JOIN USJust a spray of a dainty scent early in the morning lingers on for few quite a few hours during the day. But the emotion that it evokes, stays much longer though.
It is known that the art of perfumery began in Egypt and was later refined in Europe. However, the lesser known fact is that the world’s first perfumer was a woman named Tapputi who distilled flowers, oil and other aromatics and filtered the concoction into tiny bottles as perfume.
Centuries later, the fragrances still tickle the olfactory senses. Though prepared through modern techniques and often considered as an item of luxury today, a good perfume always makes the heart miss a beat when
the nose inhales the pleasant fragrance.
“Fragrances, like wines, are grouped into families. Each family has different characteristics but their choice is largely made instinctively,” says Rajan Amba, product head of Skinn by Titan informing about
the floral, citrus, fruity and
oriental/aromatic categories of perfume.
The choice of a perfume is quite personal and should ideally depend on the time of the day that a fragrance is to be applied. “One should go easy with the use of perfume, try getting the set, the shower gel, body lotion and the roll on of the same fragrance to layer it up before the use of the fragrance,” advises Debabani Guha, head trainer
at L’Occitane.
Also remember that different compositions in a perfume go well with different personality-types. Sub-consciously, one selects a fragrance that ‘smells good’ and vice-versa. Your personality can be decoded by the fragrance that you like. For instance, romantic women usually look for floral scents since they represent innocence and romance while men who like to vary perfume by occasion consider fougère scents for daytime use.
Fougère fragrances are inspired by ferns and woodland fauna and the fougère family is the backbone of masculine fragrances. Says Rajan, “Chypre scents evoke a sense of femininity and freshness while men who want a warm, mysterious and masculine scent should look for oriental scents.”
Apart from these, woody fragrances are quite popular among men or women who wish to wear a sensual scent as an evening perfume. Most of these include traces of dominant notes or blends of cedarwood, sandalwood, guaiacwood, vetiver and patchouli in combination with spices which gives this family of
fragrances versatility.
In order to select a perfume to gift, one should look out for fragrance concentration in an EdP ( Eau de Parfum) which is higher than it is in an EdT (Eau de Toilette), which is lighter and fades away a
bit faster.