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Throughout my life, I\u2019ve had my fair share of Proustian experiences: Aquolina Pink Sugar, for example, reminds me of middle school dances while Britney Spears\u2019 Fantasy causes my stomach to turn in knots, the same feeling I had when I\u2019d sneak into my older sister\u2019s room to steal a few spritzes. On a less traumatic note, Leila Lou, a light, fruity scent from By Rosie Jane, teleports me to the fall of 2022 when I went to Paris for the very first time with two of my best friends.<\/p>\n
Our olfactory system is powerful. But when we inundate it with the same, monotonous smells over and over, do we lose what makes them so special? I ask Dr. Murthy this, but he says there\u2019s not exactly scientific evidence to back it up\u2014he does, however, tell me about a broad concept called adaptation. \u201cWhen you repeatedly experience something, then you start responding less and less to it in general,\u201d he says. When it comes to scents, people can become desensitized if they\u2019re exposed to the same thing over and over, which, in my opinion, makes dedicating yourself to a signature scent all the more dull.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, it’s sort of like eating the same food every day,\u201d says Dominique Astorino, a content creator based in Paris. \u201cI would get sick of that.\u201d Ironically, Astorino runs an Airbnb experience in the City of Love that\u2019s advertised as an opportunity to \u201cfind your signature scent\u201d at fragrance hotspots like Guerlain, Printemps Haussman, and Galeries Lafayette. But instead of zeroing in on a singular perfume, she says people often end up buying discovery sets\u2014collections of mini vials that serve as a preview before investing in a full-size bottle\u2014and are more interested in the shopping experience versus finding a fragrance they\u2019ll wear forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s something cool and chic about having a signature scent, but I think your signature scent can evolve or function as your anchor point of the rest of your [fragrance] wardrobe,\u201d she says. Astorino has an all-time favorite scent\u2014Safanad by Parfums de Marly\u2014but since she has 150 perfumes, she \u201cwears something different almost every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Think of ditching your monotonous perfume routine as a sort of fragrance friction-maxxing. That is, making an effort to disrupt your tolerance for convenience, like reaching for the same ol\u2019 perfume everyday without putting any thought into it. I\u2019m not encouraging you to run out and purchase a roster of perfumes that end up collecting dust on your shelves, but broaden your horizons. Invest in a rotating cast of two or three, and start with a trial size before fully committing to a purchase. \u201cYou want to test a perfume in different environments, different climates,\u201d Astorino says. \u201cFor women, you want to test it during all four weeks of your cycle because [hormones] impact your sense of scent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Explore other ways scents can mingle with each other\u2014hair perfumes! Body oils! Solid perfumes! They can all join together to create a harmony of aromas that\u2019s unique to you. If you\u2019ve already committed to a lifelong partnership with a fragrance, like Allure<\/em>\u2019s senior beauty editor Jesa Marie Calaor has, try layering. She sprays DedCool Xtra Milk everywhere but her wrists, saving that space to experiment with other scents. \u201cThe base is always the same and feels inherently me, while my wrists are more experimental,\u201d Calaor says. \u201cIt\u2019s like the scent version of a mullet. Business in the front, party\u2026 near my hands.\u201d If a fragrance mullet doesn\u2019t entice you and you still<\/em> want to stick to a single scent, so be it\u2014when you hit the bottom of the bottle, though, maybe try to find something else to replace it with.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n