HOW TO BUILD A PERFUME WARDROBE YOU’LL ACTUALLY USE IN REAL LIFE
What makes a great fragrance collection? A pick’n’mix of your personalities that fit into mundane normal days. Here’s how to channel your scented psyches and find a spritz for your many moods.
There is a lot said about pairing your perfume to a specific scenario, where you channel the scene and setting via a beautifully compatible scent. It’s a great way to shop for fragrance if you have a big occasion such as a glam party or holiday - as it gives you some much-needed context and direction when negotiating a busy shop floor. Black tie gala at Claridge’s? Head straight to the big, bodacious room-rockers. Mother-of-the-bride at a springtime church wedding? Hunt down a decadent white floral or grand chypre. But in the mundanity of actual life, when there’s no posh party invite, when there’s no wedding rsvp or beach vacay, when it’s just a normal-ish day, I think that’s when we really need perfume to have our back. Rather than as an outfit accessory, real-life everyday fragrance is emotional warpaint, sprayed to feed a feeling or boost a mood. Whether it’s a grounding cologne for a tense week at work, a happy splash to match your post-gym buzz, or even a grumpy, smoky cloak of do-not-come-near-me potion when you’re having a thoroughly shit day - these are our truest and most frequent identities that we can protect or project via perfume.