Scenting ourselves is quite
a tricky undertaking. On the one hand, you don't want
people to know you're coming from a mile away, but on the
other, you do want to smell delicious and memorable. As
you know, our olfactory senses are powerful stuff--what
else can take you back to your Hawaiian honeymoon, your
first day of grade school, your grandmother's house?
Smell is important. But as much as a scent can make your
eyes roll with ecstasy and memory, it can also make you
sputter and dry heave. Let's all remember that,
fortunately, we don't use perfume to "cover" our stinking,
unwashed bodies like they did back in ancient times. Or
even in this very moment in France.
Perfume should work with you and your natural effluvia and
like makeup, enhance your natural desirability.
Instructions
Difficulty: Easy
Steps
1
Step One
A great way to maintain
your fragrance all day is, of course, to layer. Now, I
never subscribe to the "body wash" component of the
layering process--frankly I think it's just a bitchy way
for companies to get you to buy twenty five bucks worth
of scented soap which usually A. doesn't clean
particularly well and B. doesn't really smell like
anything after you've emerged from the shower. So, the
moral of this story is: don't buy sets. Sets inevitably
include a body wash, and even though it looks like you're
getting a better deal, you're not. Why? Because you're
paying an hour's wage on a freaking soap.
2
Step Two
If your favorite perfume
company makes a body cream or lotion--buy it! If you
first layer the cream, and then spritz with your cologne,
the two will adhere and last longer throughout the day.
3
Step Three
Better yet, if your
fragrance also offers a body powder, invest in this.
Powders really are the best of both worlds--they have
long lasting powers, but usually have a lighter, crisper
dose of the scent.
4
Step Four
I don't believe in the ol'
spray-in-the-air-and-walk-into-the-plume trick. When my
perfume costs as much as it does, I'm not gonna treat it
like a friggin Glade plug-in. I spray it directly on
neck, behind elbows and behind knees. When you spray on
parts of you which have motion, the scent will combine
with your natural body oils and last longer, smell
better, and ultimately, smell more like you.
5
Step Five
Use a smellie which
becomes your definitive scent. This is totally
hypocritical of me because I'm a girl and it's basically
my job to own 48 different bottles of perfume. But I get
the best reactions when I repeatedly wear the same smell--people
like associating you with a particular scent.
6
Step Six
Keep away from department
store smells--why would you want something as personal
and individual and scent to be available to every other
slob? Try mixing fragrances, going on websites which
custom-blend some of your favorite notes, or use a
combination of oils. Just like you don't want people
walking into your house and saying "Oh! I have that, too!
Ikea, right?", you certainly don't want them saying "Oh,
Light Blue from Dolce and Gabbana. I totally wore that
last spring."
