Ever walked into a fragrance shop, picked up a lovely bottle of one designer's scent, sprayed some on your wrist and cringed at the smell? You probably told yourself this fragrance was not a good fit. But, you might have been wrong!
We are extremely sensitive to odors. We love the scent of fresh bread and run away from raw fish. We enjoy breathing the aroma of fresh fruit unlike the famous scent of blue cheese. Unconsciously, we are also attracted to people we think smell good.
Fragrance attracts or pushes us away the same way food does. But did you ever eat something you thought smelled awful? Probably, and chances are that the taste surprisingly pleased you. Same goes with fragrances. When you first tried that specific scent, you smelled the top notes, which are the introduction to the scent. They are then followed by middle and base notes.
Top notes are light and volatile. You smell them for several minutes before they vanish and let middle notes steal the show. These two note classes create the heart of the fragrance. Then enter the base notes, the last strike of the fragrance before it fades away.
Even if you have mixed feelings about the initial smell of a fragrance, try wearing it until the middle notes show up. They are the signature of the scent and the most remembered. This is exactly why most perfumers and fragrance experts recommend wearing a scent for an entire day as you will see how the scent interacts and lasts on your skin.