I feel like I should be wearing a Jean Harlow dress, leaning back on a chaise longue, and dangling a maribou-trimmed mule from one foot. “And now,” I’d say, “Let me tell you about how to seduce a man through scent.” Unfortunately, I’m no Jean Harlow. Or even Olive Oyl, for that matter. But I’ll give this topic a stab and count on you to help me out.

Remember in Pride and Prejudice when Elizabeth Bennet says of a “slight, thin sort of inclination” that “one good sonnet will starve it entirely away”? This is also true of the “big guns” of sexy perfumes — say, Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur or Agent Provocateur. Wearing them is akin to prancing around in a merry widow corset…

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Choosing perfume to wear to work isn’t getting any easier. At my last office job, management sent regular emails warning staff to be sensitive about wearing perfume. Last I heard, they had to bring in a mediator for a woman in one department who couldn’t tolerate the perfumed body lotion of a woman in another department.

People may disagree, but I believe that if you choose the right scent and wear it carefully, you can pull off perfume at work. If a scent isn’t right for you, it will sit on your skin like a smear of frosting and never seem quite natural. If a perfume likes you, it absorbs into your body and reappears as a sort of natural breath from your skin. At work, it’s important not only to make sure that your perfume suits you, but that it communicates the right message. You already know better than to trot out Caron Parfum Sacré or Agent Provocateur for a board meeting. But it’s equally important to keep a lid on the Jessica McClintock or other “pretty” scents.

An effective perfume for work isn’t overly demanding…

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