Many of our readers are aficionados of fragrance. We sniff, spritz, analyze, and test fragrance with knowledge and experience. “Is that a chypre, hmmm, the oak moss really comes through” or “I wonder if that is Haitian Vetiver or Javanese?” 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to the increasing  transparency of perfumery (by Kilian actually posts formulas on its website), workshops, bloggers, critics, and the internet, our heads are crammed with professional words; nitromusks, enfleurage, accords, sillage, and Calone (even words that marketing groups invent such as ‘ampur’). We know our extraits from our eau de colognes; our amber from our ambergris (lovely hardened chunks of sperm whale excretions). As a writer, some of my own articles are as chock a block of esoteric terminology as a chemistry thesis.

 

Cerebral.. yes. Sexy…not one bit; its time to bring sexy back to scents.

 

 

 

Why do we wear fragrance? For most of us, it’s a sensory form of self-expression. But if we cut through the clutter of jargon, and really examine the power of scent at its most elemental level, it’s all about pheromones that attract. Even the word sensual sounds like the word scent. Deep down, we want to be ‘sexy’. According to Geza Schoen, an independent perfumer, “At the end of the day anyone wearing a perfume wants to smell seductive”.

 

 

Anais Nin

 

Sexy is one of those words that immediately evoke visual or mental images; a particular physical appearance perhaps, or is it power, influence, money or intellect.

 

 

 

My take on sexy? Confidence… the ULTIMATE aphrodisiac. And I only wear fragrances that I think are sexy as hell (for me., Wearing them turn me on, and if it can do that, they ‘turn on’ others. One that I have been wearing for a few years is Frangipani by Ormonde Jayne

 

 

 

 

According to Linda Pilkerton, Perfumer and Founder of the cult (and oh so not available in the US) fragrance line Ormonde Jayne, “Frangipani is sexy ………..because it exudes pure and simple passion and awakens the senses. The Frangipani woman doesn’t shout for attention, but expects it and gets it.  Frangipani is a perfume pulsating with great honesty and beauty. It doesn’t compete with you but adds to your natural panache”.

 

Exactly so, when I wear Frangipani, it’s a gentle, intimate confidence. You must be very close to me to smell it. If you are that close, then it’s a personal statement. I like you. I know you. I am allowing you to get close to me.

 

Take time to really experience your favorite fragrances. Find one or two that make you feel sensual. Watch what happens.

 

Once in awhile, it’s ok to leave the note pad and the Iso Supra E at home.

 

– Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief