Scent of This Woman

Perfume is one of those cosmetics that I love in theory, but hate in practice. I like the idea of having a "signature" scent or two, but finding the right one is a struggle. I feel like I spent the last decade trying to find a scent that smells good out of the bottle, still smells good on my skin an hour later, and is still perceptible by the middle of the day.

It never used to be this hard. When I was in high school I remember there were few perfumes I couldn't wear. I had a hard time picking a favorite. This was the 80s when perfumes were bold and aggressive. Popular ones were easily recognizable. I remember Giorgio (that one stank), Obsession, and Poison (a divisive scent that I liked, but it gave me a headache when I wore it daily).

I had a full wardrobe of fragrances in those days. I rarely bought perfume for myself. Many of my perfumes were ones people gifted my mother. She was much pickier about her scents than I was, so I ended up with her rejects. I received a few other unwanted perfumes from family members. I also had family members who bought a lot of Avon, and decided the latest popular Avon perfume was an easy gift for a teenage girl. 

At some point I ended up with a bottle of Shalimar. It's a strong and distinctive scent that announces itself. It's not fresh and light. It's rich and spicy. It's top note is bergamot, which is the most intense citrus out there. It's floral notes are the powerful patchouli and vetiver. It hits you over the head with amber, vanilla, tonka bean, and sandalwood. It's not a perfume for someone who doesn't like to stand out. The fragrance was odd, so I rarely touched it. 

Then one day I was at a rehearsal for whatever Harrison Players show I was doing at the time. I smelled it on one of the board members. I asked her if she was wearing Shalimar, and she said yes. She said I should know men loved Shalimar. Men of all ages would take noticed when she wore it.

Well, that's all I needed to hear. I started wearing that Shalimar every day. I found the more I wore the scent, the better it smelled. The bergamot jumped out when I first put it on, but after a few hours the scent became sweeter. It worked well on me. I'm not sure if men liked it better than any other perfume I wore, but I began to like it. I stopped wearing it in college though because I feared its reputation as an "old lady" scent.

I cycled through several popular fragrances in the 90s and 00s. I could easily identify all the ones my friends wore. I remember Sunflowers, Sand & Sable, Joop, Happy, and Calyx (I wore that one for a while). They greeted me in the folds of every magazine I read. It was hard to pick one I liked. I also didn’t want to smell like everyone else.

The low-end cosmetic companies tried to enter the cheap perfume scene more in the 90s as well. I was almost sucked in. For years the putrid scent of Charlie dominated the cheap-with-a-veneer-of-glamour perfume niche. Then a few other cosmetic companies tried to enter the market. I remember one called Tribe that smelled like being forced to inhale the syrup Starbucks uses in its chai lattes. Cover Girl came out with one called Navy. I unapologetically loved this scent and bought myself a bottle After two weeks it stopped smelling good and smelled like alcohol. I realized why cheap perfume was so cheap.

I cycled through a bunch of scents over the years trying to find a signature.

For a little while I tried L'eau D'Issey, but I grew tired of it. I'm not sure I loved it as much as I wanted to.

I occasionally would smell Samsara on other people and think it smelled great (Guerlain, same company as Shalimar) but it was discontinued.

I also really loved Burberry London and bought a couple of bottles of it until it too was discontinued (then it was resurrected with a completely different scent) as was So De La Renta, another one in regular rotation.

Eventually I discovered Crabtree & Evelyn's Summer Hill, a beautiful sweet floral. Not only was that discontinued, but Crabtree & Evelyn itself went out of business.

Then there was this waxy cream I bought in a ceramic jar at the Renaissance Faire years ago. It smelled like sandalwood and vanilla. It smelled wonderful, but I didn't like the greasy residue it tended to leave on my skin. It took a long time to absorb. The bottle lasted me years. By the time I ran out I stopped going to the Renaissance Faire as often as I did when I was younger. The times I made it to the Faire, the vendor no longer had a booth.

About three years ago I landed on Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet. It's a fresh and sweet floral that is similar to Summer Hill. What I find interesting is even though I think they are similar, they have few notes in common. Both are considered fresh florals and have several fruity notes. However, the florals in Summer Hill are lily and freesia and the fruity note is peach. Blooming Bouquet is focused on bergamot, Damascus rose, and peony, with notes of white musk. I never thought of myself as a musk person, but this stuff smelled great on me.

