At a meeting a few weeks ago, I sat down the table from the General Manager of a successful sportswear brand. He raised his voice to emphasize the importance of stories to raising money for a nonprofit organization. “I don’t care if it’s wristwatches or Porsches,” he said, “Emotion makes sales.”
This is certainly true for perfume. Stories create emotion, and emotion creates an attachment that logic can’t touch. His statement, though, brought up a larger question: how much of a person’s connection to a fragrance is its bottle, advertising, and stories, and how much is the perfume itself?
Cosmetics companies wouldn’t spend millions on advertising and public relations if it didn’t work. Witness Frederic Malle’s undeniably beautiful Carnal Flower. Carnal Flower has blitzed the media, winning glowing articles in the New York Times and fashion magazines. Combine this buzz with Carnal Flower’s high price and exclusivity, and it’s suddenly an upper East Side favorite. I suspect, though, you could swap Carnal Flower’s juice for Coty Sand & Sable and few people would be the wiser.
A perfume’s bottle is a big part of its attraction, too. I can’t afford to buy a bottle of every scent I want — and couldn’t use them up if I did. So sometimes I swap for decants. But spraying perfume from a nondescript decant just isn’t as satisfying as lifting a nicely-designed bottle that fills my hand, and I adore the silk-lined boxes holding crystal bottles of extrait. Perfume is partly about luxury, ritual, and fantasy. Spraying from the black globe holding Lanvin Arpège contributes to my pleasure in wearing the scent. Knowing that the small, gold line drawing on the bottle is Jeanne Lanvin and her daughter deepens it.
Also, a good story about a perfume or a positive review has led me to buy bottles of fragrance I haven’t even smelled. For instance, Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche doesn’t suit me at all and I don’t wear it, but I bought it and think it’s great. Why? Because Luca Turin likes it. (I hope my pickup’s clutch holds out, because when his and Tania Sanchez’s book comes out I won’t be able to afford a new one.) I’m also a sucker for any perfume I know Catherine Deneuve likes or that I see on the vanity in an old movie. I owe my bottle of Caron Narcisse Noir extrait to Sunset Boulevard.
I could add more reasons you might be attracted to a particular scent that have little to do with how it smells. Its name, for instance (leading to my choice of Annick Goutal Grand Amour over Passion in a Paris boutique) or that your sophisticated aunt wore it or even that you really like the sales person in the perfume shop where it’s sold.
In the end, does it really matter why you love a bottle of perfume, or what draws you to it, as long as you do love it? Are you a chump if it’s not strictly the merits of a fragrance that matter to you? I don’t think so. To me, wine does taste best in a beautiful glass, and an Irish linen handkerchief means more when I know my grandmother carried it on her wedding day. Perfume is about more than pure scent. It’s about the rich and sometimes complicated narrative that surrounds it. I’m o.k. with that.
Note: image via Parfum de Pub.
Thank your Angela for writing all this for it is so true..!
I have to think first before I write anything else.
I'm glad you liked it. I wish I could say that I choose perfume only because of the way it smells, but it's so much more than that!
It is what quinncreative wrote, it's about getting peoples attention and curiousity. And my curiousity wakes up many times e.g. read somewhere that 24 Fauburg was the signature scent of Catherine Deneuve – then of course I went to try it, while it never appealed to me before ;-D. I didn't particularly like 24 Fauburg, but felt a lot better after having tried it at least.
Then there is Frederic Malle, read so many times that his perfumes are so good but when I look at their website those plain and simple bottles cool my feelings down a bit.
Oh my goodness bottles are important and I always believed that the package was of no great importance to this woman.. !! >'< Aww Sigh..
The great thing about Deneuve is that she definitely loves her perfume. Chances are, no matter what your taste, you can find something her name has been associated with! I've heard that she likes L'Heure Bleue, Chamade, Nahema, Sacrebleu, Chanel No. 5, No. 19, and more. I read one interview where she encouraged the interviewer to go down the street to the Malle boutique.
Don't let the bottle shape stop you from trying the Malles if you get the chance! They're terrific, and they're each so different. It's true that the bottle doesn't always match the scent–Iris Poudre, for example, doesn't smell much like its Malle bottle looks.
