Good morning to you all! The other day, I did what I rarely do: I was reading a perfume lover’s description/rating of one of my scents on one of my retailers website. Actually, I was looking for a particular information there. And then, you know how it happens, you end up reading this and that, without really knowing why.

I try to avoid reading what perfume lovers say about products, mine and other brand’s products. It can be a depressing, distracting, or a narcissistic ego-pampering experience and does not really help, on a daily basis. But still, I ended up there and read a short fragrant review/rating that said “it’s not what it says it’s supposed to be”. There you go. We continue yesterday’s topic. How on earth do you say what a fragrance is supposed to be?

… a moment of thinking.

There are fragrance categories, that you might want to use, like “chypre”. But, unfortunately, we live in a world where a “chypre fragrance” does not really mean much anymore. Chypres are gone. For good.

You might refer to ingredients, but the more complex and elaborate a perfume is, the less this is helpful. If you create and present a mono theme scent like vetiver, consisting of vetiver and not much more: Fine. Otherwise, confusion ahead!

You might say it is supposed to be like xyz. With xyz being classics, well known scents like a designer maltol bomb. But what do you do if you do not tend to follow tracks and copy/paste existing scents?

And, if you happen to have an own style, and a technique that is somewhat different, how do you say what it is supposed to be? Tricky.

But there is hope: Looking at things from a larger perspective, this is part of the fun of smelling perfumes. Again and again.

But wait, there’s more. Even when you think you know your scents: Suddenly, one day, revisiting a well know fragrance in your collection, might turn out not to smell the same anymore. It is not anymore what it was supposed to be, because something’s changed. You. The scent. The world.

I finish this post with the following mail that I got the other day. It is another approach by perfume lovers  in search of scents that are perfect. I was asked …”can you make me the l’air du désert marocain without the incense? I will pay for it”. That was a refreshing email. Unfortunately, I had to say no.