Choosing Your Signature Fragrance & The 2 Perfumes I Currently Love
In today’s blogpost, I wanted to talk about the two types of perfumes I currently own, and my thought process when choosing a perfume. To make this blogpost easier to write & understand, I’ve grouped eau de toilettes, eau de parfum and colognes all as perfumes 🙂
A Little Backstory
I remember deep diving into the world of scents during my wedding when I was searching for a perfume that would be my signature bridal scent. My research brought me through popular perfumes that brides choose to wear on their big day, to learning about the many types of ingredients that go into a perfume, and ultimately framed my thought process into – ‘How do I want to be perceived & remembered?’
I now use this question as my strategy when dressing up, hosting and even choosing books to read. I’ll talk more about this in another blogpost, as it’ll be a long one, but that whole process essentially led to me knowing what type of bride I wanted to remember myself and be remembered as – sweet, welcoming, happy and bubbly, which means I needed to find a perfume that would convey just that. Fast forward, my bridal perfume was the Chloe Eau De Toilette – Rose Tangerine which was exactly how I envisioned my wedding scent to be, and I know it’ll remain as a personal classic for me until the day I am old and grey.
Following that experience, I now knew that asking the question ‘How do I want to be perceived & remembered?’ is a full-proof formula that works. However, I don’t always want to portray a sweet, welcoming, happy and bubbly woman, instead some days I want to exude confidence, boldness, or feel sexy, exotic, and other times my only purpose is to be perceived as intelligent or elegant. Going by this notion though, I probably would need to have at least six or ten perfumes in my back pocket, which given just how much the price of perfumes have sky-rocketed in the last few years, that would be unrealistic. As a starting point, I narrowed down to two types of perfumes that would fit all occasions.
Type 1 – a milder sweet, floral, fresh or fruity scent
Type 2 – a stronger earthy, woody and spicy scent
Floral notes in perfumes give a cheerful, sensual, and relaxing sensation, perfectly embodying the feminine grace and charm. Woody and spicy notes on the other hand are aligned with feeling luxurious, outspoken and exotic. I came to this realisation after seeing the opposing divine feminine versus dark feminine energy, and the golden retriever versus black cat personality all over social media – almost like a representation of the yin & yang.
The Fragrance Wheel
With that being said, almost all perfumes are a combination of floral, fresh, oriental and woody notes based on the fragrance wheel. The factor that differentiates the overall scent of the perfume is the concentration of each fragrance group:
Source: Fragrance X
Now that you know the four core fragrance notes, the easiest way to actually know how you FEEL about a scent is to of course, try it out.
Perfume Notes
Perfumes aren’t like essential oils, thus it’s not a one size fits all formula. Instead, it’s a beautiful scientific concoction of various different ingredients or notes. In essence, there are three types of notes that together, work to create a beautiful fragrance – Top notes, Heart notes & Base notes.
Top notes – Opening notes which form the top layer of a fragrance. To put it simply, top notes are the scents you will smell right after you spray perfume. Top notes are the lightest of all the notes, and because of this, it’s also the first to fade. Yet, they play a huge role in determining the initial scents that can lure you in and create your first impression of the fragrance.
Heart notes – Just like the name, heart notes contain the truest nature of the perfume. They make up the highest concentration of the total scent making this layer the heart of any fragrance out there. Heart notes last for less than an hour and are usually filled with ingredients like jasmine, geranium, ylang-ylang, cinnamon, lemon grass, and cardamom.
Base notes – They’re the ones that make your perfume last for six hours (or more!) as it sinks in your skin. You know those blazers you keep reusing without dry-cleaning yet it still carries a strong scent that fills up your wardrobe? That’s the base note you’re smelling. Unlike top notes that shape the wearer’s initial impression, the base notes create the final, lasting impression. Some of my favourite base notes include cedarwood, sandalwood, vanilla, patchouli, and musk. Just so beautiful!
So, the next time you’re choosing your perfume, make sure to look at these notes, and see if as a whole, they lean towards floral, fruity and fresh notes, Or spicy, earthy and woody notes.
Going back to my signature bridal wedding perfume, the Rose Tangerine by Chloe has a top note of tangerine essence, heart note of fresh rose absolute, and base note of blackberry, which worked like magic to embody the kind of bride I envisioned myself being.