Catherine Deneuve was used in the publicity for Chamade but Nahema was created with her in mind by Jean-Paul Guerlain. Upon hearing the love stories that inspired almost all of Guerlain fragrances, customers may certainly be moved to buy them. The Guerlain bottles are innovative and often reflect the love stories.
I guess the concept with the Malle fragrances is to concentrate on the juice and employ several great noses to freely create what they want, not what a perfume company dictates. I suppose one could take home the boring bottle of great juice and decant it into a Czechoslovakian crystal bottle with a bulb if one wanted to be truly elegant. Money is not spent on employing a bottle designer and manufacturing something interesting. It must be the reason so many flankers are put in the original fragrances' bottles with only minor modifications. The Malles would be even more expensive with different bottles and boxes, and tons of advertising with a spokesmodel, etc.
As for Serge Lutens' very respectable fragrances, maybe his bottles are so bland for export because they are more easily packed and one can fit more units in a box or on a shelf than a non space-saving bell jar.
Bland bottles do not appeal to the rabid perfume bottle collectors. Some don't even care about the juice, just the art of the bottle and packaging.
I've noticed, too, that Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue have the same bottle, and I've often wondered if there was a bottle shortage–or a budget shortfall–that led to Guerlain using the same bottle.
It makes complete sense that the Serge exports are in easy-to-ship bottles! (They're easy to store in a perfume cabinet at home, too.)
As for perfume and bottles, for me the perfume itself is the first consideration, and I'd never buy an empty bottle. But I do love a beautiful bottle.
Thank you for your excellent article, Angela!
L'Heure Bleue was created in 1912 at the beginning of the War. In those days bottles were not the big deal they are now. The perfume business wasn't as commercialized. Many bottles were pretty bland but ladies decanted them into their lovely cut glass bottles for their vanity tables. After World War II, there were some L'Heure Bleue bottles left over so the company decided to put a new label on for Mitsouko in 1919.
I buy lots of empty bottles for my musuem-like collection which I take on the road when I lecture. I do, however believe in using the juice myself if I get a contemporary bottle which will become part of my museum later. I believe in perfume being a living thing so it must be worn! I can endlessly admire the empty bottles for their esthetic appeal.
Angela, I am coming closer and closer to a fragrance by F. Malle.
How super that they are all so different.
Looked at their website and their prices are so good, it must be something for the true perfumelover.
Do you have samples of F. Malle or did you buy some bottles?
Have to look again but thought that they also make fragrances on mesure, according to a customers' personal taste. But that of course is for the far advanced buying clientele. Stage V perfumistas?
Couple of years ago I read an interview in the French Marie Claire with Catherine Deneuve. It was all and only about her clothes, her purses and her shoes and her friendship with YSL.
By then I felt a little dissapointed for I had hoped to read something more about her personal life. The interviews of Marie Claire are pretty good and 'decent' if you want.
Now I would love to read about her love for perfumes…but without the advertising aspect.
Another topic to explore on the internet.
Are you a chump if it’s not strictly the merits of a fragrance that matter to you? Good question! All the other things you described, apart from the actual juice, is offered up as psychological value. Is this value real? No, not really, unless we believe it to be so.
The exclusivity of a perfume, a handbag, a piece of clothing, is designed to make us feel special. We are special enough to own something not everyone can just pick up easily. There is also the connection aspect, hence the slew of celebrity fragrances. If you wear the perfume you will maybe be able to tap into some of the social power the celebrity has. You could say the same for any of the large perfume houses; you want to connect to a lifestyle, a social status – all this unconscious for the most part of course!
It's smelly alcohol (to whatever degree)…anything else is simply a story…some of them are great stories, but stories none the less.
In the end, after all the flush of excitement, a perfume, or any material thing for that matter, has never maintained it's psychological value for me beyond it's pure functionality.
Some perfumes smell good to me. I like good smells. Very simple, yet very satisfying in the end.
That is really interesting Celestia. Maybe I should go and have a look at the antique markets here. There must be some pretty antique crystal bottles to be discovered. Never thought of doing that either.
Every bottle and it's design has its own history. Did not know there were times with a shortage of bottles, guess I should have known but never realized it.
