Thursday, June 3, 2010

How to Find a Signature Scent


SHOULD THE TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY gentleman have a signature fragrance? There's the obvious argument against it: If you have to limit yourself to one, how can you decide between Terre d'Hermès, Fresh Cannabis Santal, or Comme des Garçons 2? But on the flip side, if you have an everyday scent, people will start to register you invisibly—and more important, remember you. The fragrance itself is the starting point, of course. Your potential olfactory fingerprint should be something you feel comfortable in and something that gets you a positive reaction. Get a couple of samples and test-drive them for a day; the right one will make people enjoy just being near you—and you should get comments to that effect. Try Rêve en Cuir by Scent Bar for niche elegance, Monsieur de Givenchy for retro greatness, or Thierry Mugler's B*Men for hipster cool. Once you've settled on one, master the application. You want a single short spray on the top of each forearm, one on the neck, and one down the back of the shirt (before you button up, pull the collar back and aim downward). Play with the volume till you get it right, remembering that the scent should be neither suffocating nor undetectable. In time, you'll have your own invisible ID and—oh yeah—one less thing to think about.

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