Does your favourite scent say anything about you?
Plenty of content out there hands out personality profiles based on the fragrance you choose: citrus people are extroverts, woody people introspective, spicy people adventurous. It is entertaining, but let us be clear: there is no solid evidence that your preferred scent reveals your personality. No smell test is a substitute for anything, and be wary of anyone selling it to you as "neuroscience".
What we do know is more interesting than the olfactory horoscope.
What really does determine your preferences
- Memory. Much of what you enjoy smelling you associated with something beforehand. You like the smell of bread, of the sea or of old wood because it takes you somewhere, not because your character leans that way.
- Culture and surroundings. What counts as "clean" or "welcoming" varies a great deal between countries. In Spain the citrus register is associated with cleanliness; elsewhere, rather less so.
- Biology. There are real differences in how each person perceives certain compounds: some smells are detected intensely by one person and barely at all by another.
- Context. The same scent is a pleasure in a shop and a nuisance in a bedroom. It is not the fragrance, it is where and how much.
The useful question is not who you are, but where and what for
Choosing a scent works far better by space and moment than by psychological profile. Translated into our catalogue:
- You want a clean, active feel: Lemon or Mint. Entrance, kitchen, circulation areas.
- You want something discreet for all day: Green Tea or Orange Blossom. Living room, bedroom, office.
- You want calm for the evening: Lavender or Jasmine.
- You want warmth and shelter: Fig, Cappuccino or Cinnamon & Orange.
- You want something more perfumed: the numbered range — Nº3 if you are after fresh and aquatic, Nº22 if you want it to be noticed, Nº12 or Nº23 if you want dense and warm.
They are all in the fragrance catalogue.
How to choose without getting it wrong
Try it in the real space and not just on paper: a fragrance changes quite a lot with the temperature, the ventilation and the materials in the room. And start on a low intensity, because you will adapt to the smell within minutes while anyone walking in fresh will get it at full strength.
If it is for a business, the brand criteria are in how to choose your brand's scent.
Torn between two? Write to us via contact and we will help you decide.
