Fragrances of Today (my opinion anyway).

It is now 10:55 in the morning, lovely weather today and a fairly good mood as well. I was just outside a few moments ago thinking about my daughter, my future son who is on his way and my wife who are all down in Arkansas for a few weeks. Out of the blue though I caught a whiff of the Original Vetiver I had put on last night around 4:45 in the evening and something occurred to me. Fragrance truly has become a fashion statement rather than a personal extravagance and I too have fallen victim to such trends.

While it's true that I will not wear a fragrance that I don't personally enjoy (why would anyone do that?) I have found that when it comes to big brand-name scents, I look for the, "will this get me noticed?" factor. In my collection of big-brand American scents, I own various kinds such as: Polo Black & Double Black (Deo, cologne and aftershave for both), there is also Tommy Jeans, Nautica Classic, and Banana Republic Slate and Classic. The point I'm trying to make with listing these scents is that they are obvious fashion statements in the big picture. Marketed towards fashionable young men and women who want to be noticed through something that projects an image...and this is not why I was initially interested in fragrance. Alas as stated before, I fell victim to it with the Polo series. Polo Black being the big winner on compliments.

My redeeming factor happened when I was searching for a not-so-well known scent in the States so that I could be set apart from all the Acqua Di Gio and Polo that everyone wears. Terre d'Hermes was that redeemer and over the course of a month it became my signature scent and everyone who knows me, knows me by that scent. It is mysterious yet familiar in it's earth-like tones and I feel like that compliments my personality perfectly. Two other fragrances since have taken me on the olfactory journey that I began searching for and that is what I believe personal fragrance is meant for. I suppose what I'm getting at is don't wear cologne/perfume for fashion, wear it because it makes you happy. Wear it because it takes you back to when you were a child or perhaps even to a place you wish to go. None of us can have the idealistic worlds we want, but perfumery and imagination can bring us closer than we ever thought possible.