Designer Aromas
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This year has seen the launch of countless new fragrances and the birth of androgenous scents. Is the secret of a perfume's success in the aroma or the marketing? We took three new fragrances into the streets and let the public decide.
"Perfume's like music-when I'm happy, it gets me higher. It makes all my problems melt away". Anastasia, 22, student
The popularity of perfume is down to its feel-good factor - it can uplift and transform us. Smell is the most powerful of all our senses: it provides the quickest chemical responses in the brain and is closely associated with our emotions. Smells encountered in childhood can be lodged into the memory and reawoken years later. Often you'll be aware of the memory before the aroma which evoked it: you can find yourself involuntarily reliving an experience and not pick-up on the connection between the smell and the memory.
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Scientists have long understood that compulsions can be controlled by smell. Pheromones are the natural hormonal emissions which attract sexual partners. In essence, perfume maunfacturers are attempting to mimic pheromones when developing new fragrances. Recent studies have shown that perfume can have a measurable effect on our brain chemicals: increasing feelings of happiness and bringing about relaxed states. Scientist also postulate that women have a more acute sense of smell than men, and sales statistics support this. Women buyers account for 60 per cent of androgenous perfume sales so depite the Oness of it all, women are still the main targets for fragrance marketing.
Scent Stereotypes
Generally, people tend to fall into the following perfume personality groupings:
* Lively, dynamic people like refreshing, cooling perfumes, particularly ones which contain ozonic notes.
* Body-orientated people who revel in indulgence are drawn to culinary notes like cumin and vanilla.
*Oriental perfumes are the more likely choice of the introvert who gets relaxation through reflection & introspection.
*Fruit notes attract the uncomplicated pleasure seeker who finds traditional scents conservative and flat.
One person can move through all of these personality types in a lifetime, a week or even a few hours (depending on emotional stability!). The close connection between emotional states and smell preferences means that our appreciation of aromas is subject to frequent changes - new moods mean new smells.
Street Scents
We took three new fragrances onto the streets for a smell-and-tell nose test.
1 Gaultier : Le Male
A stylish new fragrance for men. The original idea was to evoke the sensuality of a naked body on a sun-drenched beach, but what did the punters think?
"Nothing. A perfume is like a colour, it's something you wear. It does remind me of some sort of food. A fruity flower with a little coconut taste. It's definitely feminine and I wouldn't wear it."
Sean 26
"My mother's translucent powder. It has a fruity smell at first like Dior's Poison, quite aggressive, quite female. Later on it smells much softer. I'd never wear it." Rae 23
"Conjures up an image of an overweight, overpainted older woman. Quite a heavy smell. Yuk." Laelia 14
2 Hugo Boss
Marketed at Generation X but with conservatively manly packaging. This one excited a few imaginations....
"Nice and fruity. It makes me think of summer and beaches, and taking a bath in the sea and rubbing yourself with a towel." Sean 26
"Smells like my grandmother's old 711." Rae 23
"Masculine. Very typical, quite boring. There's definitely some vegetation smell going on."Laelia 14
3 CK One
Ok, so it's had a lot of hype, Kate leading a bevvy of 'he/shes', lovingly pouring bottles of the stuff all over themselves. First impressions from the office crew; "I bet it's just a bit of lemon juice and water. With a good marketing campaign you can sell anything." And on the streets...
"It's like a typical perfume. It makes you smell like a bubble bath. Reminds me of a piney supermarket shampoo taste. Is it Calvin Klein? Oh Shit. There are very few I like." Sean 26
"It's like deodrant, quite fresh. It's hard to tell if it's male or female, probably more male." Rae 23
"It's like the wood polish you varnish tables with. It's horrible. Could be either male or female you could get away with both. It's a little more subtle when it evaporates - very sharp and clean." Laelia 14
© fuk, 1995