Scents and Sensibility

shopping for a new men's fragrance? get a whiff of these

Since the dawn of time, the spices of life—myrrh and cinnamon, sandalwood and patchouli, musk and bay leaf, to name but a few—have been linked to power, wealth, intrigue and sexual allure. Exactly why scent lights up our lives so pervasively remains a mystery. What is certain is that scent is no longer just a casual Christmas gift of after-shave but a key ingredient to a man's personality. Sleek packaging, aggressive ads, promises of virile conquests and—lest we forget—a persuasive scent are all employed to entice the potential buyer. Above all, scent is marketed to appeal to our aspirations and our images of ourselves. Drakkar Noir suggests fast cars and a jet-set lifestyle; Tuscany invokes romance, cool Italian nights and art. Lagerfeld promises fantasy, while Polo suggests wealth, leisure and power. (For a complete rundown of men's fragrances, see Playboy's Guide to Colognes on page 162.)

Our loyalty to a particular scent often has deep roots. If you gave your high school sweetheart a simple lavender cologne that fabulous Christmas you spent in Aspen, then you are likely to experience a resurgence of pleasure whenever you get a whiff of lavender. Years or cities later, it still transports you back to feeling young and invulnerable. Even though you can afford more expensive colognes, all the snappy packaging and artful perfumery won't hit your emotional target with as much precision and quiver as that humble lavender.

"When I smell Liz Claiborne perfume, I remember my daughter's delight when I gave her a bottle. I think of her in France," says Craig Warren, a vice-president and director of organoleptic research for New York's International Flavors and Fragrances. "Knowledge enters in to decipher the sensory input in a way that's called top-down thinking, or cognition. When I smell something that doesn't strike an immediate flash, that's bottom-up thinking. I'm curious; I keep sniffing to figure out what it is. The job of packaging is to build an expectation that will trigger top-down thinking and immediate appeal in consumers."

Success, ultimately, is a matter of teaming a memorable scent with distinctive packaging and instant-appeal advertising. Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men has been a leader this season, thanks to a heavy presell campaign and dramatic counter presentation. And its rich spice scent can be smelled once and remembered. (In industry lingo, it has "memory.")

The Nose Knows

Colognes are a combination of water, alcohol and fragrance oils. Individual scents may generally be broken into three categories:

Top Notes: The first and most distinguishable aroma upon smelling a fragrance. This original big blast usually places a scent in its proper fragrance family—and remains the key to how a scent is identified. Top notes are the most volatile, meaning the quickest to evaporate when the solvent (alcohol) dries on the skin.

Middle Notes: A richer, subtler smell that lasts perhaps ten to 30 minutes after the first rush.

Base Notes: The least volatile ingredients in the formula. Base notes have a residual smell hours after application.

The skill and magic of fragrance formulating is to keep middle and base notes in harmony with top notes. A scent that screams great outdoors upon first sniff, for example, should mature into a firm, robust, multifaceted assertion of the outdoors by the time you reach that conference room or restaurant.

Fragrance Families

Fragrance is generally divided into basic smell categories or families. The most popular divisions for men include:

Chypre: A blend of woody and mossy fragrances. It can be subdivided into three distinctive categories: sweet (examples include Chaps, Royal Copenhagen and Stetson); regular (Paco Rabanne, Pour Lui by Oscar de la Renta, Armani, Boss by Hugo Boss and Aramis); and chypre with green (Drakkar Noir, Tuscany, Metropolis, Adidas, Quorum and Polo products).

Citrus: A bergamot or lemon scent used more in European colognes. Top citrus scents: Bowling Green, Programme Homme by Lancôme, Bleu Marine de Cardin by (continued on page 161)Scents and Sensibility(continued from page 124) Pierre Cardin and TerraNova.

Fougère: An old-fashioned lavender family more popular in Europe than in America. Some top fougères: Brut, Iron by Coty, British Sterling and Clinique's Tailoring for Men.

Green: A leafy fragrance that's a bit on the wild side. Although most men's fragrances use some green notes in their formulas, there are very few true-green colognes. One example: Grey Flannel.

Musk: A heavy, sensually suggestive fragrance. Some top musks: Jovan and Royal Copenhagen Musk.

Oriental: An exotic, intriguing blend of spice (such as clover) and sweet (vanilla or amber) notes, along with incense smells (myrrh, for example). Some top Orientals: Obsession, Pierre Cardin, Lagerfeld, Mennen Skin Bracer, Santa Fe by Shulton and Colors de Benetton.

Spice: Your kitchen cupboard predominates in this category, with scents such as nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. Some top spices: Old Spice, Night Spice, Halston Ltd., Sport Continental Splash and Perry Ellis Cologne for Men.

Woody: As the name implies, a full-bodied woodsy scent, as in sandalwood, cedar or patchouli. Some top woodies: Halston Z-14, Astor of the Trumper Collection, Floris of London 89, Lauder for Men, Patou Pour Homme and Woods of Windsor for Gentlemen.

Keep in mind that the above families and classifications are open to debate. Also, since many fragrances involve a blend of several families, some formulas are tough to pigeonhole.

Scent Selection

Here are some tips to follow when shopping for a new scent:

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Sniff around. Avoid grabbing the same cologne/after-shave you've used since college—which is probably the one your dad used, right?

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Remember that women buy as much as 75 percent of all men's fragrances sold. Many scents are directly formulated to be comfortable to women. One buying strategy may be to ask the salesperson which fragrance women find most appealing.

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Don't buy a fragrance according to your first-whiff-from-the-flacon reaction. You're reacting only to the top notes. Put some sample fragrance on the back of your hand or the inside of your elbow, a drop at a time, and then walk around the store for a while to let it "bloom on the skin." A half hour after application, see how the subtler middle and bottom notes appeal to you and react to your chemistry.

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Judge a fragrance by the distinctiveness of its top notes (is it memorable?) and then by such intangibles as a connoisseur might use to weigh the difference between a cheap and a fine wine: quality, balance and character.

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Try to keep all fragranced products that you use—deodorant, after-shave and cologne—within the same family.

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Apply cologne and after-shave to pulse points—behind ears, inside wrists and elbows, on neck and chest.

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If you're dining out, don't make the common mistake of overdoing it with cologne or you'll overpower the wine and food.

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Tired of your fragrance? Switch to another brand within the same family. Examples: Trade Paco Rabanne for Tuscany (chypre), Obsession for Lagerfeld (Oriental).

Finally, don't be afraid to make a splash. Men and women have anointed themselves with fragrance since Adam and Eve discovered the Elysian headiness of laurel, berry and bower. Whether for love, power or just to enjoy another sensuous dimension, scents make nothing but perfect sense.