It is little surprise, then, that the pellucid perfume trend is now back, but with a youthful twist. We are living in the Instagram era of beauty influencers, when glamour is more about optimization than opulence. In the Molecule 01 tradition, a new crop of perfumes have popped up with low nasal impact but high atmospheric allure.
— Read more at The New Softies (What is it about millennials that makes them want to smell like nothing?) at The New York Times. Hat tip to Kevin!
I will never understand why spend so much money on perfume then, to simply smell of nothing?!
Isn’t it easier and cheaper to simply invest in soaps and creams that smell ‘clean’, soft and innofensive? Soft smell lingering just enough as to envelop you in that ‘effortless’ chic, I’m not wearing anything I simply smell good bubble?
And brands will follow and eventually there will be nothing left for us folks. More vintage for me I guess; I’ll be the fragranced fumigator! 😉
Well, hard to say, but I do wear a number of fragrances that might qualify, including my choice today! It’s a fine line between fragrances I don’t get why you don’t just get some nice soap (the Clean line) and fragrances I see the point (Eau des Merveilles, Guerlain Cologne du 68, etc).
Agree! It’s a fine line and a wonderful point of balance in fragrances such as EdM and Cd68.
It’s kind of like a return to the ’90s aquatic, ‘fresh’ trend, but worse.
Yes! I wonder if power fragrances are due for a comeback eventually?
Probably. It seems like a pendulum swing. I mean, the ’80s has made it back around in fashion (maybe more than once), so I’m sure that will go for perfume too. 🙂
I also kind of feel like this has been coming for a while. It seems like every time I read an article about perfume that’s not on a site dedicated to perfume, in the comments there are always people complaining about how much they hate fragrance and how nobody should wear it because people bathe regularly now or whatever.
Yes, it is discouraging. I remember once reading an advice columnist, dealing with “Is our relative’s perfume collection a sign of dementia? I mean, no one collects perfume!” It makes me want to wear a t-shirt saying, “YES, I SHOWER, TOO!”
I am an “old” millennial for sure—after reading this I dug out my bottle of Dior Poison.
Entertaining article, and now I want to smell Elevator Music.
The comparison of Concrete and silly putty is perfect, both the color and the industrial smell of silly putty are a clever match for the perfume.
The millennials are the ones who wanted to wear makeup that looks like they’re not wearing any makeup, so I don’t know why this is so surprising. You can still make a huge impact without giving it all away with something loud.