meet, with lots of acquaintances . . . but no friends.
• Fern Perfumes – say that you are curious and outgoing. A kind of “girl on a mission”.
• Woody Perfumes – are the perfect choice for a hot date. They’re deep and lusty to mirror your mood, sensual, erotic . . . save it for when you’re on a promise.

Perfume is business, and I mean BIG business . . . the fragrance industry comes in at way over $10 billion every year, that’s a lot of perfume.

Perfume is science, okay, I know that doesn’t sound very romantic but it’s true . . . the science of perfume is finding the right mix of essential oils, aromatic materials and alcohol (is that why I always smell better after a few glasses of wine . . . or so I kid myself).  Perfume was originally created from natural essential oils from flowers, plants, bark and roots, even animal secretions like musk, but these days many of the essences which are artificially created in the laboratory have more staying power than these natural ingredients . . . helping you to smell nice for even longer.

Do you know what, that’s a really good tip. Perfume doesn’t last as long on people with dry skin, so it stands to reason. Why didn’t I think of that?

 Choosing & Testing Perfume

If you’ve read a little further up this page you’ll have already gathered that perfumes do react differently to different people and their skin, so it’s no good testing a new perfume on a testing strip, you’ve gotta’ test it on your skin. This’ll give you some idea of not only how the perfume will smell on your skin immediately after the spray, but also a couple of hours later. Try these perfume testing tips.

• Always test perfume when you have clean and fresh skin, testing perfume on top of perfume which you sprayed on earlier in the day is not a good idea.
• Spray just a small amount of the new perfume onto the inside if your wrist for best results, where the skin is warm and fine and will give good diffusion.
• Don’t spray and then immediately sniff, give it a few minutes to give the alcohol time to settle and the fragrance to properly develop.
• Rubbing the perfume will speed up the job but you won’t get the true experience of how the perfume will be perceived by others, so it’s a waste of time really . . . don’t bother!

One last word on the subject of perfume – use it don’t hoarde it. Once the bottle has been opened the perfume will begin to lose it’s original scent . . . so there’s no use saving a special perfume for special occasions, unless you have lots of special occasions that is.