It would be a real coup to interview Deneuve on perfume. I volunteer for the job!
C, Museum-quality collection! That sounds wonderful. If you ever make it near the Pacific Northwest, I'd love to know.
Thanks, too, for clearing up the mystery about Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue sharing a bottle.
Hmm, thought-provoking and well-written–thanks for the comment.
For me, the psychological value, and as you rightly point out, ultimately stories, have real value, even if I can't use them. Not all the stories have value. For instance, I wouldn't pay $5 for the latest “it” bag, because I think they're a scam. They don't make me feel special or glamourous at all.
But take something else, say, one old stocking. On its own, without a story, the stocking is useless (unless you have only one leg). But if the stocking once belonged to Marie Antoinette, suddenly it has a web of stories attached to it and a whole new value. It becomes a talisman. It makes you imagine the past and connects you to a life you don't (can't) have. That one stocking has a new function and so has value beyond being a sock.
I'm not wild about having Madison Avenue tell me what value to give things, but I love the value-added of history and personal association.
The whole thing is interesting to contemplate I agree.
But…what if a mistake was made and the old stocking did not really belong to Marie Antoinette after all. Would the inspiration you derived from your talisman stocking (like the ring of that..lol) not be real anymore?
It's never the items that inspire us, it's our belief about said items that give them value.
The ultimate trick is to find the inspiration from within, realizing that everything in the out is just a symbol. You ultimately don't need the symbol, but the marketers of this world would not want you knowing or believing this of course 😉
I still like the smelly juice though, because it smells so darn good – some of it that is.
If the stocking were a fake, it still had its value for me. I accept the delusion with my eyes wide open, for the pleasure it brings. That's why I believe in lucky stars, fate, and I eagerly crack open the fortune cookie.
The “smelly juice” is terrific, but I want the whole story and the pretty bottle, too!
The story is the thing. I often read others' reviews, and although I know that my chemistry could turn someone's emotional satisfaction into my horror from hell, I will often think more kindly of a perfume from reading stories. But then again, I'm a writer. But i don't learn. I purchased Douce Amere on reviews alone and I hated it.
So here is my story: i purchased a very expensive fragrance at NM. I had tried it on and the development simply astonished me. I felt sophisticated and impressive wearing it. I knew that it had gotten slammed for its expense, but on me it was worth the amazing cost.
But bottles mean nothing to me. The juice is everything. I purchased the perfume while I was riding the bike, and the expensive, big, bulky box wasn't going to work. I calmly reached into the big bag, took out the bulky box, looked at the impressive satin lining, lifted the bottle out, tucked it into the front pocket of my motorcycle jacket (it zips shut) and handed the huge heap of black satin and ribbon to the SA and said, “could you toss this please?” I thought she was going to faint. I learned later she took the box and ribbons home to keep.
But if most of us didn't love the glamour and trappings, we'd send the economy into ruin at Christmas. Can you imagine–no tree, no wrappings, no Christmas shopping? (I'm actually doing it this year, and the emotional trip is fascinating.)
Late to the party to say–that's a pretty bold claim re: Carnal Flower and Sand and Sable!
🙂
I love the vision of you riding off with a bottle of perfume tucked inside your jacket…but the big question is: What was the perfume?
And yes, stories definitely have power. But then I probably believed in Santa way too long.
…and I stand by it! Have you ever tried Sand & Sable, by the way? It's the best big, white floral drugstore scent I know. (But no Carnal Flower, that's for sure.)
i wasn't impressed with carnal flower, so no matter how much i like the fm line (love love love musc ravageur, iris poudre and une fleur de cassie), if a particular scent doesn't speak to me somehow, i don't go for it. the many samples sitting in my sample boxes attest to this fact. i bought many of them based on others' raves, and was mostly disappointed by them.
now, in cases when it's cheap (tjmaxx) and i l already like the designer and his/her other scents – i will take a flyer and buy blind. just did this the other day with a sonia rykiel, and thankfully, it turned out okay. so sometimes a name can sway me – but only if i've discovered i like their aesthetic.
