By Karen Gilbert, Fragrance Expert for Lenor
Scent is an extremely powerful tool
Scent is an extremely powerful tool, it can bring back memories - good and bad - evoke emotions and have an effect on other people’s feelings and behaviour towards us too.
The underlying reason why people choose the perfumes they do is because the smell makes them feel good. It may be due to a memory, in fact it usually is. It’s unlikely that you will wear a perfume that you have had a negative association with – it’s not the way our brains work. Smell is of course inextricably linked with memories so we seek out those smells that recall happy times.
In my experience when someone wants to create a fragrance from scratch, it is always based on an idea or an impression, and centred on a memory. So it really isn’t just about perfume but it is about a message. A message of feeling good. When we feel good we are happier, when we are happy we are kinder to others. When we are kinder to others those others feel good and in their feeling good the chain continues.
By evoking memories, particular scents, in turn, will conjure up certain emotions from the people around you including seduction, confidence, happiness, excitement, comfort and love.
And this concept is not only applied to perfumes but also to the products we choose to put on our skin and wash our clothes with. For example, a recent survey* showed that the scent of fresh laundry reminds people of home. In fact, half of Britons went so far as to say that fresh laundry makes them feel comforted (49%), happy (35%) and relaxed (31%).
I have recently been working closely with P&G on a new fragrance innovation - Lenor Parfum des Secrets, a fine fragrance for your clothes. Lenor wanted to recreate the feeling of the moments of seduction with fragrance. A signature scent has the power to captivate those around you, and there’s something inherently seductive and alluring about that. Fabric enhancers work in the same way as a perfume when they’re crafted with the same ingredients as fine fragrance, and that is where Lenor Parfum des Secrets is so unique.
This is very much going back to the heritage of fragrance as originally perfume was applied to clothes, not just the skin. In the middle ages, people carried scent bags or sachets to perfume their clothes and Victorians were known to scent their hanker chiefs.
Certain scents, such as Jasmine, Musk, Patchouli, Passionfruit and Amber can make a person more alluring and attractive to others as they evoke romantic feels and may even act as an aphrodisiac.
For more information about the psychology of scents head to Karen’s website where you can also book fragrance courses - http://www.karengilbert.co.uk
For further information the new Lenor Parfum des Secrets collection visit - www.supersavvyme.co.uk/home/laundry/product/lenor
*Data collected via an online survey administered to a nationally representative sample of 1,000 UK adults, commissioned by P&G detergent brand Bold to celebrate the launch of new Bold 3-in-1 PODS and conducted by OnePoll on 22 Dec 2017
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