The first time I felt the full power of perfume was partway into my affair with Guerlain Vol de Nuit. I had been wearing the Eau de Toilette, fascinated by its almost off-putting, alcoholic first punch, driving people around me in the locker room at the gym to hold their noses, and then how it quietly absorbed into my skin and emerged as a stronger, almost soapy, but then woody, warm extension of it. Then I tried the parfum. It softened the Eau de Toilette’s edges with stealthy transitions and added a sueded layer of powder at the end. Vol de Nuit parfum was deep and unexpected, and I was love-struck. Really, little hearts flew out of my eyes.
Since then, I’ve seen comments on fragrance reviews about the emotions some perfumes inspire. One woman reported tearing up when she smelled the iris in Chanel Cuir de Russie, for instance. Lots of people talk about the sadness that Guerlain L’Heure Bleue brings. It seems crazy that something so frivolous as perfume could drive a sane, intelligent person to tears, but I’m here to tell you that art — including perfume — can be wildly powerful…
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