Guide to Finding the Perfect Fragrance

Holidays are all about families and fragrance certainly fits right in. Here’s a guide that puts personality style together with the fragrance family to ensure the perfect fragrance gift.

First, know your nose! Perfumes are like musical compositions. The overture is the ‘top” note or the first impression when you try the scent on or open the bottle. The impact is immediate and sets up the next chorus of the fragrance which is the “middle note”. This is the very heart of the fragrance that stays with you longest before the final “base note” comes into play signaling the moment when the fragrance has truly developed to its fullest, lingering on the skin for many pleasurable hours.

Next, let’s talk fragrance like a pro. According to The Fragrance Foundation, who wrote the book on all things fragranced, perfumed and scented, fragrances are grouped into “families”. Florals, Orientals, Chypre (pronounced Sheep-ra), Woody, Fruity, Floriental, Citrus and Green are the most well-known. “It’s the magic and alchemy of the perfumer’s art to blend and mix the hundreds and thousands of ingredients that can make up an infinite variety of “scentsational” scents. Just like a composer does with music”, explains Rochelle Bloom, President of The Fragrance Foundation.

Now that you get the idea, here are some personality types that you might recognize on your holiday gift list and the fragrance “family” ingredients that would appeal to them:

For Him

Athletic: Citrus. Fresh and Brisk. Clean and simple.

Earthy: Fougere forest notes from oak moss, resin and geranium oil.

Dynamic: Smoky, pungent,masculine leather notes.

For Her

Sporty: Look for a fragrance that is light and sparkly. Citrus and green. The crystal-clean fresh tang of such fascinating ingredients as lemon, orange and lime. The zest and energy of freshly cut grass and dewy-green leaves.

Classic: Think Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel. Often single florals like rose or gardenia, sometimes balanced by a variety of contrasting, sophisticated notes from the perfumer’s palette.

Fashionista: A cutting edge Italian designer. A little black number from Paris or a style maven from the US? The fashion designer today uses individualist notes that range from sophisticated and mysterious to spicy and oriental. Get their style through a signature scent.

Romantic: Chypre and Floral Orientals work their magic. Often an uninhibited blend of exotic flowers, herbs and spices.

"Fashion Is Foremost Inspiration"

Suzanna

Perfume of the Week - Armani Code for Men

With notes such as Lemon, Bergamot, Aromatic Mediterranean Notes, Guaiac Wood and Tonka Bean, Armani created the men’s perfume that was a best seller in 2006.

Armani Code Cologne by Giorgio Armani is fresh and warm at the same time, sexy and very masculine, yet sophisticated and classy. It almost seems like a list of everything you’d want in a man! Lemon and Bergamot go so well with the wood and spices that they merge together and it becomes very hard to tell the apart. The staying power is amazing: it won’t go anywhere until you take a shower with a decent amount of shower gel.

The downfall of this perfume is that it tends to oxidize a lot in certain skins. Oily skin is more prone to oxidize perfumes but it happens on dry skin as well. This means that the perfume is reacting with the person’s skin and will end up smelling very different so try before you buy to make sure it smells good on you.

I’d recommend this perfume to men from their mid twenties to their fifties if it doesn’t oxidize with their skin to it’s a pretty universal fragrance.

Fashion Is Foremost Inspiration

Micky

Fragrance of the Week: cK Free

This week's fragrance is reserved for the masculine and sexy! cK Free was inspired by the spirit of the modern, independent man who lives every day to the fullest. He has nothing to prove. He’s cool, relaxed and free-spirited. He does what he wants and is in control of his own destiny.

cK Free is an aromatic warm woody fragrance, unexpectedly fresh, yet casual and distinctly masculine. It opens with an invitation to free the mind with absinthe as a featured note. The journey continues with an unusual spiciness in the heart and winds it’s way through sensual wood notes offering confidence and depth.

Key Ingredients:

Top: Thailand star anise, jackfruit, absinthe, juniper berry
Mid:Suede, tobacco leaves, coffee absolute, south african buchu
Dry: Patchouli absolute, oakwood, texan cedarwood, costa rican ironwood

The bottle conveys the free spirited nature of the brand and iconic ck simplicity. A slim profile with masculine beveled edges and various angles create a sense of movement. The color palette for the bottle reflects an array of blues, drawn from the sky, ocean, trees and the earth. Unpretentious and easy.

The carton is composed of two shades of metallic blue that complement the bottle and convey the simple, modern essence of the fragrance. A 1.7 oz. bottle only goes for $44.99 at PerfumeEmporium.com. Treat your man to a scent that will last a life time.

"Fashion Is Foremost Inspiration"
Suzanna