Just like there’s a difference between muzak and Mozart,there’s a difference between a pleasant smell and something truly wondrous. And I do slightly (but silently – I might be judgey, but I’m not rude) despair at those who don’t opt for the latter. If you care enough to wear it at all, care enough to find something that makes your heart sing, stop, melt; that tells people who you are, or who you want to be; that captures something you find beautiful in a little bottle that you can take home and keep.
— Read more in Smells Like Mean Spirit: Are You A Scent Snob? at Elle UK.
This article is such a level of ridiculous that is hard to believe a magazine publish this. “I judge people by their smell” is one of the most frivolous things i have ever read perfume-related. Also, you can be very wrong on your perfume assumptions considering that the way a scent projects on the skin changes from person to person. To top it the article picks trendy fragrances, so you only smell good if you pick what others means to be good? Eye rolling here very hard.
I suspect you don’t read Elle very often.
But…I do judge people by their smell, and I’m not a typical Elle reader. I mean, I don’t judge them as a whole, complete human being, but I do come to some conclusions. People wearing a cheap fruity, probably celebrity fragrance, which seems to be what the author’s talking about…it leads me to think they aren’t thinking much about how they smell, except that they’re wearing a scent that’s popular or promoted by someone popular, or they really like to smell like sugary fruit. And every once in a while, I smell someone who just smells lovely, and I do think that they took some time and care with choosing a fragrance. Would I write the former off as someone I’d never talk to? No. But, I do have thoughts when I smell them.
And then there’s my young daughter, who buys perfume at Zara simply because it’s a “female” Star Wars perfume. And when she wears it I want to run. (She was 6 when she bought it. I’ve banned it since because it makes everyone in a 20m radius want to run, especially because she knows no restraint and douses herself in it.) I judge her scent when she wears it, if not her. 🙂
I did like the bit in the article on perfume mistakes we make in our youth. I definitely made some of those. That’d make an interesting Friday community project someday, maybe…though we’d maybe all want to scrub sometime soon after putting them on. 🙂
Thanks for posting this, Robin! I enjoyed reading this – I too often go for the bargain over what really makes my heart sing, though I am getting better! And of course, I judge people by their smell :). The author is basically asking those who use fragrance to put thought into their choices and seek out what they really like. I can get behind that.
I can’t tell you how many fragrances I bought early on because they were dirt cheap, esp. in places like TJ Maxx. It does add up! My rule now is I can’t buy any fragrance that isn’t already on my “to buy” list.