Miss Dior has one issue. It's not strong. It's not a scent that projects, nor does it have much staying power. It's a wonderful scent in the summer when I'm dressed in light clothing and exposing large amounts of skin. It's not a good choice in the winter when I'm covered in layers of sweaters, jackets, and coats. Even though I have declared Dior as my signature summer fragrance, I needed something else for the colder months. I needed something more aggressive. I needed an 80s style perfume. I needed something similar to Shalimar (which I can still buy on the Guerlain website) but a bit more contemporary.

Another minor issue with Dior is Kevin doesn't like it. I would never let him dictate the scent I wear, but I would prefer it if he likes how I smell. He can't even say why he doesn't like it other than to say he likes scents with more citrus. It might be nice to have a different perfume with a scent he likes.

I continued to struggle to find a distinctive perfume I liked. I would go to Sephora and sniff anything that looked interesting, but so many perfumes smelled the same. I would find one that was promising and try it on, only to be disappointed an hour later. I needed a scent that would make me happy all day. I wanted to always be loving the smell and I wanted the smell to have staying power. I couldn't find a perfume that did that.

I still don't understand why it's so hard for me. I know what scent notes I like. I know among the spicy scents I love the smells of sandalwood, vanilla, chocolate, and coffee. My favorite florals are lilac, peony, gardenia, rose, and patchouli. I love the smell of bamboo, clean laundry, and cut grass. When it comes to fruit I favor lemons, peaches, and pears. No perfume seemed to exist that contained most of the scents I favor or that combined in the in a way I liked.

Eventually I allowed myself to be sucked in by social media advertising. My feeds promise me all kinds of customized products daily. I can have tailored skincare and haircare products. I can have curated boxes of clothing sent to me. Cosmetic companies promise me makeup in my perfect shades. Customized perfume was not far behind.

One day I saw a ad for Noteworthy Scents, a company that promised their algorithms could find me the perfect signature scent. All I needed to do was take their quiz and they would send me a sampler of four fragrances and one was bound to suit my taste. I filled out the quiz and ordered the sample kit. My high hopes made the anticipation agonizing.

The sampler arrived. I had four small bottles mounted on cards explaining the notes contained within each scent. Each one contained at least two notes of my favorite smells: peony, rose, vanilla, citrus, sandalwood. I didn't know how I would choose one. They all sounded great on paper.

Unfortunately as I made my way through the samples each day, I found them all lacking. Not one of them thrilled me. The best ones had no staying power. I could no longer smell any of them by the middle of the day. Even the one that started out strong enough to give me a headache didn't last.

The company sent me a survey asking me to rate each scent. I had to tell them I was disappointed. The company didn't want to lose a potential sale, so they offered me a new set of samples at no extra charge. I said I would try it. What did I have to lose?

The new perfumes were also composed of some of my favorite scents. I was sure the pear, gardenia, and sandalwood would be a hit, but I could barely smell it once I put it on. The other two weren't memorable. I had one left to try.

The final sample claimed it top note was juniper (not a scent I love), the middle note was geranium (I don't even know what geraniums smell like) and the bottom note was suede (huh?). When I first sprayed it on, I thought it smelled like a man's fragrance. Kevin said he liked it, but he also agreed it smelled like men's cologne. I came this far and I was going to give it a chance.

Over the course of the day, the smell transformed. It became sweeter. The sharpness of the juniper dissipated and it left a lingering scent of sandalwood. That made sense. The sample card said juniper, geranium, and suede, but when I go to the Noteworthy website, it says the top notes are also bergamot and grapefruit and the bottom notes include sandalwood and patchouli. In other words, it has some similar notes to Shalimar and even reminded me a bit of Shalimar as the day went on.

Here is the key. I still smelled it over the course of the day. I could smell it after getting dressed. The smell wasn't obnoxious. The perfume didn't enter the room before I did, but it surrounded me enough to give me a bit of aromatherapy throughout the day. 

So now my cold weather signature scent is Noteworthy #619. 

Let's hope the scent isn't discontinued or the company doesn't go out of business before I need a new bottle.

I have enough Dior left in the bottle for when spring returns, but it won't last me the whole summer. Let's hope that one isn't discontinued either.