i love a good back story as much as anyone, and enjoy knowing the stories and history behind favorites like jicky, but story and packaging are all icing. if i don't like the flavor of the cake, they really don't matter. i was entranced by the smell of jicky before i knew its story.
the other day we gave away paris hilton's can can to a studio audience, and before i knew what it was (and judged it), i smellled it in the air – and actually liked it as a room spray. mostly because it covered up the mildew i always smell upon entering the building. i will probably never wear can can, but this bass-ackwards introduction to it kept my mind open long enough to give the scent a chance – it smells like candles and candy.
yes, i can unequivocally say that paris hilton's can can smells better than mildew. she should add that to her marketing campaign.
now, if i'd known up front it was can can, i might not have given it any shot at all. in paris's case, the back story works against the juice. on the other hand, i did very much like the hot-pink feather boas they put in the gift bags. but that's just because i like boas. ditch paris, keep the boas and the scent has a chance.
so i guess i can fall for certain names and boas in a weak moment.
can't think of any time i've fallen for a bottle or dismissed a scent because of its bottle. they are neither here nor there for me. not that i wouldn't love a few vintage lalique or baccarat bottles… but even then, i would be wishing for traces of the parfums they contained – because that's the most important thing to me.
Angela, what a beautiful post – as usual! As much as I sometimes wish I could be a “juice purist”, I'm just not, and never will be. The story behind the fragrance, the era in which it was created, the bottle, the house behind it…yes, all these things matter to me. Why? I'm not exactly sure myself, but I think it has to do with the very nature of fragrance – the sense of smell is the most evocative sense, in that you don't just smell something and say to yourself, “Oh, that's nice.” With the smell comes a whole rush of subconscious feelings; images are conjured up, memories resurface; even if you've never smelled it before, it will bring something to mind. And so that's why I want my fragrances to be appealing on every level – I admit with no shame that I purchased my first bottle of L'Heure Bleue unsniffed when I was young because I loved the famous story of its inspiration (the whole “sky having lost its sun but not yet having found its stars” thing got me right away), I loved the name with its accompanying sense of melancholy, I loved the bottle, the storied history of the house of Guerlain, and the time period in which it was created is one of my favorites, aesthetically. And my instinct – that this was a fragrance that I would really “get” – was absolutely correct: I fell in love with it right away. Was my opinion skewed in favor of it by all the trappings? Would I have loved it as much if I'd known nothing about it? I don't know…but neither do I really care: I found a fragrance that I loved like no other, that felt personal, that felt like *me*.
My tolerance for big white florals is very selective –I love a very few, and can't take the rest– but what the heck, next time I run into it I'll give it a sniff, for sure! Because I came to perfume through the blogs and the nice world, I have a lot of very weird gaps in my perfume knowledge and that's one of them.
Hey, how about a series on that Angela — “Things One Must Sniff at CVS”– or whatever your local drugstore chain is called…
I smell a new slogan for Can Can: “Smells Better than Mildew, and Comes With a Boa!” Intriguing, at least. What show do you do? Is it anything I can hear or see in Portland?
If I saw a bottle of something Paris Hilton, I would probably snobbishly reject it off the bat. On the other hand, if I didn't know it was Paris Hilton, I'd at least give it the try it deserves. So I know I am a victim of marketing, even if in this case it works opposite of how it's supposed to.
Great idea for a series! My local Walgreens has lots of testers. I'll definitely pursue it.
I know what you mean about having spotty perfume knowledge. I do, too. It's impossible to smell everything out there. But do try Sand & Sable if you run across it. I got my bottle for $4.99 (and gave it away recently, but what the heck).
Brava! So well expressed. I feel exactly the same way. For me, every little object, every word has strings attaching it to a plethora of stories and emotion that all contribute to how I feel about something. A part of me wants to be pure, as Lisa commented above, and take things strictly for what they are. It seems more honest. On the other hand, I willingly and knowingly value the intangible stories and memories attached to something because it brings me pleasure, even though it doesn't change the chemical properties of the scent at all.
I love L'Heure Bleue, too.
Catherine Deneuve had her own perfume once. It was called Deneuve, launched in 1986. A chypre with sweet mosses and fine woods… Due to bad advertising? and very bad distribution is has dissapeared from the market.
