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…