O.K., here’s a question: How many perfumes does a woman need?
For me, the answer certainly comes to more than one. As much as I love the idea of having a signature fragrance, I could never be faithful to just one scent, no matter how fabulous. After all, I would never want to go through life listening to just one song, or drinking just one wine, or looking at just one painting.
The Fragrance Foundation recommends that women have four perfumes: a floral, an oriental, a green, and a chypre. While this recommendation probably makes their member organizations happy by touching on most fragrance categories, I have a harder time with it. A chypre, for instance, can be herbal and zingy, like Guerlain Sous le Vent or Patou Cocktail, or lush and viscous like Rochas Femme or Cartier Baiser du Dragon. (In fact, I think I could make a fragrance wardrobe of chypres alone.) I don’t see how fragrance family alone can determine how many perfumes to have.
So, how many perfumes are enough? After a great deal of thought, I’ve determined that for me the magic number is twelve. I need a perfume each for business meetings; for “ladylike” situations such as weddings and graduation ceremonies; for comfort; for bringing out my inner bombshell; and for general daily use. That’s five scents. Multiply times two for hot and cold weather, and we have ten scents. Then, add a killer white floral and Mitsouko — a category all its own — and the grand total is twelve.
Mind you, this is a bare minimum. I could easily add more for when it’s rainy (businesslike-rainy, comfort-rainy, etc.). Also, I like to wear vintage scents when I have on contemporary clothing and vice versa. If I add “special use” scents — for barbecues, cleaning house, or watching the Thin Man movies, for instance — the number goes up even more.
Starting tomorrow and continuing through the week, I’ll write about some of my favorite fragrances for each of these categories. I hope in return that you’ll tell me some of your favorites.
Note: thanks to Keeter of MakeupAlley for permission to display the picture of her fabulous perfume collection!
See also: The Fragrance Wardrobe Part 2 ~ Comfort Scents, Part 3 ~ Scents for Business and Special Occasions, Part 4 ~ Perfume for Seduction and Part 5 ~ All The Rest.
Oh my. I wish I had only twelve. I must have about 70 by now and they keep multiplying. I almost feel oppressed by them but individually I like them enough to want to keep them all.
I have a lot more than 12 bottles, too. In fact, I'm afraid to count them, lest I start converting their value to mortgage payments. Maybe I should have said 12 daily, so it's a rotating collection of 12.
Heh. Just counting the Guerlains gets me uncomfortably close to 12. However, I don't count all my samples and decants, so I'm not feeling too bad — looking forward to your list of favorites!
Twelve Guerlains–just listing the names would be like reading poetry. (Big sigh of happiness here.) I need to invest in some kind of special storage cabinet.
Nostalgic sigh for days when I had only 12 fragrances. It's fun to create categories to rationalize acquiring more scents: vacation scents, bedtime scents, lazy day scents, t-shirt days scents, must-have-because-it's-classic scents, etc., etc.
Looking forward to reading your list!
It's shocking how far I've gone in the creation of must-fill categories justifying fragrance purchases. I may have gone over the edge the other day when my rationale for purchasing one I liked was that the bottle matched my boudoir's decor!
….and going to the chi-chi boutique where I want to be impressive scent; bike ride scent; stand in line at DMV scent; the list never ends for me, alas. Despite the “magic number” idea.
I completely understand. I'm a sucker for a beautiful bottle.
Angela, PLEASE tell us what frag you would wear to a rock concert!! Or how about an opera or a football game….. have fun with it. I know you will!
How many fragrances then are men supposed to have. Looking forward to your list!
Well, I haven't had a special request for a fragrance recommendation before. Rock concert, football game, opera…stay tuned for Friday's article and I'll include some ideas for those situations!
At least as many, don't you think? (Although I've always loved the smell of man washed in Dial soap, the orange one. And some men just smell so divine all on their own.)
Oh gosh. Twelve fragrances? I don't think I can do that, Angela. LOL!
I can't wait to read your list.
Hugs!
I can't do it either! Twelve just isn't enough, despite all my reasoning.
And I thought I was the only one who liked the Dial soap thing……
Those deep-seated scent memories are almost impossible to eradicate. I guess I should be lucky it's not Hai Karate I'm stuck on.
I have about twelve, including Creative Scentualization's Perfect Bliss and Perfect Vanilla (what I wear for the “bombshell” effect), Jo Malone's Lime Basil & Mandarin (my favorite fragrance for summer) and Orange Blossom, Fraggonard's Miranda and Eau Fantasque, and Cartier's Baiser du Dragon.
Good work on keeping it to twelve! It's an interesting selection, too. I like how you juxtapose the linear Jo Malones with the Baiser du Dragon. I'll have to try the Perfect Vanilla, since my bombshell needs a boost.
OMG, I can SO relate to this! LOL! I have well over 100 bottles, and I haven't stopped yet. I have pared down my collection somewhat, but I'm swimming in decants/samples too. I LOVE the pic of Keeter's collection! 🙂
I agree, 12 is not enough! I have around 20 and looking forward to some exciting scents coming out this fall. One problem, though: I keep being lectured by my mother, boyfriend, friends,…they have around 2 scents each and just don´t understand my passion for perfume…
I know, some people just don't get it. But I bet a lot of them have expensive hobbies–a lot more expensive than perfume. And perfume is art!
I love that photo, too. I keep looking at it, trying to figure out the different scents by the bottle shapes. An enviable collection.
I agree again, Angela! I don´t drink alcohol, I don´t smoke and don´t go to fancy restaurants. I just love to buy wonderful perfumes and DVDs.
Ha ha! I was trying to do the exact same thing! Anytime I see a photo of someone's perfume collection I test myself to see how many bottles I recognize.
Alot of the ones in that photo are indistinct, but I can pick out the L'Artisan bottles, and I think a Serge Lutens. I guess the more you recognize at a glance, the more serious the addiction!
Well I have well over 1,000 since I collect the minis but I find that I wear 10 different ones on a regular basis. Of course that is split by the seasons and then the occasion. Then since I work in the business I have to wear one of my fragrances to work(fragrance model) The minis are saved for speical occasion or just for display.
Sad but true! I think I see some Comme des Garcons bottles on the top row, too, a few Diptyques, and maybe even a Serge bell jar or two.
Wow, I think I have more than 12 fragrances. Not including samples that I wear, and fragrant lotions and creams and perfume oils which I'll use as a fragrance. I divide into many different catergories.
I had no idea that there were so many of us out there who love fragrance as much as I do! I can never be one of those women who wears a single signature fragrance!
You must have a special cabinet for storing them. And maybe a software program to keep track! Boy am I jealous.
I love the internet for that. Among my friends, I'm the one with the freakish perfume obsession. Here on the web, I'm a junior player.