Did anybody know this? I didn't. Just discovered that today.
At the time no one took celebrity perfumes seriously. I remember thinking, 'What on earth got into the woman? She's got a reputation for being refined and elegant; she's one of YSL's muses; why would she want to put her name to a second-rate perfume?' I never got a chance to sniff it,. but I would never have worn it anyway. I still wouldn't. Yes, OK, I'm a snob. LOL!
Wonderful article Angela!
I say that advertising is a very efficient tool in getting people to try out a particular product, especially if it's got exclusivity, romance, and all that good, gushy chewy stuff that goes along with it *smiles*
For some, those are the only things that matter – which sometimes ends up as money wasted on something that someone may never wear.
I'll admit that I do get drawn in by the advertising, the narrative, pretty bottle etc. etc. So, quite naturally, I do go out and hunt down the perfume in question.
And although the packaging (and everything else) may look nice, what matters the most is how the perfume in question smells. I like being able to try it on / get samples so I can get a chance to try out the product for myself. If it's something that I know that I'm going to want to wear, then I'll put down the money. If not, it stays in the store.
“Cosmetics companies wouldn’t spend millions on advertising and public relations if it didn’t work” – if they had the key to success, how to tell a good story and keep it for years they wouldn't be “forced” to launch so many perfumes a year…
How many lasted in the past 4 years?
Or if why the flankers … appeared ? A desperate fight to keep a fragrance (good) on the market because otherwise it would dissappear.
Let's take Paris (YSL): everything is/was good inside. But YSL started to put each year new flankers/version of Paris just because what you said works only in very, very few cases and because no one has the secret for “eternal succes”.
Because you and all reading here … we are perfume lovers and we understand all the art/work put inside. But I'm not sure that this would work “outside”. How do you explain the fact that Lancome decided to put the ad (with Kate Winslet) right on the packaging for Tresor (this christmas) as Armani Diamonds or other L'oreal did? Because Tresor idea doesn't work anymore so, to keep it alive you must do everything even to put a foto on that like celeb fragrances do in supermarket.
Another example of beautiful emotional correlation between bottle/ad/name/fragrance … are the classic Estee Lauder perfumes.
There is that fragrance that I do like agains all ods: the package is wrong, white box with a rose and the name Paul Smith on it in very too big wrong type plain black letters. Then the bottle..nono and the color of the fragrance light purple..euwgh. and then it is all about a rose and I am not into rose scents at all…and still, this one seems to haunt me. It is so much nicer than I ever expected, it stayed on my coat and a day later it smelled even better..:O??
How can this be?!? This fragrance has put me under its spell.
You might be interested to know that everything to do with Paul Smith's perfume (except the juice) – the box, the bottle, the typeface, etc. – was designed by this person
http://slapoftheday.blogspot.com/2007/11/tte-claques-xv.html
She played a small, but memorable part in my life.
Jaw dropping…WOW Bela, you could have been killed by that montrous spoiled arrogant womanthing !!
And apart from the actual Paul Smith juice she designed all that.. that what gives me that very uncomfortable hard-to-explain feeling?!?
Shocking !
Hmm everything is wrong about it, except the juice itself.
Some people truly believe that they are way above other people…and that Sir thing is also so outdated.
Thank you for sharing this. I am really glad that you are not hurt.
Maybe that rose is screaming “help me, get me out of here…”
I feel kind of spooked all of a sudden..
Nothing there to stop me from pouring the juice into another bottle more to my taste.
Never did that before but it will make me feel better.
The package is aggressive, that is the word. It is aggressive, not lovable. It's all bout the letters.
Alas, for the most part I have samples of the Malles. I do have a small bottle of Musc Ravageur (love it!), and I once had a bottle of Noir Epices that I foolishly swapped away. Have fun exploring the line!
I remember Deneuve, and I remember that Candace Bergen had a scent not long after. It's name started with a “C”, I think. I remember reading an article about the scent saying that fragrances with names starting with a C sold better. It didn't help Bergen's scent–it's dead and gone as far as I know.
Samples are definitely the best way to go, and I've learned that the hard way! I'm probably more of a sucker for stories (“I fell in love in this perfume”, “Grace Kelly wore this scent”) than ads, but I do love an artful print ad, especially.
