Our relationships with scents

September 17th, 2007 | Perfumes

I suppose one reason I like perfume is that it is somewhat ethereal if not ephemeral. It’s less a tangible, something you can touch, vs. something that is felt or experienced, similar to a thought. Now, if you happen to wear fragrance so heavily that it clogs the air, then it is less ethereal and more tangible.

Scents evoke a time and place for me, if I wore them pretty exclusively at a particular time or if a loved one did. I bought a scent my mother wore in honor of her, though it doesn’t smell as I remember it on her skin. It would be nice to catch a glimpse of that time and place.

While the number of new fragrances in the 1950s were around 10-20, with the average market life of a product around 15-20 years, in the recent decade, there are close to 150-200 launches each year, with the market life averaging 3!

I love to smell the new offers, but who can hope to keep up with a fraction of these or to remember them? Meantime, there are fellow perfumistas who maintain perfume journals. I keep track of notes in fragrances because I know what I can generally wear. So far, I can remember why some fragrances don’t do well on me. But I’m not trying out 100 a year, that’s for sure.

Having so many new offerings means, almost by definition, that our attachments to a particular perfume will either be less, as it won’t be available, or more because we can’t find it. It used to take 7 years for any kind of change, not perfume, if I remember rightly, but now it is in the range of less than a year. Now it’s come down to fragrances. I wonder if that mirrors the Real Life experiences we have with some relationships? Interesting thought, that. Which came first? the manifestation in RL relationships or the constant change in life, then in the life and appearance of perfumes?

Are we so fickle in all areas of our lives that we are less likely to commit to a long term relationship? or, in the case of perfumes, is the quality down, so we are constantly looking for our holy grail scent?

Here’s a couple of quotes I found interesting on the subject. What do you think?

Karin

What do your fragrances mean to you? Without getting too poetic, I was thinking about this question the other day. In pondering my â€˜attachmentâ€™ to material things as I study this Buddhist concept, I realized that I do not have an unhealthy attachment to my fragrances. I was pleased to discover that when evaluating what would happen to me if I were to lose them all, I would not be sad. I have accepted the impermanence of the collection, as I have accepted the impermanence of human relationships. We have a relationship with our fragrances donâ€™t we? When do they not accompany us? Havenâ€™t some been our closest companions in times of hardship, sorrow, joy, and special occasions? Do we not have memories about loved ones that we associate with certain fragrances?

Fragrances come in out of our lives bringing and taking with them feelings, visions, echoes, ghosts, small fragments of time. Each fragrance has its own personality and characteristics, its own voice, its own presence. Our collections are very much alive. They are an expression of our lives and who we are at that moment, and who we have been. And because of this, our collections cannot be fixed, static, permanent, because we ourselves do not fit that description. Of all our material possessions, I canâ€™t think of any that most mirrors our life experiences as our fragrance collection. For some of us they began when we were very young, as early as 5 years old, and they have been with us since. Many of us think of who we will pass our collection to when we ourselves have passed from this life time. Is this not an extension of â€˜usâ€™? Realizing and accepting this has made my relationship to my fragrances more relaxed, more enjoyable. To me, they are like friends, some come and go, and some stay a little longer, but all are meaningful. Irinadax at POL, with permission

dax, your post beautifully expressed your, and so many others’, feelings about perfume. I enjoyed reading it very much.

I have to be honest here. I love perfume and all it evokes and represents, but I feel a certain amount of detachment from it.

I don’t feel that my perfumes are an expression of who I am or what I feel. I think that I bring expression and feeling to the perfume. If I were to lose the ability to wear perfume tomorrow, I’d be okay. Yes, I’d miss one of the great, sensual joys of life, but I’d be fine.

I realize that this post will make me sound like a freak on this board, and I do enjoy perfume, but I don’t invest too much emotional energy in it. Velvetsky at POL, with permission