During a recent interview with Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, she mentioned that one of her strongest memories is of the perfume Opium. Her mother would spray her bed sheets with them. “It seemed
so unnecessary — my mom isn’t a perfume wearer –, but so emotionally charged
for [my sister Kate and I]. It seemed like a beautiful thing to do for your children. I’ll know
that smell for the rest of my life,” she told me. And in a totally separate conversation, my co-worker Romina McGuinness told me that her mom used to splash Fleur D’Oranger on her cheeks when she would have childhood temper tantrums as a way to calm her down. “For me, wearing perfume is psychological. If you’re feeling bad, perfume makes you feel better,” she says. Retail numbers show that fragrance sales are up in certain regions because of its mood-lifting qualities. So I asked Le Labo co-founder Edouard Roschi to give us advice on how to build a personal fragrance arsenal.
1- Patience is key
“Scent is extremely personal. What you should definitely do is put any scent on your skin and walk around with it for an hour, several hours or days, if necessary. You will know if that smell is for you when you can’t get enough of it. You have to be patient and unfortunately in today’s world, everybody wants you to choose quickly,” he explains.
2 – Accessorize, accessorize
“Perfume is an accessory like any other. It does not obey any set of rules. It depends on one’s way of playing with your personality. Some people prefer building a strong identity by wearing the same scent all the time, while others enjoy the multi-faceted aspect of using accessories to experiment, intrigue and have fun.”
3 – Consider the occasion
“Perfume is like clothing or make-up. You don’t dress the same or use make-up in the same way on every occasion. Wearing a heavy Oriental scent for an interview would be like wearing a cocktail dress to a job interview. People will decode all of the signals that you will be sending.”