O, you have such an interesting point! Advertising for Paris has been getting desperate, and putting Winslet on the box for Tresor is ridiculous. So advertising may not work for long, but at least it works for a few months, it seems.
I wonder if the big perfume companies would have more success selling their perfumes if they stopped pimping particular scents and encouraged the appreciation of perfume in general? I just read an article about Starbucks saying that contrary to what people assume–that Starbucks kills small, private coffee shops–Starbucks has encouraged people to like good coffee and the ritual of going to a coffee shop, and mom-and-pop coffee shops in general have had exponential growth.
B, great writing! And funny, too. See, this is the kind of story that adds dimension to a scent to me–I'll never think of Paul Smith's scent the same.
Me neither.
LOL! She's definitely 'spooky', for want of a better word.
Thanks,. A. I had completely forgotten she had been 'responsible' for the Paul Smith packaging when I wrote that post. Something else had reminded me of her.
I have to say that she is highly respected in her profession.
The perfume that still leaves a trace on my motorcycle jacket was the much discussed and often maligned Clive Christian's “X” for women. It has a Cinderella effect on me. I swear I lose weight and look younger when I wear it.
X is my favorite of the Clive Christians. Now I definitely need to try it again.
Fantastic subject, Angela!
I love fragrance and everything to do with it so much, that sometimes I'm not sure whether I love the cake — the juice — or the icing — everything else — more!! I love that FM scents are all about the scents themselves. . .and yet, I wish he'd chosen something besides that stark red lettering. So I don't care. . .and then I do! Oh, well, I don't love Carnal Flower less for that.
JPG Classique: never liked the silly Madonna-torso bottle even in its heyday, and never tried the scent because of it. Years later, it looks even less appealing to me. Is it a classic? Will it “come around” again? Did it ever go out? Was it ever in? Wouldn't it be nicer in a nicer bottle? Am I stark raving crazy? Does any of it matter?
I will now have a cup of soothing tea and gaze fondly at my new Bulgari Black “hockey puck” bottle, which looks terrific to me. . .at the moment! I hear it's had its own, er, mixed reviews. . .
I think the Bulgari Black bottle–and its contents–are terrific, so I hope you're enjoying them! I like the FM bottles just because they are what they are, even though they don't always relate perfectly to the scents they hold. Still, my heart beats faster when I see one…
Angela, forgot to add that I think your choose of the black Arpege bottle to accompany your column was truly inspired. When juice and package and history all come together, THAT is THAT.
Oh, I know! Have you ever held one of the black globes in your hand? It's taken me a while to come around to Arpege, but now I'm hooked.
No, but I can imagine how it must feel. I haven't really had a truly transcendental experience that way — I guess unwrapping my Mitsouko recently gave me a bit of a rush of touching timelessness, although it was compromised because it was only the much-malgned EdT — but the time will come. A sniff of Arpege is like time transport, isn't it? Back, back, back. . .and yet, if it's not the original formulation, it's not the same thing. I was recently crushed when, for the first time in decades, I sniffed L'Heure Bleue. I wish I hadn't. In the seventies when I owned a bottle of the parfum, it was like a velvet twilight sky in my head!!! Today, it smells like a musty test-tube — so artificial, so phoney, such a poseur, compared to my beloved memory. Sometimes, you just can't go back. . .
Don't malign the Mitsouko EdT, unless you're sure it doesn't measure up! I've been surprised at how much I love the Mitsouko cologne, which is even further away from the parfum.
Too bad about L'Heure Bleue, though. I really like it, but I don't have any memories for it to live up to, fortunately. “Velvet twilight”–so nice!
Oh, Angela, you're wonderful. I feel so much better about my Mitsouko. If I could, I'd take the both of us back to 1976 and buy us each a great big bottle of pure L'Heure Bleue parfum!!! It's marvelous, actually, that you love it today and aren't haunted by ghosts of L'HB Past! Velvet twilight: you know, that luminous deep, almost turquoise light in the western sky at twilight to this day is my favourite colour of all! Not a pigment at all, but a light, a feeling, a moment. . .Thank you again for another beautiful topic and piece of writing.