Photo Source: Sephora Malaysia
Editor’s Note:
These serve as a recommendation & guideline, only if you are someone who is trying to make perfumes a special interest or curate a personal brand and image for yourself. There really isn’t any pressure to invest in a tonne of perfumes. For starters, one perfume you enjoy wearing that allows you to feel good is more than enough. A lot of the times, we are our biggest critic when in fact, people don’t even realize these little additions we make. So, don’t take it too seriously and just have fun with your perfumes!
The Two Perfumes I’m Currently Using
Jo Malone Cologne – English Pear and Sweetpea
My go-to sweet & floral scent
Top notes: William Pear (fruity)
Heart notes: Sweet Pea (floral)
Base notes: Patchouli (woody)
A few years ago, my parents gifted me ‘the older sister’ of the Jo Malone cologne family, the English Pear and Freesia, and it remained my favourite for a very long time. I didn’t use perfumes very much then as I wasn’t earning very well and couldn’t afford to repurchase them. I also didn’t have a very defined understanding of myself or my personal style so to be honest, I couldn’t have cared less back then. As long as a had a perfume on standby for dinners and special occasions, I was good to go.
Once I ran out of my Chloe wedding perfume, I set out for a similar type of scent that was easy on the nose without appearing too strong with fruity and floral notes. That’s when I came across this reengineered English Pear and Sweetpea at the Singapore Changi airport which was something new, but still reminded me of my favourite perfume once upon a time. She is now my go-to daytime perfume when I’m looking to feel fresh, bubbly and smell sweet. There are some nights where I want to embody the feminine grace and still feel sweet and cute instead of sexy where this Jo Malone is such a special addition. My husband always has such compliments whenever I wear this and I notice he’s very much in his masculine energy whenever I’m wrapped in this feminine one, which is such a perfect balance. We’ll talk more about the feminine & masculine energies in another blog post. Would you be interested?
Photo source: Sephora Malaysia
Maison Margiela Replica Eau De Toilette – Jazz Club
My go-to sexy & spicy scent
Top notes: Primofiore Lemon, Pink Pepper, Neroli Oil
Heart notes: Clary Sage Oil, Rum Absolute, Java Vetiver Oil
Base notes: Tobacco Leaf Absolute, Vanilla Bean
I was initially doing my research for Maison Kurkdijan’s Baccarat Rouge 540 when I came across the brand, Maison Margiela. What initially pulled me towards their Replica fragrance line were the intricate details on the bottle inspired by classic apothecary jars. Each bottle is then labelled with the fragrance originality, provenance and period, fragrance & style description which I thought was so unique. As someone, who judges books and things by the cover, this grabbed my attention.
I knew at this point that I was missing a spicy scent so upon my stop at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok (always buy your perfumes duty-free, ladies) , I smelled-test By The Fireplace, Autumn Vibes and Jazz Club which I ultimately fell in love with, though all three are a very unique blend of spicy & woody scents. In a parallel universe, I would have purchased all three.
Just like its name, Jazz Club evokes the exhilarating and intimate atmosphere of a private jazz club:
” Jazz Club pays homage to an iconic Jazz Club, where the scent of cocktails and cigar fills the room, a saxophone is playing, as you enjoy the warmth of a rich whisky.”
Source: Maison Margiela Fragrances
Jazz Club is now my go-to scent on days where I’m trying to exude my dark feminine, appear confident, outspoken and sexy. The layers of rum, tobacco leaf and pink pepper makes this scent perfect for date nights in a satin dress. My husband, E, loves this perfume as much as I do and even requests for a spritz every now and then which further strengthens the unisex nature of this perfume.
Spotify, play She’s a Lady by Tom Jones…and I’m ready for the world!
This was such a fun post to write about. Of course, I’m no perfume connoisseur. These are all a culmination of my own trial & errors, research and formulas that works for me. There are so much more to learn about perfume making (and layering), but if you’re a beginner who’s just now trying to find her signature scent, I know this blogpost will come in handy.
What is your signature perfume, and why? Let me know!
Until next time,
Love, alyia xx