Here is Part II of Perfumer Neil Morris’ guest post: Finding your individual fragrance

Coco Chanel called fragrance “the ultimate fashion accessory.” Choosing the right fragrance is a quest to find a scent that brings you joy and reflects the inner you. Everyone is unique: we have our own look, our own style and own life experiences that influence what scents we embrace. Choosing your own scent can be difficult, especially if you are unsure of what stimulates your senses. Even in a department store, it’s difficult to determine which fragrance smells good with the whiff of so many brands blending in the air. Most consumers also don’t provide enough time to allow the heart and base notes to develop beyond a first impression.

When purchasing a fragrance off the shelf here are some tips:

1. Do not smell the bottle sprayer. Spray the fragrance on smelling strip and if you like it, spray it on your skin. How many times have you smelled a fragrance on someone else and loved it, but when you tried it, the fragrance smelled completely different. That’s because our body chemistry affects the way the fragrance reacts on our skin.

2. Wear the fragrance for a while to see how it changes on your skin. Fragrances have three phases: the top notes are the introduction that usually lasts for a minute or more. Then comes the middle or heart notes. This is the main theme of the perfume and lasts a half hour or more. Finally there are the base notes or dry down, which supports the composition and can last anywhere from and hour to several hours.

Some people appreciate having a fragrance that is exclusively their own. As a custom perfumer, I create custom fragrances for individual clients that connect people to their positive memories. Many of my clients are brides that desire something special for their wedding day or during their engagement period. Some of the questions I ask during an interview are: “What is your favorite season? What is your happiest childhood memory?” With brides I will add, “What scents do you associate with your fiancé? Where and how did your fiancé propose?” These questions provide me a “scent direction” for building a fragrance from my library of 700 essential and fragrance oils. A perfume for a wedding can do more too. It can be given to bridesmaids or given as favors. More information can be found at (www.neilmorrisfragrances.com).

Another way to wear perfume is to honor someone. On your wedding day, in addition to wearing something old, something new, something borrowed, and blue, how about a fragrance that reminds you of someone important in your life? To do that, simply visit a store that sells the fragrance and ask for a sample of a perfume that your loved one wore. Spritz a little fragrance on a handkerchief and keep it with you, that way you can bring them to your event.

If you have further questions about fragrances, contact me at Neil@neilmorrisfragrances.com. I’ll try my best to answer.

A special thank you to Mr. Morris for this great advice!

From time to time, we like to bring you expert knowledge from leaders in their fields. We have asked Neil Morris, of Neil Morris Fragrances, to offer his best advice for finding and applying your wedding day fragrance. Take notes!

Congratulations on your engagement! Our sense of smell is one of our strongest senses and is a catalyst that instantly connects us to memories and emotions. Fragrances can evoke a bounty of pleasant and loving memories including your first love, walks along the ocean, playing on a fresh cut lawn, delicious dinners and even Thanksgiving apple pie. We choose fragrances to define us and create our personal signatures.

For starters let’s talk about how to apply a fragrance. Here are a few pointers:

1. Do NOT spray the air in front of you and walk through it! It doesn’t work and all you’re doing is paying top dollar for a room spray!

2. Do not apply your perfume two minutes before you go out the door! You’ll knock everybody out on the elevator! 10 – 15 minutes before leaving the house would be best.

3. Apply fragrance to pulse points on the wrist, elbows, behind the ears AND behind your knees. Spray lightly on your collarbone. Fragrance rises so you’ll be able to smell it longer. Also, lift your hair up (if it’s long) and spray the hairline at the nape of your neck. The fragrance will stick to the hair and will waft around you when the wind blows. And when someone gives you a hug they’ll immediately enjoy your fragrance.

4. Don’t think that just because you can no longer smell your perfume that it’s not there. We quickly become anosmic (a fancy word meaning loss of our sense of smell) to our personal scent so we can tune into the other scents around us. But it’s still there and others will be aware of it.

If you have further questions about fragrances, contact me at Neil@neilmorrisfragrances.com. I’ll try my best to answer.

Check back tomorrow for Part II of Mr. Morris’ guest post!