Perfume: the invisible accessory that can make you look and feel fabulous!
How many perfume bottles do you have sitting out on your bathroom counter? Do you quickly apply whatever scent is closest, or are you a perfume junkie who puts thought into each and every drop that touches your skin?
Like a new Christian Dior dress or a hot pair of Jimmy Choo’s or a dazzling new Valentino handbag, perfume can make you feel stylish and beautiful. It’s an accessory! A couple sprays of the right scent can give you the poise and self-confidence you need to look and feel fabulous for a night out on the town.
So, how do you find the right fragrance for you? Looking for the perfect perfume can be like looking for Mr. Right. In other words, it’s out there but it’s not easy to find.
Sylvie Ganter is the Founder and Creator of Atelier Cologne, a Parisian-based perfume company with several fragrances. She says you don’t have to be in a monogamous relationship with your perfume. In other words, you should have several different perfumes, as there are different scents for different times and occasions.
“Perfume has the ability to set your mood and your spirit at that moment,” says 40 year-old Ganter, who worked in the perfume industry for several years before starting her company, “It’s a little thing that can really change how you’re feeling and make you feel great.”
Ganter says that when people shop for perfume and they are perusing different brands, different things can trigger an emotional reaction and/or attraction to a particular scent, including the scent, obviously, but also the bottle, or the story behind the scent.
“When you find the right perfume, it will awake something emotional and magical and it hits you in a deep place,” she says.
As far as celebrity and fashion designer perfumes, Ganter says they usually sell because it’s a way for women to identify themselves with that person or that brand.
I recently purchased Atelier’s newest scent, Rose Anonyme, an Oriental, floral fragrance with bergamot, ginger and Turkish rose. I think what made me buy it was the mysterious, sexy story behind it, combined with the simple, classy bottle, and most importantly, the scent, clean, yet smoky and sexy and sophisticated.
“Roses are so feminine,” says Ganter of Rose Anonyme, “But, I didn’t want it to be girly or old fashioned, I wanted this rose to be mysterious, dark and a nice balance of innocence and darkness around it. The balance of the two gives it a sense of confidence without it being overly powerful.”
Here’s the key. Like a new outfit, or a manicure, or a stylish piece of jewelry, perfume is meant to give pleasure.
“It has a magical power to bring on an emotion,” says Ganter, who admits to being a complete romantic herself, “How many things in life today can give you something emotional and strong like that? Perfume has that power.”
Three Tips when perfume shopping:
1. Don’t feel limited to wearing only one perfume. It’s okay to have a wardrobe of perfumes, different scents for different occasions. The fragrance you want to wear for a romantic dinner on a Saturday night is completely different than the perfume you want to splash on when you’re just out of the shower and headed to a girlfriend’s house to watch a movie.
2. Try not to focus too much on the bottle, although that does play a role because you have to look at it every day and you want to like the way it looks. But more importantly, think about how the scent makes you feel when you smell it on your skin. If you sample a fragrance you like, don’t buy it right away. Walk around the store for a few minutes, sniff your wrist from time to time and if you love what you’re sniffing, go back and buy it.
3. DO NOT buy perfume for someone as a gift! Perfume is such a personal decision, that the odds she is going to fall in love with a scent that YOU love are slim to none. Instead, you might want to buy her a gift certificate. She’ll love being able to choose her own passion!
Perfume WEARING tip: Too much is NO GOOD! A splash or two goes a long way. Anymore than that, and people won’t think you smell good, they’ll think you just smell!
From left to right: Cynthia Klaja-McLoghlin, Sylvie Ganter, Founder of Atelier Cologne, Jackie Pilossoph, Russ Barry, Atelier Store Manager in New York, and Susan Pilossoph
