Topic 55: Perfume and the Lady

Carol:

 What the Lady Wants: A Common Scents Approach

        

As often happens when I get stuck, the conversation at  breakfast  centered on today’s daily theme.  I had always bought my mother scented soaps or cologne for Christmas because that was the aisle my Dad pointed me to when we went shopping at the drugstore on Christmas Eve. So, I asked my husband, who buys perfume and why?

The Elegant French Actress

The allure of French sophistication:  Marc’s gift of choice is Chanel  #5, a sophisticated  blend of scents first sold in the 1920’s. Marc prefers cologne over perfume because it’s cheaper. He may not know  that Chanel’s “Eau de Cologne” was discontinued in the 1990’s, but he can buy “Eau de Toilette” which is cheaper than the “Eau de Parfum.” Besides price, what’s the difference? One is concentration, that is the strength of the essences which go into the blend. Another is what I call the “snob factor.” The distinctive perfume bottle is filled by hand and includes pure rose oil and jasmine from the provencal region of Grasse, the center of France’s perfume industry. The scent is described by its maker as “Grasse jasmine and neroli, May rose, sandalwood, Comoro Islands ylang-ylang and vanilla interface with strong, smooth sensuality.” The cost of a bottle of Chanel #5 Eau de Parfum? It currently sells for around $260 an ounce, the Eau de Toilette” around $50 for a 1.2 ounce spray bottle (source: Macy’s.com)  Why is Chanel #5  Marc’s gift of choice? Well, you know, it was that beautiful woman in all the ads, the French actress who is such an elegant lady, Catherine Deneuve.

The Romantic Spanish Dancer

The mystique of Spanish romanticism: Carol’s gift of choice is Maja by Myrugia, a company founded around 1916 by a well-known Catalan family.  The Maja line of fragrances and soaps was introduced in 1918.  Carol prefers the soaps and bath gel because they are cheaper although the Maja “Eau de Cologne” costs about half the price of Chanel #5.  The fragrance itself is described as “a refined, subtle, oriental scent that beautifully blends citrus, lavender, spice, and woods” (source: Perfume.com). The soaps come in gift boxes with the distinct red and black package evocative of Spanish flamenco, and the box itself can be tucked inside a drawer to scent lingerie. Why is Maja Carol’s gift of choice? Well, it was that beautiful woman on the box, the Spanish dancer who is such a romantic lady. The scent? That too.

In the real world, no amount of perfume will make me as elegant as Catherine Deneuve or as romantic as a Spanish dancer. And, you won’t find a single bottle of perfume or scented soap in our house, not because we are too cheap to buy them.  I have become one of an increasing number of people who have developed allergies or  a sensitivity to various odors. Perfume and this lady?  Nonsense.


 Sources:
Chanel #5: Macy’s.com 
History of Myrugia
Myrugia Maja

Megan:

The Scent of Fear

When I was in high school I had a friend who, when he laid his clothes out at night, sprayed his shirt with 3 squirts of cologne. He told me this gave the scent a chance to be absorbed into the fabric without being overpowering. I observed this ritual many times, and although we were not dating and I was never close enough to actually detect the cologne on him, I grew familiar with the scent.

There are scientific reasons why smell is the sense most likely to trigger strong memories, and it has to do with limbic systems and maybe how close the nose is to the brain. If you punch someone in the nose hard enough, you can kill him. I know I didn’t go to medical school, but it seems to me that unwanted smell memories are like the non-lethal version of having your nose shoved into your brain.

Cologne and perfume companies count on this connection to sell their product and you can see it in their advertisements. You almost never see the actual bottle until the end (if at all). Instead beautiful people, with serious, tormented and anguished expressions interact briefly, are separated, and then a single word flashes on the screen like: “Longing”, “Echo” and “Eternity” or, for men, “Brut”, “Vaquero” and “Ultimo.”

 The best advertisements (and by best, I mean most honest in terms of what they are trying to sell) are for the Axe products, where a geeky looking guy sprays himself and hot women come running from every direction. These ads play with the idea that humans can sense pheromones, which according to my research is still unproven.  The ironic thing is that pheromones are generated by the natural scent of an animal, which is exactly what perfume and colognes are designed to mask. Instead of attracting a person based on your own unique smell, you buy it in the store. Which means that you take a risk that the people you are trying to attract hold some prior association…

I’m not the only person upon whom this friend left his mark. I was not his girlfriend, but for almost a year we spent nearly every waking moment together.  At the time I considered him my best friend.  When I crashed my car at 16, it was because I was yelling at him in the passenger seat. And even after our friendship ended, I continued to glance in a rearview mirror he’d shattered with his face.  But cars are sold, and people move away and it’s been more than a decade since I’ve laid eyes on him. Our friendship ended badly, and to this day if I detect the smell of Aspen cologne, my heart races, and I am afraid.